Two Cranes Institute

Mission

Two Cranes Institute uses the principles of aikido to promote nonviolence and cultivate peaceful solutions to conflict by empowering individuals of all ages to encourage/seek compassion, and diffuse conflict in all the settings of modern life. 

Description

Through aikido training, one cultivates self-awareness, resiliency and a calm spirit. Movements that begin as basic self-defense techniques later become intuitive responses to resolving conflict within ourselves and our surrounding environment. As our world becomes more technology driven, we have fewer opportunities to practice or understand the vast range of communications expressed through the physical body. Two Cranes Institute offers training that instills compassion and diffuses conflict by leveraging the reflective and somatic principles of aikido. Whether applied to negotiations, forging new partnerships, facilitating teamwork, teaching children and teens or navigating high-stress environments, these methods help individuals perform effectively under pressure with emotional resilience and mental acuity. We practice how to access and deepen intuitive knowledge, develop trust and create enduring partnerships. Together, we explore ways to build bridges even when the odds may be against harmony.

With your help, Two Cranes will expand its practice and social impact beyond our studio walls. We are developing programs for a broad range of populations to help strengthen social emotional health and resolve conflicts in ways that are respectful and caring. Your donation today will support staff who can bring the art of peace to a larger community and secure our home. 

Two Cranes Institute (TCI) offers programs for children, teens and adults that promote nonviolence and cultivate harmonious solutions to conflict. In addition to aikido practice, we deliver trainings to study and transform embodied trauma responses in relational contexts to address fear, alienation and powerlessness. We build more resilient communities by providing strategies for compassionate leadership and empowerment within the Puget Sound community and beyond. TCI offers classes seven days a week.

TCI can also bring this training to people in the familiar context of their own organizations. Through solo and paired practices, opportunities arise to develop new patterns of engagement, to reshape the flow of energy and create more effective responses to potentially difficult situations. Our training offers immediate feedback, with honest communication and sustainable embodied results.

"Aikido manages to be a mutual act that both preserves one's own identity, but also dispels the aggression of all parties involved peacefully, without repercussion."--Teen Student, Two Cranes Aikido

As we return to training in person, students are realizing the profound value of training together rather than on a digital platform. There’s sense of energy and harmony people experience when they come together in a group around a shared purpose. This "collective effervescence" is the synchrony one feels when they slide into rhythm with strangers on a dance floor, colleagues in a brainstorming session, or teammates on a soccer field. And during this pandemic, it’s been largely absent from our lives.

Two Cranes Institute is pursuing enduring community benefits by developing our building at 8512 20th Ave NE to present an additional 7,000+ square feet for a multi-use environment where communities can gather. We' hope to engage with partners who may share a similar interest in developing resources for the Maple Leaf/Lake City community area.

For more information on the Two Cranes Aikido program visit: www.twocranesaikido.com