Aikido has taught me far more than just physical technique. It has taught me the art of the mental pivot and the rhetorical sword cut – both of which I have had to deploy in situations that, perhaps, have not been violent to my person, but have certainly been assaultive to my psyche. The practice is and must be artful, because life is a battlefield, whether we want to face that or not. And surviving battle is tantamount to artistry of the highest order.