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Michael Veltri
The Mushin Way to Peak Performance
The Mushin Way to Peak Performance
The Path to Productivity, Balance, and Success
Michael Veltri
Cover design: Wiley
Copyright © 2017 by Michael Veltri. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Names: Veltri, Michael, author.
Title: The mushin way to peak performance: the path to productivity, balance, and success / Michael Veltri.
Description: Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., [2016] | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016044309 | ISBN 9781119285250 (cloth) | ISBN 9781119285267 (epdf) | ISBN 9781119285274 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Aikido – Psychological aspects. | Aikido – Philosophy. | Performance. | Problem solving. | Success.
Classification: LCC GV1114.35 .V45 2016 | DDC 796.815/4 – dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016044309
INTRODUCTION
THE AIKIDO WAY
The soldier and martial artist Morihei Ueshiba was about to die.
Ueshiba was in Inner Mongolia on a mission of peace, traveling through a remote mountain pass when, suddenly, he and his party were ambushed. Their enemies – Chinese Nationalist soldiers and armed bandits – made a sudden attack, firing weapons as Ueshiba's party scattered, looking for cover in the bare mountains.
Surrounded, outnumbered, Ueshiba prepared himself for death. He drew on the reserves of mental strength he had built in years of martial arts practice, military service, and Buddhist studies. Despite the ambush, a strange calmness came over him. He later described the moment this way:
“I could not move from where I stood. So when the bullets came flying toward me, I simply twisted my body and moved my head…I could see pebbles of white light flashing just before the bullets. I avoided them by twisting and turning my body, and they barely missed me.”1
Ueshiba had spent years training in the martial art of aiki-jutsu, a brutal self-defense system that evolved out of classical Japanese swordsmanship. For the samurai, life and death were determined on the battlefield in milliseconds, with razor-sharp swords. Aiki-jutsu was the samurai's last line of self-defense; if he lost his sword, he could still fight with his empty hands.
But, in the early twentieth century, after his experience in Inner Mongolia, Ueshiba took the martial tradition of aiki-jutsu and created aikido (pronounced “eye-key-doe”), also called the “art of peace,” “meditation in motion,” or “moving Zen.” Over the years, he had come to realize that success in martial arts comes not only from physical discipline but also from a deep calmness similar to what he felt on the mountain pass. Of that moment when time stopped, he said:
“The calmer I became, the clearer my mind became. I could intuitively see the thoughts, including the violent intentions, of the other. The calm mind is like the quiet center of a spinning top; because of the calm center, the top is able to spin smoothly and rapidly. It almost seems to be standing still. This is the clarity of mind and body that I experienced.”2
Out of life-or-death combat came a moment of clarity; out of the art of war came a discipline of peace. Because of this foundation, aikido training emphasizes developing the student's inner strength, indomitable spirit, and deep awareness – of self and others.
The Modern Battlefield
While most of us today do not have to confront angry groups of armed bandits, we face our own type of combat in the workplace. Our world is rapidly changing, and decisions often have to be made against a background of incomplete information, ambiguity, and competing interests. It is harder and harder for most of us to see clearly through the thickets of conflicting information, to avoid distraction, to understand what the real goals are, and to discern how to achieve them.
Over the course of this book, you will learn how to filter out the noise in your life in order to create the kind of clarity that allowed master Ueshiba, often called “O-Sensei,” to literally dodge bullets. Guided by the Japanese concept of mushin (pronounced “moo-sheen”), which literally means “no-mind” and can further be defined as “no-fear” or “no-distractions,” you'll learn to clear your mind to find the certainty and confidence you need to make empowered decisions when the pace is fast, the stakes are high, and the outcome unclear. You will learn to develop and harness your powers of inner strength, indomitable spirit, and deep awareness – of self and others.
When it is time to do battle, in the conference room or in a tense meeting, or when you are making high-risk decisions, you will discover that aikido's principles can help you do the impossible: turn certain defeat into true victory. What's more, this book will demonstrate how every conflict, every challenge, is a chance to win a new supporter by seeking harmony and balance. This is what I mean by The Mushin Way: it's an approach to life that's grounded in the kind of harmony and mindfulness that clears the way for quick, decisive action.
What Is Aikido?
The Japanese word aikido is made up of three kanji characters: ai (
