Module 1:

SHOSHIN - Beginner's Mind — Entering The Unknown

Every genuine path of discovery begins in the same place. Not knowing.

Before technique. Before philosophy. Before all the ideas you've accumulated about Aikido, meditation, and yourself. There is simply the willingness to look. Shoshin—Beginner's Mind—is the capacity to meet experience fresh and new.

In our first week together, we establish the foundations of mindfulness meditation and begin with perhaps the most important question on any spiritual path:

Who am I? Not as a philosophical question. As an investigation.

In This Module, You'll Explore:

• The empowering practice of intention
• What mindfulness actually is—and how to practice it
• Coming home: centering in the body and centering in the mind
• How to establish a sustainable daily meditation practice

The journey begins by becoming willing not to know.

Module 2:

MASAKATSU AGATSU - True Victory Is Victory Over One's Self

O Sensei left us with one of the most challenging teachings in Aikido:

"Masakatsu Agatsu" - True victory is victory over oneself. But what does that actually mean?

The greatest conflicts in our lives are rarely created by the events themselves. They are created by our resistance. Fear. Blame. Anger. The need to control. The insistence that reality—or another person—should be different.

In Aikido, we learn to blend with an attack. In this module, we begin learning the practice of inner awase.

IN THIS MODULE, YOU'LL EXPLORE:

• Conflict as a higher path of development
• Inner awase: blending with difficult mental and emotional states
• The radical practice of “It's never their fault”
• Why stopping the inner war changes the way you meet the outer world

The hardest person you will ever learn to blend with is yourself.

Module 3:

MISOGI - Purification Of The Mind

Most of us believe we are in control of our minds. Meditation reveals an uncomfortable truth: much of the time, the mind controls us.

We don't simply “have” thoughts of fear, judgment, blame, desire, or resentment. Often… Those thoughts have us.

The Buddha described meditation as a path of purification—because awareness allows us to see clearly the patterns that obscure its natural radiance. In Aikido, this is the inner practice of Misogi.

IN THIS MODULE, YOU'LL EXPLORE:

• Mindfulness as a path of purification
• The practice of radical acceptance
• Why negative experience becomes “Velcro” for the mind
• How awareness loosens deeply conditioned mental patterns

You cannot let go of what you are unwilling to see.

Module 4:

ZANSHIN - Sustained Mindfulness

The mind has an extraordinary ability to be anywhere except here. Replaying the past. Preparing for the future. Rehearsing conversations. Solving imaginary problems. Meanwhile… Life is happening now. 

In Aikido, it is the awareness that remains before, during, and after the technique. In meditation, we cultivate this same capacity as sustained mindfulness—the ability to remain present with the unfolding process of experience.

IN THIS MODULE, YOU'LL EXPLORE:

• The Foundations of Mindfulness
• How to develop process-oriented consciousness
• Remaining present with yourself and with others
• The strange urgency of “nothing to do and no time to waste”

Awakening can only happen in one place: here.

Module 5:

MUSHIN — Entering Emptiness

O Sensei said "To understand Aiki you must first understand emptiness." 

The ordinary mind experiences reality through concepts. Lables. Stories. Memories. Beliefs. We rarely experience the world directly. We experience our interpretation of the world.

Mushin—No Mind—points toward a radically different way of knowing. A state where the conceptual mind becomes quiet, and reality is experienced more directly.

For the spiritual warrior, this is not an abstract philosophy. It is a territory to be entered.

IN THIS MODULE, YOU'LL EXPLORE:

• Direct experience beyond the conceptual filter
• Kamae as the inner stance of the mind
• What happens when fear begins to fall away
• “No self, no problem—no other, no fear”

When the mind becomes quiet, what remains?

Module 6:

FUDO SHIN - The Immovable Mind

Everything changes. The body changes. Thoughts change. Emotions change. Relationships change. The world changes.

Moment by moment, experience is in constant flux. And yet… There is a strange paradox at the heart of meditation.

It is possible to become deeply still in the middle of change.

Fudoshin—the Immovable Mind—is not a mind that becomes rigid. It is awareness that no longer needs to resist the movement of experience.

IN THIS MODULE, YOU'LL EXPLORE:

• The empowering practice of impersonality
• Inner ukemi: holding center and letting go
• The relationship between surrender and never giving up
• Why falling apart may be a requirement for becoming unshakable

The immovable mind does not stop the waves. It learns how to surf.

Module 7:

DAISHIN - Big Mind, Big Heart

If Mushin opens into emptiness… Daishin opens into radical embrace. The ordinary mind divides reality into self and other. 

This dualistic perspective easily becomes a closed loop of conflict. But when the boundaries of the separate self begin to soften, another possibility emerges.

Self and other can be experienced within a larger field of belonging.

IN THIS MODULE, YOU'LL EXPLORE:

• The practice of "Polarity and Unity"
• Uchu Soku Ware—“The Universe and I are One”
• The relationship between emptiness and oneness
• The mind of wisdom and the heart of compassion

When nothing is outside of you, what is there left to fight?

Module 8:

TAKEMUSU AIKI - Harmony Created From Conflict

There are moments in Aikido when something extraordinary happens. You stop thinking. You stop planning. You stop trying to make the technique work. The movement simply emerges. Appropriate. Creative. Alive. In those moments, YOU get out of the way.

Takemusu Aiki points toward the spontaneous emergence of Aikido—the endless creation of technique in response to the living reality of the moment.

This is where the absolute and the relative meet. Emptiness and form. Stillness and movement. Conflict and harmony. Not as opposites. As one dance.

IN THIS MODULE, YOU'LL EXPLORE:

• How to get out of the way and allow Aikido to happen
• Aligning with creativity as the source of Aikido
• Activating higher intelligence and intuitive response
• Bringing meditation, Aikido, and daily life together as one practice

The path opens with Beginner's Mind. It ends with no fixed technique. From there, Aikido begins.

Eight Weekly 90-Minute Zoom Sessions With Miles

Each week, we'll enter one of the eight core territories of Meditation For Aikidoka: Shoshin. Masakatsu Agatsu.  Misogi.  Zanshin.  Mushin.  Fudoshin.  Daishin.  Takemusu Aiki.

In each live session, I'll unpack the meditation teachings behind that week's theme, guide you into the practice, and explore how these insights relate directly to Aikido and daily life.

This is where we bring the two paths together.

Aikido opens the question. Meditation takes you inside it.

The MFA sessions will be held on Sundays beginning Aug. 3rd.
Session Times: 11:00 am PDT, 2:00 pm EDT, 19:00 BST, & 20:00 CEST

THE WEEKLY MEDITATION PRACTICE

Eight Guided Meditation Practices To Take You Deeper

Understanding mindfulness is relatively easy. Practicing it is another matter.

Each week, you'll receive a guided meditation specifically designed around the theme of that module.

These practices will progressively take you from the foundations of mindfulness into deeper contemplative territory.

Centering in the body - Working with resistance - Radical acceptance - Sustained mindfulness - Entering Emptiness - The Witnessing Mind - Big Mind / Big Heart - Spontaneous Presence.

You don't need to figure out what to practice next.

I'll guide you step-by-step through the journey.

YOUR PERSONAL PRACTICE PATH

Weekly Practice Worksheets And Integration Exercises

The real measure of meditation isn't what happens during a course session.

It's what happens on Monday mornings. When you're tired. When someone irritates you. When you're under pressure. When your plans fall apart. When you lose center.

Each week, you'll receive a personal practice worksheet to help you bring the meditation teachings into the lived reality of your day.

The invitation is simple: Notice where your practice breaks down. Because that's usually where the Path begins.

Eight Weekly Practice Videos

Each week you will also receive a 20-minute practice video from me, where I will take you on a further exploration of the topic that we had covered in this week’s training.

These videos help you further your understanding what you've learned, how it relates your aikido and in other areas of your life, and give you detailed instructions on how to take the tools that you’re learning and use it in the real world.

Monthy Live Q&A Sessions

Every 2 weeks I will host a live Q&A session on ZOOM, where I will answer all of your questions, and you also get to hear questions from your fellow “Meditation For Aikidoka” students – some new to the course, to advanced questions from students who have taken the course once or twice before.

During these sessions, you can ask every question and bring up some of the challenges you may have encountered during the week. I will you find-tune and clarify your practice, as well as help you overcome any challenges you may be encountering.

These 60-minute sessions will be held on Wednesdays at 11:00 am PDT, 2:00 pm EDT, 19:00 BST, & 20:00 CEST

20 Hours Of Video and Audio Replays For Streaming & Downloading

All of the live weekly classes and Q&A sessions will be recorded, and you can access them from the member’s program.

You will have life-time access to the member's site where you can watch, re-watch, download and study the complete course at your convenience.

You’ll find the ability to review the material as often as you like at your own convenience is simply priceless.

I HAVEN'T TAUGHT THIS COURSE LIVE IN THREE YEARS!

"Meditation For Aikidoka" has always been one of the courses closest to my heart. It brings together the two great practice traditions that have shaped my life - Aikido and the Buddha's path of mindfulness and awakening.

For decades, I've explored the meeting place between these two traditions. Not theoretically. Through practice. Through training. Through failure. Through getting lost. And through repeatedly finding my way back to center.

After a three-year hiatus, I'm reopening Meditation For Aikidoka. And I'd love for you to join me. 

If you’re ready to answer the call to rise to your full spiritual potential, then your next step is to click the order button below and get registered for the Meditation For Aikidoka training program.

Diane Musho Hamilton - Zen Roshi, Integral Facilatator, Author Of "The Zen Of You And Me"

“Miles Kessler is a rare kind of teacher. He has cultivated deep meditative discipline, he is a fully embodied Aikido master, and most importantly, his heart is wide open. You can't help but grow in his company."