We came together on the 20&21 April to practice Leadership Presence around the question: What if you didn’t live reactively to what life is throwing at you?
We had the incomparable Anita Paalvast with us – a 4th Dan blackbelt in AiKiDo, with long experience working in risk management for banks, and in blending personal and collaborative practices with the working world.
First step: learn to recognise our physical manifestations and reactions. Then – center ourselves! This taught us to keep a clear mind even under stress. Impressively – being centered turned out to be far stronger than resisting – and didn’t take energy! Ultimately, the goal was to go beyond our habitual fight/flight/freeze reactions and call on more wise and appropriate responses – even in the heat of the moment.
“It’s not that I don’t get off centre. I correct so fast no one can tell.”
Morihei Ueshiba
Then Anita provoked triggering situations for us by asking us each to think of the most triggering phrases we knew. Our partners would ask us that, and we had to repeatedly center ourselves in the face of the trigger. So difficult… And then – surprise! – she had us practice with wooden swords. Decisive strokes for clarity. Not aggressive, but strong.
A thoroughly empowering two days – and the learnings have stuck with us.
“Thank you Anita, that was a great course. I learned so much. I now have the tools to be more aware and centered. I would really recommend it.”
Smruti Patel
Here are some pictures of the day (too few! we were too engaged…) as well as our Leadership Presence Brochure – Leadership Presence Leaflet
We offer this programme on demand.
