By Julie Moreland 
As another new year begins, I found myself asking this question, so I thought I would explore it. When I think about this term of resistance, I wanted to also explore what might be the opposite energy of receptiveness. The term resistance seems to push against while receptiveness seems to move toward something. As I considered these terms, the first thing that came to mind is the martial art of Aikido.
Definition: Aikido focuses not on punching or kicking opponents, but rather on using their own energy to gain control of them or to throw them away from you. It is not a static art, but places great emphasis on motion and the dynamics of movement.
http://www.aikidofaq.com/introduction.html
Through the Lens of Aikido
My interpretation of this is that we need to move energy toward where we want it to go instead of pushing energy against something coming at us. I also think this suggests that we’re not supposed to be complacent and passive in our lives, but rather we need to use our power for good for ourselves, the ones we love, and the world.
There are many other physical martial arts that are more aggressive where your goal is to strike out and push to be stronger than your opponent. With Aikido, however, you diffuse the aggression coming at you and literally use that energy and yours together to pull them around to your side and at least for a moment view life as you see it from the same perspective. It seems like this is not a manipulative move, but one that just diffuses attack and allows a moment of energy flow in one direction.
Applying the Aikido Principle
Let’s look at some areas where this principle might be applied:
- Marketing and Press – Oh my…this one is powerful for sure. I’m sure many of us have heard the phrase “there is no bad press?” The advertising agencies and press LOVE when a story goes viral because it means that their client has their name in the media getting constant exposure. Social Media has created a term called “Impressions” and that is the number of times your name or Twitter Handle or #term has been used or referenced. If we look through the lens of the Aikido way, would it not suggest that the minute we start tweeting, writing, talking, Facebook sharing our energy to create what we want, we eliminate resistance for what we don’t like or what we want to stop? The action to support this would be to become more conscious about what we share via social media to make sure it is supporting what we want to create rather than pushing against what we’re trying to stop.
- Our Economic Situation – We have certainly been through some tough times in the last few years. It seems like we’ve often heard the question “How can we stop shipping jobs and manufacturing to other countries?” There is that word “stop” which is a resistance word. What would happen if we started asking, “How can we create jobs and manufacturing for ourselves and our local community?” The Aikido way suggests that the minute we start focusing our energy to create what we want, we eliminate resistance towards what we don’t want. The action to support this would be to become more conscious about what we purchase and make sure it is supporting what we want versus what we’re trying to stop happening.
- Weight Loss and Health – In this case our opponent is ourselves and not some outside force of economics or media. In applying the Aikido way here, we must find words to use with ourselves that will not build resistance but instead create flow towards the positive outcome that we are hoping for. Instead of “I need to lose weight” or “I am overweight,” we can use affirmative phrases. These might be: “I will maintain a healthy weight for my body” or “I choose to eat healthy foods.” Again the Aikido way suggests that we focus on what we envision we want for ourselves not what we want to resist or quit doing.
If we look at the three examples above, the common theme is to focus on the energy and result we want…NOT the problem or issue we see or feel we would like to stop. So let’s go out there and kick some Aikido booty with a smile on our face and move the energy toward what we desire. Let’s keep our energetic flow in a positive direction.
About the Author
Julie Moreland
President, PeopleClues, Reiki Healer, Speaker
Julie is a 22-year entrepreneur and business owner for PeopleClues.com in the Psychometric industry where behavioral science is used to measure people’s strengths and match them to jobs and careers that are rewarding. Her path has led her to fuse psychology, technology and business objectives to create a rewarding fit for both individuals and the organizations they work with. As an expert blogger for FastCompany.com, her blogs are a regular series on their Leadership page. Her love for understanding human behavior, learning what drives joyful and meaningful work and her love for animals led Julie to begin the study and practice of Reiki in 2010 as well as the study of Animal Communication. In addition, Julie loves taking the curves of the beautiful Northern California wine country on her Harley Sportster 1200. She looks forward to continuing her studies of healing modalities and creating joyful energy for herself, for others and for animals.