‘The way of harmonious energy’

Kevin Peters Unrau practises Aikido martial art

October 8, 2014 | God at work in Us
By Dave Rogalsky | Eastern Canada Correspondent
Kevin Peters Unrau, right, sits with Stephan Barton, his teacher, on the day Unrau achieved his first-level black belt in Aikido. (Photo courtesy of Kevin Unrau Peters)

Kevin Peters Unrau thinks that the Mennonite Church has gotten Jesus wrong. When Jesus calls on his followers to “not resist evildoers” in Matthew 5:39, many Mennonites have turned to nonviolent resistance. Unrau, however, has turned to Aikido, the martial art of using someone else’s energy to move past them.

Aikido differs from other martial arts in that it is not a warrior art, but, instead, focusses on “blending” with someone who considers a person a target. Practitioners of Aikido are taught to never consider someone an enemy.

The story is told in Aikido circles of a practitioner who was confronted by a drunk and violent man on a train. Thinking this was his chance to prove his prowess, he egged the drunk man on to attack him. As the drunk man complied, an old man sitting on the side called out to him, and with conversation went to the heart of why the man was drinking: loneliness and grief. Within a minute, the belligerent drunk was sitting by the old man weeping into his lap. The original practitioner knew that he had just watched a master of “blending” and harmonious energy, and that his own attempt had gone against the founder of Aikido’s principles.

Unrau, one of the pastors at Hillcrest Mennonite Church in New Hamburg, Ont., says he began practising Aikido to “lose weight, get fit and deal with anxiety.” While not all the items on his list have been met, he has found many benefits during his seven-year practice of Aikido.

“The first thing you learn is how to fall,” he says, so as to not hurt yourself or your partner for the day. And then “blending” has helped him to think about what his partner in front of him needs, and what he already has at his disposal, in order to live a more balanced life. He finds that he has many conversations about spirituality with his fellow practitioners as they prepare for, or clean up after, a practice session.

O Sensei, the founder of Aikido, believed that “blending” was to be done with others, and with the universe itself, learning how to work with creation and with other human beings, to create a safe and whole place for all. The physical practice develops the thought patterns. Unrau explains.

Unrau’s two sons practise it with him and he sees them developing Aikido’s thought patterns. Learning to “blend” with your partner is a deep learning in yieldedness, he says. The practices, he adds, make him think, plan, notice others and predict what is coming next. It is a very mindful practice, similar to many forms of contemplative prayer, according to Unrau, who adds that being fully present in his body makes him present in the now, rather than anxious about the past or future.

Of his practicing a Japanese martial art, Unrau says that his congregants are mostly curious, but not confrontational. He suspects that some who have concerns are not voicing them. But his practice of a martial art has deepened his own commitment to nonviolence and pacifism, and he believes it has made him a better pastor. 

--Posted Oct. 8, 2014

Kevin Peters Unrau, right, sits with Stephan Barton, his teacher, on the day Unrau achieved his first-level black belt in Aikido. (Photo courtesy of Kevin Unrau Peters)

Kevin Peters Unrau, in white, takes his test to achieve his first-level black belt in Aikido. (Photo courtesy of Kevin Unrau Peters)

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