![Conquest at all Costs: Drugs and the evolution of Martial Arts [Part 2]](https://intuitivemartialarts.com/wp-content/themes/simplewrite/images/placeholder.png)
Note: This is a continuation of the previous post, which can be found here: http://intuitivemartialarts.com/2023/04/24/conquest-at-all-costs-drugs-and-the-evolution-of-martial-arts-part-1/
In an effort to combat various aggression and behavioural problems, various athletes have taken to cannabis use. Problems such as inflammation and pain management issues can develop in martial artists, as well as depression, which cannabis is said to mitigate. Indeed, pain management is an increasing problem in martial arts, as elsewhere, because not only are athletes pushing themselves like never before, but also they are also not replenishing their reserves. This is all associated with the huge upsurge in activity in terms of training and competition in martial arts, as well as our attentiveness mentally to demands. Martial Arts for fighting and fitness has taken centre stage because people have taken it up and realised that you can get fit and powerful over a relatively short period of time. Therefore they have assumed that the benefits will keep coming and there is no need for other aspects of training, such as regeneration of ones energies and reserves.
Cannabis has been used by a number of world champion level fighters in an effort to decompress from this experience of constant connectivity to demanding schedules. Some have even gone as far as to suggest that all combat athletes should take cannabis. But rather than taking a particular substance, there are things which can be done which pose no risk in terms of side effects and everyone can do. Drugs are not suitable for everyone involved in martial arts. If a doctor got high and tried to operate on you, I would imagine you would avoid their treatment. In the same way, in order to practices various mindfulness and meditative activities, it is important to remain lucid and aware. Of course, anything can be done in unawareness. However, gradually over time, if activity is performed without lucidity, it becomes more of an escapism or relief from the stress of life rather than a positive activity. Both relief and positive action have their place, and each person varies according to their personal needs.
According to Eastern medicine, the best way is to avoid the need for external drugs in the first place by practicing internal medicine. Internal medicine simply means becoming more aware of the inner workings of the system and responding to these workings, rather than outside demands. It is not a case of internally injecting yourself with something or swallowing some kind of herbal antidote. Put differently, internal medicine is a balance between the the external and internal demands, where the hard styles of training take on a more meditative and internal emphasis. For instance, rather than taking steroids to improve strength, you could work on your breathing muscles to recruit more muscle fibres1. Here you increase the capacity to draw in air, as well as the strength to do so. Anything which can be obtained from the outside, can also be done internally. The methods however, are different.
In the human system there are substances called endocannabinoids2 which are naturally produced. What this means is that a form of cannabis is naturally produced in the system, and is designed to prevent various conditions associated with prolonged stress from overwhelming the individual. This may sound shocking, but to obtain the desired effects it does not necessarily require any special training. There are millions of cannabis receptors in the spine, brain, and elsewhere. This is why posture and flowing movements have always been emphasised in traditional martial arts. It is all about aligning the system and synchronising it to something of a harmonious nature. It is just that in the modern age there is an increased tendency to never have the appropriate amount of meditative practice or down time to let this natural system kick in. Doing something as simple as gardening or mindfulness activities can allow the body time to revitalise and relax, whilst the perceptions stay switched on. The key is to sit or move in a meditative posture for a portion of time so that the spine is fully stretched, and then to sit in stillness if possible, whilst focusing on slow and deep breathing.
Why are there so many endocannabinoid receptors in the brain and body? Many believe this is because everyone used to take external sources of cannabis. This has led people to suggest that everyone should take cannabis externally. However, because in many parts of the world it doesn’t actually grow, and such receptors are present in everyone, it cannot be that everyone evolved smoking weed. It is more likely that because such substances are naturally produced, they can be put straight in and turned into a human experience, much like food produces enzymes. In fact, enzymes or proteins from food break down Endocannabinoids. So the most important thing is to consider the quality of food and the smooth functioning of the system, which allows for the bodys natural internal medicine to work properly.
Because substances such as testosterone are naturally produced in the body, this has led people to believe that we should all be taking it externally. However, the question is this: Do you want to be driven by testosterone, or do you want to be the driver of its production and utilisation? In other words, you can put it into your system like you would oil into a car, but if the car isn’t functioning as it should you will only get so far. Whereas if you have developed an efficient engine and stable car, it will be economical enough to run well on a relatively small amount of oil. Another way of looking at it, is that if a farmer continuously plows their soil, and doesn’t allow it to sustain the many organisms that live within it, the quality of the soil goes down. You then need all sorts of artificial fertiliser. Similarly, in the human organism there are many forms of biology which sustain the system and are broken down if unsustainable practice is allowed for long periods of time. It is then no surprise that artificial fertiliser, which is to say replacement chemicals, are needed.
Neurological studies have shown that when the system is in a certain state, the cannabinoid substance is produced naturally, just waiting for the body to align in such a way that there is a smooth functioning. When this doesn’t happen, where is the natural functioning? Systems such as Tai chi and Yoga have emphasised achieving harmony through movement and posture for this reason. Organic produce can only be created from within. In this way, testosterone and other natural substances work their way through the system if it is driven by your conscious willpower towards sustainable growth and practice.
Your substance levels and your achievements are not necessarily connected. Testoterone therapy can increase activity, I will concede to that, but it does not increase functioning. You learn to regulate testosterone, and the body’s other natural chemical release systems, and everything becomes more tempered rather than wild. Testosterone or other similar substances are formed principally in the liver and intestines from such things as bile and and cholesterol. Cholesterols role is to maintain the cells, so if it is used to produce too much testosterone, as in situations of survival and stress, there is likely to be less transformation into cellular activity. This is why the traditional martial arts systems have focused on working with health, particularly of the core muscles and gut areas.
So you don’t need to be wild to become active and strong. In fact, studies have shown that people involved in woodcutting to support local development have produced just as much testosterone as football players. The difference is, I would imagine, that it is produced in fits and starts during football, rather than at a steady rate associated without outdoor work. But that is just speculation. Nor do you need to be incapacitated to settle down. If you manage the bodys energies and resources strategically and well, you will want to be healthy and active all the time, and there is then no question of activity, it will just happen as needed. Rest from work will happen as a natural consequence of wanting to increase your competence, rather than becoming aggressive and hyper attic regardless of benefit.
It is perfectly natural to chase a state of external stimulus in order to reach a certain state. The problem is that many people do not have the methods of practice to facilitate its happening internally. So they go about training incessantly for some kind of event to peak. Others settle for a steady state of health and activity which can be maintained constantly. This is the meaning behind internal medicine, which is the principal behind the ancient Chinese systems. It involves steady yet vibrant activity all through the day if it is achieved properly. There is a focus on inner harmony because then, when the burdensome nature of compulsively competing against others is worked out, needing to dominate others becomes less of a priority.
So when enough down time or meditative practice is factored in, a balance is achieved. This is to equal out the huge amounts of intense physical and mental work which we are all usually expected to do these days in many different fields. When people take time off from a stressful situations, removing themselves for some time, they naturally get better over time even without any special methods or drugs. This is because their system is given a break, rather than because they have done anything actively. It is then easier to learn things properly, make better decisions, and put up with demanding work because there is an ease and fluidity of functioning within the system. You then can work at a level which is not driven by external events and surroundings.
The biochemistry of the body is like fertiliser to the soil. If the soil is drained of its nutrients, it becomes a wasteland over time. Put some organic matter back in, and it becomes healthy again. Either that, or you up your production and become a better manager. The problem is, that increasingly there is a tendency to take from the soil and not let it become healthy and living again. As it is in modern agriculture, so it is within. So, if you just charge back in doing things as you always did in a state of agitation and prolonged stress, you soon find yourself back in the same condition. If you just slow down and let the system act as needed, there is no problem. This explains the need for testosterone replacement and cannabis. This is not surprising when you think about it.
There is a need and an urgency to take better care of the human organism, because the stress related by products of training and exertion can easily be broken down into fertiliser for the inner soil. That is, if a certain amount of circulation and time is allowed for the system to breakdown, transform, and renew. So it is a question of making situations of low demand a permanent fixture of the timetable, so that the body naturally can replenish its reserves. It is the exact same principle as with soil regeneration. If there is overuse of the soil, it becomes less fertile and needs further nutrients to replenish it. If the sun started shine all day, the plants would soon deplete the soil of its nutrients. In the same way as there is day and night, in martial arts there is yin and yang practice, activity and recuperation.
When you can distance yourself from the stresses of certain situations such as constant fighting, it is possible to view them with a new sense of fresh enthusiasm rather than being bogged down with constant pressure. Modern living is extracting the organism of its natural means of growth and renewal, just as it is the crops and soil. This is essentially why people go for drugs, to escape this pressure for some time when they feel they need to keep incessantly active and keep their head above water. The problem is if drugs are abused, decision making capability goes down because you can become driven by events rather than self initiated. This is why The Eastern systems have always emphasised internal medicine, even if they have been accused of promoting ineffectual fighting methods. You need both good soil and effective methods to make a crop, not just one aspect. Of course, modern fighting influenced by popular cage matches and prize fighting are going to be more effective on the street than doing some sort of Tai Chi routine. But all of that becomes meaningless if you have exhausted your capability to live a balanced life.
Various seeds, or receptors, are planted all over the body, which need to be cultivated to grow to their potential. They need to be cared for and grown. They don’t just happen automatically any more than activity does. Progress does not happen over night, but the desire for this to happen right now is there. So, the desire for this to happen is written into the seed, much like a genome is written into any creature before its growth unfolds. The work that goes in, as well as distortions or transformations which take place all part of the process. So, you can use and harvest the crop before it reaches full maturity, which is what much of modern science is geared towards, so that the system works to uphold insatiable demand. And then, of course replacement therapies are needed. In doing so you will probably achieve more than others sometimes. But not all the time. Of course, carry on taking medications that you need to. I am not saying otherwise, because without alternative methods, longevity can be compromised. But by bringing awareness to the body’s natural energy systems, the need for such medications will go down drastically.
The big difference between substance use and inner practices such as meditation, is that meditative practices enables you to take self initiated action. On the other hand, it is quicker and easier to get a dose of some sort of chemical and get instant results. This is not an either or issue for me, because both methods can be used for different reasons. For example, using steroids is a way of externally obtaining a substance, testosterone, which the inner system cannot manufacture in the desired amounts for some reason. For example, many people want to take hormones to boost recovery, often because they don’t do any active recovery practices. For them, recovery is just some negative activity rather than a positive action.
There are side effects to drugs, which is only natural. For example, there is increased aggression and various organ disorder associated with steroid use, which may or may not be important to the individual who is on an upswing in activity. So initially, there is a certain boost, which slowly over time makes you incapable of other things, such as maintaining health. Not always, but in general I would say that a large percentage of those who take performance enhancing drugs have other qualities which would enable them to succeed without using them. Naturally, these qualities are not entirely developed in an individual who heavily relies on external means. The demand to develop internal action goes down with the supply of external means. So by balancing out the demands of training, both heavy and light work, requires a holistic outlook. And if you have consciously tempered the passions and channeled them in the best possible way, then things will develop in natural proportions, not in excess nor ever in too small amount. This is why the Martial arts traditionally focused on behaviour and personal conduct as sources of success.
Over working the system and getting carried away by the influx or hormones and adrenaline is similar to boosting the system with substances such as cocaine. Therefore, after any combative situation it was generally believed in the traditional arts that a certain amount of spiritual practice should take place. This was also the case in other life events which are taxing on the system, which today many people think nothing of. This was so that the fighter could distance themselves from such states on the energetic and psychological level, so that the intense impressions of combat did not embedded themselves over time and become behavioural tendencies in the longer term. Disasters and problems in life happen, but if they become the basis of day to day experience without relent then there is definitely a problem.
