The document describes MindBody DojoTM Resilience and Conflict Management Training, which teaches principles of Aikido to build resilience, self-confidence, and skills for dealing with stress and conflict. The training is based on principles observed over centuries that facilitate accessing a calm, resourceful state of mind and body. Through experiential exercises, participants can learn to harmonize with stressors rather than resist them. Regular practice can help make resourceful states a habit, benefiting personal wellbeing, relationships, and business performance. MindBody DojoTM introduces these concepts in a way that accords with science and offers follow-up support for integrating the skills into daily life.

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Human and business
performance based on
The 4th Way
Learn how to build team resilience, self-confidence,
resourcefulness, empathy, and courage through the
principles of Aikido.
MindBody Dojo™
Resilience and Conflict Management Training

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resilience
1. the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.
2. the ability of a substance or object to spring back into
shape; elasticity.

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We know there are three ways people react to stress and conflict:
Fight, Flight or Freeze. But there is a fourth way.
It is my vision and mission to help others navigate these uncertain
times with confidence, resilience, creativity, and leadership. I do this
through sharing the skills, knowledge and insights I have acquired
over 35 years as an Aikido and Yoga practitioner and instructor,
MindBody health practitioner, business lecturer, and Internet mar-
keting consultant.
Once you understand the effectiveness of an embodied practice for
regaining resourceful states, I believe you will see many applications
and perceive many potential benefits for your business and your
team.
If there is any way I could help you better consider whether this is
right for you and your organisation, I would be happy to.
For example, we could have an obligation-free Zoom call or personal
meeting to discuss your current needs and desires, and whether we
could tailor a programme to fit them. Please get in touch by phone
+64 (0)21 123 5023 or email gerald@gezzmedia.co.nz
I look forward to hearing from you!
Best regards,
Gerald Lopez
LLB, PGDip HSc (MindBody Healthcare), NCAET
Director, MindBody Dojo™

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The Covid-19 situation has caused and highlight-
ed unprecedented stress among entrepreneurs,
executives, managers, and all staff in responsible po-
sitions.
This stress is exacerbated by a changing and high-
ly uncertain economic environment. Uncertainty is
known as one of the biggest causes of stress, and
thought to be worse than the prospect of known,
certain harm. The annual patterns that businesses
became used to before Covid-19, and had been able
to plan for, enabled some certainty, even if it was an
estimated one. The concept of “projection” is really
extrapolation from past patterns.
Projection is no longer available to businesses, and
they need to find other ways to gain their bearings
and set courses for the future.
It has become apparent that many people are lacking
effective tools for dealing with this unprecedented
form of stress.
If not addressed, this will predictably result in physi-
cal and mental health issues, deteriorating corporate
culture and relationships, reduction in adaptability
and innovation, and inability of many businesses to
remain viable.
We propose that a solution may be found in the mar-
tial art called Aikido.
Uncertainty

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Why martial arts?
Morihei Ueshiba (1883-1969), was
born in rough times in Japan, fought
in the Manchurian War, started a
farming colony in barren inhospita-
ble lands, and became a reputedly
unbeatable martial artist. In his
later years, he began to promote his
art, Aikido, as a means of “attain-
ing peace and reconciliation in the
world.” Aikido means “the Way of
harmony with universal energy.”
A Way is a practice or discipline to
learn resourceful states; in other
words a pursuit of optimising hu-
man potential.
Martial arts are often thought of as methods to learn
how to fight, and this purpose has lost favour over
time. In the corporate world, there has been a growing
culture of collaboration (“working in teams”) rather than
competitive fighting as a way of improving productivity.
If we look at the origins of martial arts, they evolved to
train a person to deal with ultimate stress, ie, facing immi-
nent death, serious injury or at least harm from another.
While this was true throughout the history of humankind,
in the last 100 years, some martial arts masters envisioned
new purposes for martial training, such as self develop-
ment, optimum performance under pressure, and the abil-
ity to lead through wisdom.
One of these visionaries was the founder of Aikido,
Morihei Ueshiba.

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Through Ueshiba’s extraordinary vision and
teaching,Aikido gained a reputation as a power-
ful martial art in which the practitioner did not resist
or attempt to destroy the opponent as in most mar-
tial arts, but harmonised with the attacker’s impetus,
thereby controlling it and enabling many options to
neutralise the attack without injuring the attacker.
Aikido became very popular in the 1980s and 90s,
and while in the last few decades it has been eclipsed
by other more aggressively-combative arts, it has
also gone “off the mat,” and been used to train stress
management, peak performance, and conflict man-
agement in businesses, schools, and other organisa-
tions in the US, the UK, Europe and elsewhere.
MindBody Dojo™ presents a distillation of the prin-
ciples of aikido, principles by which a person can in-
stantly calm down and access their resourceful state,
and by which he or she can manage challenging situ-
ations and relationships, including conflicts.
This ability to self-control states, in turn, often results
in a calling to leadership, as others sense the centred
calmness of this person.
Calmness is the prerequisite for resourceful think-
ing and response in any challenging situation, and is
achieved by coordination of mind and body.
Aikido - a martial art of harmony
Like the eye of the typhoon, which is always peaceful,
inner calm results in great strength of action.

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Aikido: An art of not resisting, blocking or
fighting an attack; rather, of combining with
the incoming energy such that the attacker
feels no resistance whatsoever, thus is easily
and powerfully led into a throw or any
neutralising technique.

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Mind-body coordination means using mind and
body together in a unified way. By mind-body we
mean that which involves mental as well as physical and
felt components, resulting in a relaxed, balanced and
incredibly strong mental-physical state.
The most important principles to start with are:
1. Find and keep your centre in the abdomen.
2. Relax dynamically.
3. Let go of fixedness and become light.
4. Extend your awareness around you.
These natural principles, when learned under guidance,
and practised in embodied ways, have often spectacular
effects.
When practised daily, they enable long-term shifts in
habitual being and response to pressure situations, that
pleasantly surprise the practitioners.
This practice is what we call The Fourth Way - facing
stress and conflict with mind-body coordination.
Mind-body coordination
Enso (circle) by Kanjuro Shibata (1921-2013),
Kyudo (Japanese archery) master.

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Turning stress into resourceful states
Stress, since it was formally identified by
Hans Selye in the early 20th century, has
been researched very thoroughly. We now
know that, under great stress, we revert to a
reactive emotional brain response that bypass-
es our rational (problem-solving) brain. This
can result in poor mental and physical perfor-
mance, and can also undermine relationships.
The principles of aikido, when learned and
integrated into the mind-body, enable us to
make use of the super-fast responsive limbic
brain in real emergencies, while choosing the
slower but more rational frontal cortex activity
when dealing with non-emergency situations
or conflict challenges.
These learned skills, applied in work and busi-
ness contexts, have significant implications on
workplace culture, productivity, and reputa-
tion as a result of positive interactions with
customers.
Among the many reported benefits of these re-
sourceful states are:
1. Improved self-esteem and self-confidence.
2. Stronger sense of personal space and
boundaries.
3. More calmness and clarity of thought.
4. Confidence that one can always access re-
sourceful states.
5. More physically relaxed, better lifestyle
and diet choice-making, improved physi-
cal health.
6. Greater awareness of personal dynamics,
and improved ability to navigate relation-
ships, transactions and conflict.
7. Greater ability to enjoy life, work and one’s
meaningful relationships.
The results vary with individuals; hence peo-
ple may report a wide variety of specific bene-
fits as well as improved general wellbeing and
performance.

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The good news is that one doesn’t need
to practise martial arts several times a
week for several years to become an expert,
in order to be able to deal with any stressful
situation!
An entrepreneur, manager or team member
just needs to grasp the resourceful feeling,
and gain practice exploring it in different sit-
uations. With the right guidance, they could
learn the principles in a day!
Our training is not theoretical and corpo-
rate-centric - it is experiential and per-
son-centric. We do not teach specific tech-
niques or formulas, we teach specific ways of
being.
Formulas and theories are important, as they
give directions in which to act. However, they
often break down under pressure. We need to
learn to feel calm, to feel creative, to feel perfor-
mant, to feel like a leader.
MindBody Dojo™ is embodied training. It
recognises that:
1. Mind-body coordination is necessary for
the input, ie, holistic, permanently-re-
membered learning.
2. Mind-body coordination is necessary for
the output, ie, the desired state (calmness,
creativity, peak performance, leadership,
etc).
Thus in MindBody Dojo™, participants
experience resourceful states while under-
going simulated challenge and mild conflict,
and being gently “tested” by their peers. The
sessions are fun, safe, and often highly-reve-
latory for participants.
In MindBody Dojo™, we have articulated the
concepts in ways that accord with current sci-
entific knowledge, and refined the exercises
to cater for cultural and personal sensitivities.
Why MindBody Dojo™?

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Firstly, the principles are based on human observation over centuries and
possibly millennia. They are natural principles that are universal, and
not culturally or intellectually challenging. Children grasp them easily. Aiki-
do has been introduced to schools with great results in personality develop-
ment.
Secondly, virtually every participant responds positively according to their
readiness to learn. It is almost invariably* a pleasant felt experience that
leaves participants relaxed and calm for some time after. AMindBody Dojo™
session is really a welcomed time-out for the mind, while still absorbing sim-
ple yet important concepts.
Thirdly, MindBody Dojo™ training facilitates follow-up and support in the
form of intermediate workshops or coaching, or attendance at regular aikido
classes provided by MindBody Aikido. A daily practice routine will be rec-
ommended at the introductory workshop, in order to help participants make
resourceful states habitual. This is potentially life-changing.

* It should be acknowledged that some people may be adversely triggered by any form of perceived
confrontation, physical activity or contact. This does not preclude them from benefiting from the
programme.
Is MindBody Dojo™
right for us?
Rely on peace
To activate your
Manifold powers;
Pacify your environment
And create a beautiful world.
- Morihei Ueshiba

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MindBody Dojo™
Resilience and Conflict Management Training
Contact us today to find out more:
gerald@gezzmedia.co.nz
+64 (0)21 123 5023
www.mindbodydojo.nz