Tag Archives: shingon

Recap of Dynamic Meditation Practice At NOLA Aikido on May 30, 2026

A photo of lotuses budding.
This photo was borrowed from https://www.flickr.com/photos/robertlylebolton/ using Creative Commons. Thank you for making this available!

Welcome! Every few weeks, this blog will be updated to recap some of the meditation methods we are exploring at NOLA Aikido dojo. Your author, Jaime Dunkle, is the primary facilitator of this practice time, bringing meditation techniques she has learned directly from Shingon Buddhist monastics who teach meditation to laypeople. However, Jaime is not a teacher. Her intention is to share practices to build a learning community. Please also know she is open to any kind and respectful feedback or new connected ideas.

Here in New Orleans, we are still easing into spring but also anticipating the inevitable summer heat. This means that we are experiencing a lot of rain storms followed by hot and humid days. Such a swampy mix can cause a bit of a sluggish feeling. This Saturday, May 30 started off muggy in the morning, but the slump that follows faded as soon as I entered the NOLA Aikido dojo. To me, this generative energy is the magic that comes with having access to a dedicated practice space, for which I am grateful.

This week during the Dynamic Meditation session, we focused on breathing, syncing the body and mind through the breath, some health qigong, ah vocalization, and quickly introduced moon disc meditation.

Stretching & Forming a Circle

After attendees arrived, we collectively decided to start with our favorite stretches to help us ease into our bodies so we would be able to sit comfortably for the rest of the practice session. After engaging in our own preferred stretching routines, we sat together on cushions in a circle. The circle is important here to facilitate a seminar style of practice, except for there is not an expert present—just a facilitator. Anyone at any time is welcome to share a meditation practice they enjoy, if they so choose. This is ultimately a democratic practice space that begins and ends with our joined efforts. 

Sitting 

Sitting, in the way I have been taught, involves several points of focus—once you are seated in a full, half, or quarter lotus position:

  • The hips need to be elevated using a cushion, blanket, towel, yoga block, or a stack of books. 
  • The knees are in the best position when making contact with the floor. If there is space between knees and the floor, it may be more beneficial to add more height to your seat. 
  • The spine needs to be straight—if you sway back and forth and side to side, it may be easier to find an internal balance that helps keep the spine in the most optimal place for meditation. 
  • You want to feel rooted in the ground but not stiff in your upper body: the seated sway also helps loosen tensions. 
  • Roll your shoulders back and lower them so they are not tightly reaching for your ears. 
  • Tuck your chin in toward your chest ever so slightly and imagine a string pulling your skull and spine up as if your bones are connected to the sky. 
  • Gently settle your tongue on your soft palate so that it rests behind your upper front teeth.
  • Gaze down the center of your nose to a spot a few feet in front of you, keeping your eyes half closed. The way it was explained to me by my teacher is that this helps prevent the movies of the mind from playing on the screen of the eyelids, which can lead to distractions.
  • Place hands in the dhyana mudra, which is commonly used in meditation practice. When using Shingon-Shu form, your left hand is on the bottom, and your right hand rests on top of it, then the thumbs touch forming a triangle. This triangle is said to represent the triple jewel of the Buddha, dharma (teaching), and sangha (practice community). 
  • This structure may be modified if someone needs to instead sit in a chair. It is recommended they sit at the edge of the chair with feet flat on the ground so that the spine is in the most optimal placement. 
This photo of the Great Buddha of Kamakura was borrowed, using Creative Commons, from photographer James Blake Weiner. It was originally posted at https://www.worldhistory.org/Kamakura/.

Breathing

From what I have gathered, there are numerous ways to breathe, especially in regard to meditation practices. This week, we focused on a particular type of breathing that research has shown helps calm the nervous system: full intentional belly breaths. First, we all took several full belly breaths, inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth. 

After a few minutes of belly breathing, we moved to practicing health qigong that helps monitor your lung capacity, reduce stress, and strengthen your immune system. I learned this method during COVID-19 times, when Kosho Finch Sensei from the Henjyoji Shingon Buddhist Temple shared it with his students. The original video is posted for your reference at the end of this section.

Before you begin, if you are in a group, it is important to know that everyone has different lung capacity, and so people may breathe at different paces. This is okay. Also, if you cannot hold comfortably for the recommended duration, do not force yourself. Instead, make a note of your lung capacity and take good care of yourself.

Here’s how to engage in this lung check health qigong technique:

  • In a seated position, bring your hands in front of your torso in a comfortable angle and find your pulse on the wrist with the first two fingers of your opposite hand. 
  • Breathe in your usual manner a few times to make sure you can feel your heartbeat. 
  • Now, take full belly breaths, inhaling through your nose, reaching the top of your lungs.
  • Hold your breath at the top of your lungs for 20 heartbeat counts.
  • Repeat for a few minutes.

Synchronizing the Body and Mind

This next method is something Finch Sensei taught recently during a dharma talk I attended online. The idea, as I understand it, is to do this practice before formal meditation practice to help connect the body and mind so that they are more synchronized during meditation. 

While in a seated position, take turns lifting one of your hands as you breathe. I prefer to start with the left for a few breaths and then move to the right. It can go something like this:

  • As you inhale through your nose, raise your left hand gently to follow the extent of your breath.
  • When you reach the top of your breath, pause your hand movement.
  • As you exhale through your mouth, lower your hand to match the pace of your breath. 
  • After a few rounds, repeat these actions on the right side.

Ah Vocalization

The way Finch Sensei, and also Taijo Imanaka Sensei (from Seattle Koyasan Shingon Buddhist Temple), have explained the Ah syllable to the sangha is that it is from the Siddham language, which predates Sanskrit. According to their separate teachings on the dharma from their respective temples, in the way I understand them, the reason Siddham is used in Shingon instead of Sanskrit is to distinguish the quotidian from concentrated practice. It’s similar to how we wear an aikidogi on the mats and not street clothes at NOLA Aikido so as to separate our concentrated practice from everyday life. Because Sanskrit is still commonly used as a written language, Siddham helps with practicing away from daily life. That’s not to say that either training doesn’t get integrated into one’s life. Aikido nor meditation is meant to be an isolated or escape-from-reality practice, from what I have learned.

A practice such as the Ah vocalization is especially useful for integrating into daily life because it can help reduce stress, calm the nervous system, and clear the mind. For me, it has even dispelled intense pain. 

It’s important to know that at home or the temple, I/we first use traditional prostrations and mantras before starting the ah vocalization practice. We do not add the mantras at the Aikido dojo and instead engage in a truncated version of the practice. Before I share the steps of this edited version of chanting Ah, it’s important to know that not everyone has to chant at the same time. Again, we all have different lung capacities, so it’s okay to chat out of sync. The abridged version of the Ah vocalization we use at the dojo is as follows:

  • As you inhale through the nose, imagine a mist or fog entering your lungs that helps heal your anxieties, worries, fears, frustrations, pains, or whatever needs healing.
  • As you exhale through the mouth, release whatever it is that you need to let go. 
  • After you do this for a few breaths, begin vocalizing the sound “aaahhhh” as you release what needs to be let go, imagining that whatever is expelled drifts far away. Sustain the “ah” sound through your entire exhale.
  • After several minutes of this practice, the facilitator rings the bell and everyone sits with the residual silent Ah that resonates in the space. 

Moon Disc Meditation

We didn’t have much time left to practice the moon disc meditation, but we did get a brief introduction that will segue nicely into a more in-depth practice scheduled for a later time. 

What we did get a chance to do was consider the full moon as representative of our universal great compassion for all living beings. For a few moments, we got acquainted with this idea and focused on the moon disc image in front of us. We brought its spherical fullness to our center, took a few breaths, and offered the moon back to the image. 

At the end of the session, we thanked each other. After all, showing gratitude is foundational for our practice. 

Future Topics

In the next few posts, I will share more information about past sessions. We have experimented with vocalizing popcorn thoughts of gratitude about the rain and the concept of mother. We have also visited how there are many forms of meditation (not just silent sitting), which generated a concentrated discussion on other ways to practice. We’ve engaged in lake and mountain meditations. We sometimes incorporate standing and walking meditation. We also access the Plum Village and Calm apps for their guided meditations to help us with different practices focused on thanking our body’s invisible functions, overall gratitude, loving kindness, and thanking the earth. 

Thank you for reading, and we hope you can join us for this free, bi-weekly community practice session. For more information, please go to: https://lotusbudo.com/category/dynamic-meditation/ 

Links

Please use these links to discover more about Aikido and Shingon Buddhism:

Dynamic Meditation

A collaged image of hands offering the Buddha hearts from a gem, and he is surrounded by fish.
Offerings: A digital collage by Jaime Dunkle, 2025.

Greetings Lotus Budo readers! Jaime here, and I’d like to announce that I am facilitating an ongoing meditation practice (usually) every other Saturday morning. Details below. I will be sharing blog posts about what techniques we practice in each session. Also, because there are often interruptions to the calendar, I have created a separate Google calendar to help folks keep track of when these community meditation sessions are open.

Session Details

Every other Saturday, 10 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. at NOLA Aikido in Mid City.

Please check the calendar because dojo seminars and holidays will take precedence.

This biweekly shared practice is rooted in Shingon Buddhism, which the founder of aikido, O Sensei, is said to have practiced in his youth. Jaime Dunkle will share what she’s learned from this tradition at temples in the Pacific Northwest. Practice will include a mix of visualization and vocalization meditation methods. We will use apps like Calm, Plum Village, Insight, or Sattva for guided meditations. We will also sometimes sit with the bell. Only a short portion of this shared practice is silent sitting meditation. Bring a foldable blanket, your favorite cushion, or use one at the dojo. And please feel free to offer feedback and your favorite mediation methods: this is meant to be a shared practice space and not an instructional class. Quiet late entry is OK. FREE for dojo members and open for FREE to the community. 

All community members must follow dojo rules on consent, respect, kindness, and personal hygiene so as to contribute to cultivating a safe and healthy practice space for all.

5 Peaceful Community-Building Resistance Practices

Cultivating harmony under authoritarian pressures through satyagraha, musubi, irimi nage, tantric confrontation, and beginning anew.

“The purpose of Aikido training is not to create aggressive fighters but to refine wisdom and self-control.” – Mitsugi Saotome Shihan, The Principles of Aikido

“If we are obsessed with desire, we may very well create the opposite effect.” – Taisen Deshimaru, Mushotoku Mind: The Heart of the Heart Sutra

Achieving a sense of harmony in daily life has felt near impossible as our global and national societies fall deeper into polarized conflict. I’ve been asking myself: How can I stay true to my humanitarian values while protecting civil rights and pushing against oppressive forces? I want to resist authoritarian pressures, and I want to keep my moral integrity intact. Is it possible? I believe that cultivating harmony under authoritarian pressures – and creating a beloved community – is possible if one practices a series of techniques: 

  • Satyagraha (nonviolence)
  • Musubi (harmonious action)
  • Irimi nage (the courage to enter conflict)
  • Tantric confrontation (participatory forgiveness)
  • Beginning anew (restoring communication and relationships)

In this article, I unpack my interpretation of these nourishing methods. I hope readers find something that resonates. 

Satyagraha and Civil Rights Activism

When one thinks of resistance, it conjures media-pushed imagery of overdressed riot cops, dumpster fires, and brutal attacks. But let us remember that practicing peace is also a form of resistance. After all, Martin Luther King, Jr. was able to practice peace as resistance through nonviolent direct action. Dr. King was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi and practiced satyagraha: “Spiritual rather than physical force, in which adherence to truth is central; non-violent resistance.”1 

Dr. King describes the efficacy of satyagraha in his 1957 speech, “Birth of A New Nation,” about the Republic of Ghana gaining independence from British imperialism and colonial rule through consistent nonviolent protests and activism on March 6 that same year:

The aftermath of nonviolence is the creation of the beloved community. The aftermath of nonviolence is redemption. The aftermath of nonviolence is reconciliation. The aftermath of violence is emptiness and bitterness. Let us fight passionately and unrelentingly for the goals of justice and peace. But let’s be sure that our hands are clean in this struggle. Let us never fight with falsehood and violence and hate and malice, but always fight with love, so that when the day comes that the walls of segregation have completely crumbled in Montgomery, that we will be able to live with people as their brothers and sisters.2

Critics have argued that satyagraha is “unrealistic and incapable of universal success, since it relies upon a high standard of ethical conduct in the opponent, the representative of evil, and demands an unrealistically strong level of commitment from those struggling for social amelioration.” And that makes sense if practice is done with the goal of total perfection, which is unrealistic. From the Shingon Buddhist perceptive, precepts or vows are not promises: they are aspirations. So, if we do our best, that is what matters.

Practicing a version of satyagraha today may look like peaceful protesting; using the socratic method (i.e., asking questions with the intention of seeking clarity) to call in those acting with discord; or merely learning your own truths in terms of moral obligation to become more aligned with them when you think, speak, and act.

Musubi: Blending, Becoming, and Harmonizing with Others

Musubi is a fundamental principle of Aikido practice. In the dojo, at its most basic, musubi is when we blend our energy, actions, and mental state with the energy, actions, and mental state of our partner. It has been translated into English as meaning unity or harmonious interaction. 

In the Shinto religion of Japan, musubi is “the power of becoming or creation,” and “the creating and harmonizing powers,” which I think refers to the ever-expanding universe.

During the pandemic, one of the main teachers from our lineage at the NOLA Aikido dojo, Endo Seishiro Shihan, who is based at the Aikikai Hombu Dojo in Japan, wrote an open letter to students that mentioned musubi in a heartfelt allegory: 

…I have been training ‘Ki-musubi Aiki’ so that I can develop the ability to live and let live every moment with the partner (meaning the whole universe).

You are one and only, I too am one and only, and neither you nor I can be without the other.

All is connected. There has never been a time like now where we feel the connection of human beings, the closeness of the universe…

So if we combine all of these definitions, musubi is not only an Aikido principle or the act of harmonious blending: it is the ability to tap into universal interconnectedness, or what Thiền3 Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hahn called “interbeing.” Therefore, musubi is not a passive state of absorption, it is an active state of mind-body-sprit communication and perpetual union. Harnessing this constant-becoming unified flow state of musubi is foundational in practicing peace in community. And merely being curious about it will work well, too. 

The Esoteric Message of Peace in Irimi Nage

Practicing irimi (entering) nage (throw) demonstrates one of the clearest paths to peace on the Aikido mats. The first part of this basic technique allows for the uke (attacker) and nage (peace maker) to eventually face the same direction to see the same world ahead. In my lineage, the lesson runs deeper: not only do the uke and nage see the same thing, they share the same reality and are brought into the mindset of expanding their perceptions to include a mutuality that was originally unknown until they stood parallel. This is because they started by facing each other, and as nage enters, going behind uke to challenge their balance, they become side-by-side.

A secondary lesson here is that it takes the courage of nage to enter the confrontation initiated by uke for this deeper understanding of perspective to happen. Therefore, without the courage to enter a volatile situation, peace and reconciliation may not be possible. 

It’s important to note that the nonaggressive approach to irimi nage at NOLA Aikido and at Vanadis Aikido in Stockholm4 stands out against the most common demonstrations online. We do not grab the head of our attacker, for instance, and I think that’s because doing so contradicts the Aikido aspiration to maintain harmony.

Tantric Confrontation Instead of Conflict Perpetuation

This concept of bravery leading to resolution can be taken a step further with the practice of tantric confrontation: the act of approaching someone who has wronged you and inviting them to be vulnerable and actively participate in the forgiveness process. This is the opposite of allowing a conflict to exist endlessly. 

Around the time I experimented with this practice, my estranged and homeless father had died of emphysema-related heart failure. Needless to say, things were left unsaid and unresolved. I feared my intimate relationships would be doomed forever because there was no way for us to reconcile. I wondered if I could somehow transform my grief and frustration into reconciliation, and thus began my journey.

Fortunately, I had also learned about trauma-informed care and adverse childhood experiences at this time, which inspired me to interview my father’s siblings. I found out he had endured a lot of childhood trauma that led to his life of substance abuse and crime. I even had psychiatric and legal evidence of it, including pages of his DUI report on that old perforated accordion paper for dox matrix printers. 

It took a lot of effort and investigation, but I finally was able to lay to rest the hungry ghost my father left behind. This was one of the most profound moments in my entire life of stubbornly seeking peace, and I hold onto it as a hopeful reminder for when peace feels impossible.

Beginning Anew

When someone is still alive, the ancient practice of beginning anew can restore and strengthen social bonds. These practices are outlined in Beginning Anew: Four Steps to Restoring Communication by Sister Chân Không. Practitioners from the time of the Buddha practiced a version of beginning anew at the onset of every full moon and new moon, according to Thich Nhat Hahn. The four steps are simple but not easy:

  1. Flower Watering: Share what you sincerely appreciate about the other person(s). This helps stop the potential of taking people for granted. 
  2. Say Your Regrets: State what you know you have said harshly or done that was unkind. This helps build a habit of self-reflection, expressing remorse, and thus creates an opportunity for deeper understanding.
  3. Express Your Pain: Say what others did to hurt you. Name it but with loving speech. This helps teach people, and ourselves, our triggers and how to be kinder to us.
  4. Hugging Meditation: This is something added in modern times to unite East and West. Embrace with genuine care, if there is mutual consent to do so. 

Participation in these steps helps cultivate skillfulness through compassionate listening and loving speech. I wish everyone in the entire world would study and practice these teachings. I truly believe if we regularly followed these steps in everyday life, we’d be a happier society because we’d be more respectful, intuitive, and kind-hearted toward one another.

The cover of Beginning Anew, a book mentioned in the text.

Practicing peace instead of fighting each other is the ultimate form of resistance. As cultural critic Noam Chomsky points out in The Prosperous Few And the Restless Many, namely in the chapter “Divide and Conquer,” separating groups and inflaming pre-existing rivalries instead of resolving them is how imperialist governments strategically manipulate the masses. But let us remember that it is through practicing self-control that we can prevent behaving foolishly toward one another and being manipulated by power structures.

Practicing satyagraha, musubi, irimi nage, tantric confrontation, and beginning anew are all ways to challenge the polarization foisted upon us by the authoritarian takeover in the United States. I truly hope readers find something worthwhile from these peaceful approaches to resistance. I encourage folks to integrate what they glean from these peace-giving strategies into their everyday lives so that we may all co-exist peacefully, respectfully, and with humble dignity.

  1. Oxford Dictionary. ↩︎
  2. Transcript: https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/birth-new-nation-sermon-delivered-dexter-avenue-baptist-church. ↩︎
  3.  The Vietnamese school of Zen Buddhism. ↩︎
  4. The dojo of my main teacher’s teachers in Vanadis Aikido in Stockholm, Sweden. My main Aikido sensei is Brian Levy Sensei. Two of his teachers (Shihan) are Jan Nevelius Shihan and Jorma Lyly Shihan. I have had the fortune of practicing with them both, and they are very powerful but soft. Our style reminds me of my cat showing his strength and choosing not to use it. ↩︎

Kan Vision: A Way To Cultivate Harmony and Compassion

The cultivation of kan vision is a regular practice in aikido. Kan vision is when you expand your sight beyond what is right in front of you (ken vision). The practice builds a hyper-awareness of your periphery, but it doesn’t stop there.

Studying kan vision as a novice has revealed to me that overall awareness, and radical compassion, can be increased the more one magnifies visual capability.

When kan vision was introduced to me as a concept in the NOLA Aikido dojo, the class was instructed to widen our vision to perceive not only the shomen (front of the dojo) ahead, but also the ceiling above, the mats below, and the walls on either side of us. Bonus points if you can feel what is behind you.

This aspect of kan vision practice reminds me of when I studied juvenile corrections in junior college. We did exercises that imitated police officer training, which tested peripheral vision in the context of quickly analyzing crime scenes and writing police reports based on the memory of these scenes. I discovered that focusing on peripheral vision enables the recall of details beyond an average scope. It also allowed me to immediately sense potential risks of harm. However, this is merely the external practice of kan vision. Beyond the surface, there’s a deeper life-altering sensory development that occurs.

With the unfettered freshness of a beginner’s mind — known as shoshin in Zen practice — I’ve allowed myself to extend kan’s amplification of view beyond stretching literal sight. Kan vision is also a way to enhance perspective.

In the book Vibration and Connection: The Aikido That I Pursue, Endo Seishiro Shihan says, “Think, execute, see, and feel broadly during aikido keiko [discipline, i.e. regular practice].” Likewise, in the aikido dojo, we are instructed to practice softly, which also stems from the guidance of Endo Shihan. This makes me wonder if, as an internal practice, kan awakens the ability to comprehend and experience the Buddhist concept of sunyata, or interconnectedness, firsthand. If so, then kan’s sense of interrelatedness can bring both aikido and Buddhism into everyday life. 

In the Spirit of Aikido by Ueshiba Kisshōmaru Dōshu, he talks about “the working of kan” as being an “intuitive quality” only achieved after years of training, in the context of sword making. Apparently a German scientist was unable to replicate the Japanese formula for crafting swords because there was a special ingredient missing, which Ueshiba Doshu called kan. He likens kan to a mix of single-minded concentration and spiritual wisdom only emergent after diligent practice. This references the internal process of kan insight.

Since practicing kan vision, I have developed not only a sensitivity to seeing widely but also a sensitivity to my surroundings. A sensitivity that reaches further than physical spaces. Subtle nuances in people’s moods or the vibe in a room appear even more obvious to me now.

I have used this newfound kan acumen as a way to de-escalate conflict, avoid harmful scenarios, and navigate emotionally charged incidents. Kan has helped me intuitively move through difficult circumstances, and without stoking present dangers.

When practicing kan, it becomes easier to read situations and people. This means kan is also a way to become more thoughtful toward others. Elongating circumferential view via kan practice eventually transforms to the practice of harmonizing with other people and your environment. Partly because it grows your sense of empathy. Therefore, kan is one way to practice the Buddhist concept of upaya-kausalya or skillful means. 

Kan opens the eyes and mind, broadens spiritual practice, and increases capacity for empathy because kan is foundational in the development of harmony and compassion.

A version of this essay originally appeared at: https://nolaaikido.com/nola-aikido-monthly-newsletter-june-2022/