Aiki Extensions, Inc.

Causes: Children & Youth, Children & Youth Services, International, International Peace & Security, Recreation & Sports, Sports, Youth Development

Mission: Aiki Extensions works to extend the Aiki Way across all borders: between body and mind, between persons, and between nations.The Aiki WayThe practice of aikido - the ''way'' (do) of harmonized (ai) energies (ki) - offers ways of living that are less combative, isolative, dissociative, fearful, wasteful, and stressful. Aikido originated and continues to be taught as a martial art, in dedicated training centers known as dojo. However, to the mind of its founder and its mature practitioners, the point of aikido is to improve one''s character and to learn how to respond to aggression in a socially constructive way. It does so through the cultivation of empathy, responsibility, integrity, clarity of vision, and the ability to care for oneself, one''s fellows, and one''s environment.Aikido thereby manifests a way of living particularly suited for the modern world community. The aiki way - sometimes glossed as "The Art of Peace" - teaches how to respond to aggression without counterattacking and how to combine human energies beneficially, without for a moment losing sight of forces that periodically incline humans toward destructive attacks. The skills it promotes are thus no less useful in dealing with tensions in families, workplaces, and communities than in responding to physical threats.Extending the Aiki WayAs cities become sites of reckless violence and households succumb to patterns of violence that have been diagnosed as epidemic in frequency and in pathogenic consequences, the question of how to neutralize interpersonal aggression has taken on special urgency. As children the world over face developmental challenges posed by accelerated social change, orthogenic growth and moral education require fresh approaches. As our species inhabits a world of increasing compression of time and space, enhanced modes of interhuman collaboration have become essential. As we approach what many regard as a turning point in the relation between the species and its cosmic environment, the need for more sensitive and constructive relations between humans and nonhuman creatures and resources has become acute.These challenges call for responses on many fronts. Practitioners of aikido believe that the special ways of living and relating afforded by this unique discipline have much to offer and that its benefits need not be confined to the relatively small number of devotees of the art found in enclaves in dozens of countries.Strengthen, Deepen, ExtendAiki Extensions seeks to strengthen existing efforts by constructing networks, enhancing communications, and providing resources; to extend those efforts to new sites and situations; to extend the aiki way into other areas of application; and to deepen the philosophical and pedagogical foundations of aikido as a human practice.