Sports icons Jackie Joyner Kersee and Mia Hamm celebrate aikido expert Wendy Palmer.
Through her Leadership Embodiment technique, Palmer helps others learn how to be centered under pressure and how to speak, take action, and be powerful without being aggressive. Using aikido as a tool, Palmer helps students in South Africa—and elsewhere—learn how to better live, work, and relate to one another.
Aikido does have a great influence on my life outside of the dojo (= workout room). It helps me to stay relaxed not only during practice sessions, but in my day-to-day life too. Combining it with conscious breathing, I have learned to overcome stressful situations and remain calm in all kinds of conflicts.
Each training session is about two hours long. It starts with breathing and stretching, followed by rolling exercises to prepare the body for the following throws and rolls. In aikido, you often practice with your partner, or occasionally with a small group, but never against each other. Closing with breathing exercises, we thank each other for the communal practice at the end.
Aikido even allows for personal development. Generally, I’m a very ambitious person – I tend to show up with a lot of motivation and ambition. Aikido teaches us that the important thing is not being better than others; it’s all about mutual progress and community. This makes any competitiveness redundant and, as a result, I now tend to search for my own way instead of comparing myself to others.
See the YouTube video here.
