Refining Awareness

On this episode of “Ki to the City,” we dive into one of our most candid and courageous conversations yet, featuring Matt Gano, a long-time student of Koichi Barrish Sensei.Despite engaging in some profoundly insightful conversations with Barrish Sensei, and having the honor of attending (online) his Chouhai morning prayer sessions on the weekends, I’ve yet to have the fortune of ever directly training with him.Matt gives us a panoramic view of what it was like to discover Aikido by chancing upon the dojo of this amazing Sensei and wonderful human being.Matt’s journey into Aikido began, as many do, with a search for self-defense, but has evolved into something much deeper: a search for awareness. He’s come to the understanding that we are all expressions of nature, and our practice is the dedicated process of refining that awareness and expression.We ruminate on the numerous allusions O Sensei made to Aikido being expressed most clearly in nature, which led to a long, but highly infotaining (I promise) digression into the behavioral intelligence of crows and ravens and our own personal experiences trying to befriend members of the corvid family.Matt views his struggles with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and social anxiety through the lens of training, considering difficult experiences like appearing on this podcast as a form of practice – shugyo in daily life.His unique insights provide another timely reminder that Aikido is far more than just a set of physical techniques; it’s a therapeutic exercise and a vital source of strength for navigating the complexities of modern life.I could write much more about the deep, frank, open, lively, joyful conversation we had, but I want you to listen to the episode!If you’d like to read some of Matt’s impressions on Aikido and life, please visit Aikiweb.com, where you can find his writing.(I tried to post the link, but as we talk about in the episode, I always have trouble accessing Aikiweb. My computer told me to “delete my cookies”. I don’t even know what that means. Sorry.) Get full access to Ki to the City at kitothecity.substack.com/subscribe