Diversity & Inclusivity at Open Sky

Last modified March 2022

Open Sky Martial Arts grounds its practice and community values in the philosophies of Aikido and Chen style Tai Chi.

At Open Sky, inclusivity is fundamental to these practices. Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido, wrote “Everyone has a spirit that can be refined, a body that can be trained in some manner, a suitable path to follow.” To refine ourselves in this way, Aikido and tai chi include both solo and partner practices. Our individual dedication to practice can be felt by and inspire others, whose practice may then deepen and inspire us. When practicing together in the correct way, we physically and metaphorically strengthen each other. We offer each other the unique opportunity to deepen our understanding of techniques by listening and learning from both our differences and commonalities. The goals of practice are both to seek the deep, common fundamentals of techniques and also to learn ways to uniquely manifest these techniques in our own bodies and lives. We accomplish those goals by mutual assistance guided by celebrating each other’s strengths, accommodating fundamental differences, and self-improvement driven by self-reflection.

Particularly in a time of social and physical distancing, we recognize more than ever how rare and special this opportunity to practice with and learn from each other is. It is a gift we give each other.

For these reasons, a diversity of partners benefits everyone’s individual practice and our community of practitioners. These diversities include but are not limited to our racial and ethnic identities, gender, sexual orientation, age, size, body type, and skill levels.

Because of this, providing an inclusive environment of mutual respect and support is essential.

More than a commitment to neutrality (e.g. responding to racism with colorblindness), we recognize that it is impossible to be neutral on a moving train. We situate our practice of Aikido in its historical roots, which have included, since its founding, a consciousness of spirituality, politics, and equality. The fundamental philosophies of Aikido – which we take to include the inherent dignity of all people and the right to train oneself with the help of others – are necessarily political when human rights are limited or politicized, which they always, historically, have been. These systems of oppression operate at the personal (e.g. as internalized superiority or inferiority), interpersonal, institutional, and cultural levels. No one practice, Aikido included, is a panacea for these structural systems. But as Aikido is acted on at all these levels, it (and we) can act at all these levels.

We currently support diversity in our membership in the following ways:

Sliding scale dues: Given generational racism and subsequent wealth disparities by race-ethnicity, and given outstanding gender inequalities in pay and access to resources, Open Sky offers sliding scale membership dues. We aim to never let wealth be an obstacle to training. This has been the informal policy for years though we are now formalizing this policy.
Children’s scholarship program: Open Sky instituted a children’s scholarship program years ago to support families working to make ends meet, thanks to the fiscal sponsorship of the NC Psychoanalytic Foundation. As above, we are committed to continuing to offer the ability for all sincere students to train regardless of means.
Harassment policy: While we aspire to a world where all people can train, demoralizing or inappropriate comments (e.g. about someone’s gender, race-ethnicity, cultural background, appearance, etc.) sabotage that environment. In order to celebrate and benefit from diversity, Open Sky aims to maintain a zero tolerance policy for interpersonal harassment and microaggressions, whether intentional or unintentional. Open Sky will formalize this policy when in-person training resumes after the pandemic.
Diversity & inclusion statement: This draft statement, written by the dojo cho, will go to members and the chief instructor for feedback. We aspire to continue to develop this statement in 2022.
Bathrooms: In keeping with best practices for gender inclusiveness, both bathrooms are open to all genders to use or change in (labeled clearly as “all gender”). Both bathrooms are ADA compliant and accessible. Both bathrooms are stocked with women hygiene products (tampons, pads, liners).
Changing rooms: We do still maintain two gender segregated changing rooms (labeled “men & non-binary” and “women & non-binary” respectively) but invite individuals to change where they most identify. Both changing rooms are of equal size and outfitting. Members who wish to change individually may use the bathrooms, which have hooks and benches for that purpose.

For these same reasons, and in keeping with the non-violent ethics of Aikido, Open Sky Martial Arts specifically supports the Black Lives Matter movement and its policy platform that supports non-violent policy actions and the de-escalation and demilitarization of law enforcement. More generally, Open Sky is committed to practicing and discovering anti-oppressive approaches to teaching, training, and being. We invite those for whom this support of BLM or anti-oppression goals are unpalatable to find another martial arts school at which to train.

In keeping with the growth-minded spirit of Aikido, it is the perspective of the dojo cho and chief instructor that no individual, institution, or community culture is without room to grow. Moreover, as we consider the personal, community, and institutional work to end structural discrimination and oppression to be never ending, we likewise believe the above list is incomplete. We are committed to promoting continuing conversation with membership and action, including but not limited to the following list:

Act to increase diversity in our membership, teaching staff, and instructors for seminars. Open Sky has historically benefitted from accomplished women and people of color teaching staff, and seminar instructors, and students in our membership, but we acknowledge we have historically been predominantly white and male.
Advertise our classes in diverse Triangle communities and support new members of all backgrounds when they join. We acknowledge limitations here: for example, we currently only offer instruction in English.
Share anti-racism training and action opportunities in the Triangle area to our membership.
Use and act on dojo-specific sexual abuse resources, trainings, and model policies using the metooaikido.com website. Though we have found it hard to maintain momentum on these aspirations during the pandemic, we recommit to attempting to complete the list of recommended suggestions in 2022.
Promote critical perspectives on martial arts and oppression specifically, including historical context; perspectives on colonialism and orientalism; evidence on violence and self-defense; and ways white supremacy culture can dangerously permeate martial arts culture.
Actively solicit and be open to feedback on the development of these current activities and future goals.

We invite those who share or aspire to these values to join us to train.