Word-Dancing Together Towards Noble Outcomes

Podcast Conversation on Embodiment and Communication - I was interviewed on 23 February 2026 by Jon Di Luca for his podcast Ki to the City , hosted on Substack. The conversation explores aikido as an embodied language of interaction and reflects on how practice-based knowledge can inform research and professional communication training. Across the episode, we discuss how aikido can be understood not only as a martial art but as a structured system of interactional meaning-making. Movement, timing, attention, and relational positioning function as communicative resources that shape how people engage with little common ground because of differences, tension, and challenges. Approached in this way, aikido offers a lens on communication that extends beyond verbal language and cognitive models. Ki to the City: Podcast by Jon Di Luca The dialogue also connects directly with themes central to my research and teaching: embodied learning, multimodal communication, and the development of profess...

One of the most consistent learning outcomes in our mixed-methods study on aikido-based communication training was tranquillity . Not tranquillity as relaxation, but as a trainable form of self-regulation that directly affects how people communicate. Tranquillity is a skill The following excerpt is taken word for word from our article: Qualitative analysis of the observations, transcripts, and surveys showed that tranquility was a highly popular learning gain in the aikido-embodied groups. Nora (Aikido-Embodied Group A) reported how she benefitted from learning tranquility skills through posture and breathwork: ‘Working on my grounding and breathing to communicate from a stronger position and thus have better conversations. Applied twice already with brilliant results.’ Louise (Aikido-Embodied Group A) shared that she used tranquility in her daily communication at work, adding her catchline in capital letters: ‘CENTERING AND ATTENTION TO THE LOWER ABDOMEN.’ During the plenary feedbac...