Living
in a city known for its dizzying array of events, festivals, and good times, it
can be easy to lose your center. Robert Brian Levy Sensei, founder of NOLAAikido, operates his Aikido dojo in Mid-City to
reconnect practitioners with themselves, their communities, and their own sense
of peace.
A
native Louisianan, Levy moved back to New Orleans in 2007 when he couldn’t
shake the feeling that “the city could use some balance at a time of so much
instability.” After the devastation of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, it
seemed more pertinent than ever to bring more Aikido to the New Orleans
community, a martial art that focuses on “creating harmony out of discord.”
Hoping to be a part of its holistic recovery, Levy put into practice his
knowledge gained from Aikido teachers both in the US and abroad, having studied
for many years in California, Oklahoma, Sweden, and Japan.Living in a city
known for its dizzying array of events, festivals, and good times, it can be
easy to lose your center. Robert Brian Levy Sensei, founder of NOLAAikido, operates his Aikido dojo in Mid-City to
reconnect practitioners with themselves, their communities, and their own sense
of peace.
At
times misunderstood, the martial art of Aikido is “not about striking or
kicking,” Levy states, nor “does one have to be buff or male to practice it.”
In fact, Aikido is about “learning to redirect aggression, compassionately
turning destructive and violent forces into peace in both the aggressor and
[the victim],” says Levy, “and [transferring violent actions] to a place where
those forces are no longer dangerous to either party.”
At NOLA Aikido’s dojo in Mid-City, Levy shares the art of
Aikido with male and female students of all ages and sizes. Rather than a show
of brute strength or blunt force, Aikido is “not about breaking things, but
about using your body effectively.” In fact, the varied pupils improve one
another as they interact throughout class, learning to “work with others’
personalities, emotions, and reactions, rather than avoiding them.”
Transcending
physicality, Aikido aims to transform hostile thoughts into peaceful and
productive choices and actions, encouraging its followers to “think deeply
about their actions, reactions, and what kind of life [they] want to lead.”
Likening inner conflicts and personal fears to “self-attacks,” Levy finds that
Aikido strengthens more than the body, but also the mind, improving
practitioners’ sense of calm and balance, and ultimately their intra- and
interpersonal skills.
Beyond
his Mid-City dojo, Levy hopes to share NOLA Aikido’s emphasis
on “peace and harmony through movement” with as many students as possible.
Following in its democratic tradition as an inclusive and interactive art, NOLA Aikido shares methods of non-violence conflict
resolution at local schools, seminars, and festivals in an effort to mitigate
violence within the city.
Steadily
evolving to include more practitioners seeking to create harmony out of
discord, NOLA Aikido’s dojo becomes a stronger family, and
shapes stronger communities, as students interact and learn more about
themselves and one another. Levy hopes to continue growing his dojo and the New
Orleans community through the healing art of Aikido, helping to reconnect
ourselves with one another and with our own spirits, one peaceful movement at a
time.
NOLA Aikido is located in Mid-City at 3909 Bienville
Street, Suite 103. To pursue peace through movement, visit
NOLA Aikido’s website at
www.nolaaikido.com or
call their dojo: (504) 208-4861.
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