Using Martial Arts for Corporate Conflict

Maybe it's a co-worker, or an employee or your boss-whenever you talk it seems to end up in a shouting match, with people saying things they don't mean. Safe to say, you're not handling the conflict well.

Judy Ringer, a Portsmouth-based consultant who runs Power & Presence Training, has made a career of helping people deal with conflict, but with a martial arts twist. Ringer practices and teaches Aikido, a form of martial art that is focused on using an attacker's own energy to gain control of them or to physically throw them away from you. It's not about pairing off and trying to slam your boss to the mat.

Aikido teaches techniques ranging from breathing exercises that help people center themselves during times of stress or conflict to actually practicing Aikido movements on the mat. I teach people how to physically center themselves and become connected to their best selves and what they want from the conversation or the relationship, Ringer says. She focuses on teaching how to turn conflict into a productive conversation. The physical aspect of Aikido training helps teach this.

Aikido is [an] effective teaching tool; it analyzes the type of attack, Ringer says. If someone is throwing a punch, you move out of the way and use (their energy) to immobilize that opponent. You don't use a power position to harm.

While she has a dojo in Portsmouth where she teaches Aikido, Ringer is also a sought-after consultant. Most of her work is done with small groups and teams within companies, but she also coaches individuals. Ringer has been asked to help companies nationwide and in Canada.

In Aikido, the idea is to see an attack is a gift of energy, Ringer says. What I love about that saying is you get to decide on the receiving end if you are going to see it as something you can use and redirect.

Ringer says there is so much in our daily lives we cannot control that it is important to remember you can control your reaction to what life throws at you. Conflict is a place where people feel stuck and feel a loss of control. I help people to get their power back, she says. For more information, visit www.judyringer.com