In the dojo, the Instructor asks:
“When you push, what pushes back?”
The student answers: “The wall, the partner, the world.”
The Instructor smiles. “No. You.”
Paradox is the hidden gate of leadership.
But what is it that makes impossibility into possibility?
What flips tension into release?
What turns me into we?
When effort narrows you, what happens if you extend instead?
When you cling to control, what happens to your power?
When you chase the future, does it run toward you — or away from you?
If strength comes from relaxing completely, how do you relax in the very moment you feel pressure?
If freedom comes from keeping one point, how can stillness unlock motion?
If giving everything leaves you with more, what does that say about the true source of Ki?
Are the flips many, or one?
If every paradox dissolves a boundary, then what boundary remains?
If ego shrinks the circle of care, what expands it?
The Koan of Paradox
The wall does not resist you.
The partner does not resist you.
Only you resist you.
When you release that resistance, when you flip through paradox, Ki flows. Circles of care widen. Leadership becomes less about the ego’s reach and more about the boundless extension of life itself.
⛩️🖥️
A Bow of Respect
This reflection bows in gratitude to two masters of the Way:
- Koichi Tohei Sensei, whose Ki in Daily Life reveals how Ki flows when we align mind and body.
- Ginny Whitelaw Rōshi, whose Zen Leader shows how paradox can expand the Self beyond ego.
May their teachings continue to guide our practice.
