There is a particular warm up exercise that most aikido practitioners do before starting their training. This particular movement, however, also seems to encapsulate nearly everything there is to know about the art. And the principles that underpin this movement can, if you’re willing, have significant reverberations in other aspects of your life as well.
The movement is called “tenkan.” Literally translated into English, the word means “to convert or divert.” The physical movement is straightforward–at least in principle. You stand, one foot in front of the other, with the hand of your forward foot extended. (There are significant variations as to exactly how your feet should be placed, and exactly how your hand should be extended. But these variations mean little to you if you aren’t actively practicing the art.) In a fluid, controlled motion, you pivot from this initial position 180 degrees, then take a step backwards. You then reverse the movement, taking a step forwards (and switching to extend your other hand), pivoting in the opposite direction. To the uninitiated, the movement looks a little silly, almost dance-like.
Beneath the surface of this movement, however, is a torrent of activity and thought. Tenkan, as the name implies, is intended to do two things simultaneously: (1) divert an opponent’s movement around you, and (2) convert that movement into something that is no longer a threat. To successfully do a tenkan turn requires complete engagement throughout your body. Fail to extend your arm and it will collapse when your opponent enters your space. Fail to ground your legs and feet and you will only divert yourself–flailing around your opponent in an uncontrolled fashion. The movement becomes even more complicated when your working with a training partner. Now, you have the momentum and power of someone else to consider. This is where the “convert” part of the movement comes into play. What will you do with this energy? Can you simply dissipate it, and do so in such a way that you reduce your opponent’s ability to harm you to zero? Can you use it, powering your own movement to send your opponent flying away from you? And these choices are but two extremes–there are many other options that could be available to you, depending on your skill and your intention.
Over my 20+ years studying aikido, I have come to see many exercises and techniques, like tenkan, less as mere movements and more crucial decisions. This is because you should not let your opponent dictate your actions. Rather, your opponent is simply one set of data points that you should use to make a decision as to whether converting and diverting them is necessary. (Other options include, but are not limited to, your environment, your individual health at this moment, or your ultimate objectives.) When viewed as a choice, as opposed to a movement, an exercise, or–worst of all–a reaction, tenkan becomes an incredibly powerful statement to shape and accomplish your objectives.
It is at this intersection between physical action and mental commitment that the ideas of tenkan transforms beyond a simple martial art technique into something far more useful. For example, consider a typical day at work. Whether you are an individual contributor or a manager, nearly every day you will find yourself faced with the unexpected. Perhaps a team, in their enthusiasm to make their launch date, neglected to tell you of a crucial deadline, and now everyone is panicked that you’ll cause their release date to slip. Maybe a customer changed their acceptance requirements for a new feature. And maybe your CI/CD pipeline has just decided to fail without warning or explanation.
During these admittedly stressful situations, tenkan becomes incredibly useful. But before we get into how it is useful, there is an important point to remember. In all of these situations–and in the numerous other situations too long to list here–none of these events involve an actual opponent or enemy. That product team? They had the best of intentions. That customer? They have pressures of their own to deal with. And a CI/CD pipeline has all sorts of dependencies –sometimes, something just breaks. Part of understanding tenkan–any aikido movement, really–involves the eventual discovery that looking at a situation merely in the context of conflict is inaccurate at best. Only by being fully present in the moment, objectively observing what is happening, can you make the right decision for you or your team.
With that in mind, tenkan becomes very useful indeed. You can identify how to convert the situation into something beneficial to all involved. You can partner with the product team. You can use your customer’s changing demands as an opportunity to deepen your relationship with them. And you can use the downtime of your CI/CD pipeline to make your workflwos even more resilient in the future. And you can do these things without unnecessary confrontation or animosity.
True, tenkan is not easy. It takes practice focus, and many instances of failure before you find the implementation that works for you. More importantly, you also need to learn when you think tenkan is appropriate, and when a different tool or idea makes more sense. But, discovering how to employ tenkan in your every day life can help you increase productivity, decrease stress, and reduce the negative effects of confrontation.
AikiThoughts 