An observer (Alison), recently described our free-form practice as “chaos aikido”. I thought this was a fitting and apt title. The obviously unpredictable quality of the practice really typifies “emergent” phenomena – “the arising of novel and coherent structures, patterns and properties during the process of self-organization in complex systems.”( Jeffrey Goldstein).

One of the delights for me is how the practice is by it nature emergent and self generating. I don’t have to think “what shall I do next?”. The is a constant fountain of new “material” spewing from the “between” of of the practicing participants.

For me Freeform practice fulfills the promise of O’Senseis Take Musu Aiki – the spontaneous creative experience of Aiki .

Goldstein, Jeffrey (1999), “Emergence as a Construct: History and Issues”, Emergence: Complexity and Organization 1: 49-72