Category: Transmutation

The Slow Fire: Training Beyond Fear, Thought, and Survival – Part 3

Posted on Last updated on by joeharman8 | 10 min read | 192 views

Thoughts Are Weather, Not Orders

Cognitive capacity is largely determined by bodily state. Beyond certain parameters, your emotions push, but your body’s resources can’t sustain the pressure. That is, unless you are a suitable vehicle for this energy. In terms of martial arts and self defence, developing ones body through martial arts is a method of stress distribution and energy regulation. In this way the martial artists does not suffer stress but is able to transform what would be stress one person into an enhanced possibility within themselves.

Motivation energises the system, but regulation prevents depletion.You can shift the balance from a sudden reaction to danger, which brings a kind of explosive overwhelm based on limited perception and a cognitive representation, to a more grounded and body based response. You can do this by working with breath, posture, movement. This can be done without changing thoughts at all. There may still be thoughts going on, but the contents of the brain in terms of images, sensations, and thoughts is minimal and does not disrupt your attention.

In traditional martial arts, they did not bother thinking in term of just becoming smart or technically trained. Technical details which are stored in the brain as short term memory are not the same as working with the long term neural networks. The short term memory is often an attempt to represent what is deeply understood, often poorly. On the other hand, working with an externally structured pattern and replicating that is a good way to start but after a certain point it is just recalled knowledge, rather than an expressed intelligence.

“You can look at them and use them if you want, but that’s different from imitating these surface expressions.”

In fact, many of the masters of the past urged us to ignore our thoughts and treat them as superficial, passing like the wind. You can look at them and use them if you want, but that’s different from imitating these surface expressions. There is a lot of wisdom in this, because according to martial arts thoughts are not to be enshrined or suppressed, they are just passing events, like the weather to simply observe rather than take orders from.

We think that in some way if we are strong, determined, motivated, that this will bring guaranteed health and confidence. However, it is necessary to develop your system in such a way that it thrives on what it creates in its own way, rather than relying on outside happenings and events. You then develop a strong sense of discipline and internal motivation, which when developed in the long term, brings its own kind of unique prowess to everything you do. Then, rather than because you have undergone some kind of short term competence training and recalled some impressions, you are able to generate something of substance.

So why wait for this teacher or that training method to come? Grow them from within, according to a stable platform and they will naturally develop. A fighter who engages with the their own thoughts or those of others simply hesitates and loses timing. Thus, martial arts historically trained practitioners to let thoughts arise and dissolve without engagement, keeping perception grounded in posture, breath, and the environment. Then, the benefits of training occur without changing thought content. On the other hand, you can be extremely motivated and full of technical skill but still dysregulated. Confidence from surface level competence is fragile. Confidence from a deeply held and formidable structure is stable. This is true competence.

True prowess comes from developing a system that can self-organize, self-regulate, and self-generate. In many ways, mental health is not dependant on the thoughts floating around in your head. Instead, how you engage the nervous system’s capacity to regulate attention, emotion, and action independently of transient mental representations and passing thoughts is the way foreward.

So, what I’m talking about is not just winning a fight, a match, or just getting fit. This is bricks and mortar stuff, where what you grow is inseparable from what you yield. Your thoughts and emotions might bring rain with them, which actually causes growth. rather than removing these, let them do as they will non judgementally. When I say non judgementally, this has been corrupted and can easily lead you to becoming judgemental about everything and fixate on certain things. What I mean is for you yo develop a no mind mind set.

Tomorrows skills are todays crops, which require uncertainty and contradictory conditions, like any dynamic environment in order to thrive. Thoughts, like rain, may feel disruptive. But rain feeds the soil. If the ground is stable, regulated, structured, and integrated, rain produces growth. Understand this, so that there is an interconnection between what you do and how you are, rather than letting thoughts govern action by default.

When you perform intrinsically meaningful activity, that means there is no external motivation. Yes there are external things happening, but there is no carrot and stick. If there is a thought, then there is a thought. Either way, you act as needed, not according to the thoughts going on in your head. This requires a certain clarity, and a lack of distortion of the mind. When there is no distortion, perception and attention occurs faster than thought because it happens unimpeded. It is not that you must have some thoughts and ideas to have attention. There can be attention and perception unattached to thought. In such a state, response becomes immediate, efficient, and fluid — not because thought is suppressed, but because it is not obstructing perception.

So what drives this process of perception without thought? It is simply that you remain fundamentally engaged with the activity, whether or not there is any reward or motivation. It is not that there is no thought happening. Action is not independent of thought, but it is not governed by it. Just as the crops grow without being destroyed by the rain and wind, you too grow as conditions wash over you and you continue in your growth. Growth requires diverse conditions, and thought is a necessary part of this. True development does not occur in sterile mental silence. When engagement is steady and distortion is low, the system reorganizes itself over time. Then, growth becomes continuous and perception led.

Thoughts and emotions gain a dominant influence when regulation is lost and identification occurs. Action then becomes repetitive and rigid. Thoughts then become compulsive and identity forming, rather than just informational or integrated. Mindfulness helps without changing thought content precisely because your activity is not identified with thought but with action and perception. So participation in thought becomes a vonantary process. Then, rather than your work being rewarded by relief from hardship or effort, the process is the product.

“When there is no inner bargaining, that reduces stress load and there is greater yield.”

When you voluntarily become the effort, rather than the result of some reward, this is the same as saying there is no identification with thoughts. There is no transaction, nothing in it for you. and yet, this kind of action improves mental health and wellbeing without disputing existing beliefs or relying on transient motivational states. That means there’s no pay off. When there is no inner bargaining, that reduces stress load and there is greater yield.

Why Survival Is a Terrible Default Mode

If training constantly triggers survival responses, the practitioner becomes good at panic, not endurance. So don’t drag yourself through the process just to get to the end result so that it is over. Staying grounded and centred, rather than dispersed, and in a no mind state, these are all instructions for staying out of survival mode unless absolutely necessary. Training should bias the nervous system toward modes of action that support sustained effort rather than emergency mobilisation. This means that every moment of engagement is life sustaining and stabilising, rather than survival based. You then continuously ride the wave of your own unfolding success, whether you win or lose. This all develops your ability to sustain effort without collapse, and your capacity to sustain this is a consequence of the time you have spent cultivating this process.

What you need to do is to find what uniquely inspires you. You do not need to spend hours practicing skills superficially to be a good martial artists. You will only become a technician that way. When you spend intimate time on all aspects of life, such as the meditative side, how you work, how you recuperate around training these martial arts skills, then you will become better as a result. So you can do minimal physical practice, in a disciplined and sustainable way, whilst spending time away from training. Then, all of your activity enhances the way you are. This is not the same as being lazy with training. When you become much more susceptible to growth and development, rather than just training to constantly triggers survival responses, your growth is ensured. Then, you are involved with everything rather than just a few hours of intense training at the physical level.

Fear Is Not the Enemy

Effective training prioritises sustained, regulated effort over short-term survival reactions, allowing action to arise from structure and perception, instead of cognitive overload and thought. So the idea is to get as involved in everything more broadly, just as you would with certain formal martial arts and self defence training. Then, you become fearless, because there is nothing you are not competent and involved with. This is the same as saying you are all inclusive. When you become excessively fearful, it is natural to want to dominate others and exclude them. So in dominating others, this is just a different way of identifying with fear.

When fear exceeds a person’s capacity to regulate it, the nervous system does not simply remain afraid. It seeks resolution. Domination is often a compensatory strategy for uncontained fear. This is why fear-based societies drift toward domination even when intentions are good. This is yet another example of how thoughts about activity are not the same direct perception and action. When fear cannot be carried, due to weakness and corruption, it is imposed on others. The way to handle fear is to neither deny it nor act upon it, but to work on self regulation and strategies to impede its amplification to an out of proportion state.This brings mental clarity. Clarity means the mind is not distorted by excessive narrative, emotional amplification, or self-referential fixation. Then, fear can exist without needing to control others or becoming reduced by it.

Excessive thoughts often fuel fear. So thoughts are not the source, they are fuel. When you don’t engage thoughts, you allow the fear response, which is primarily physiological, to run its natural course.Fear does not require thought to operate, and can easily become amplified and out of proportion if you allow if to command you. Fear is not the enemy, nor is it the master. By relying more heavily on becoming grounded and robust, you remove cognitive amplification of thoughts. Let fear pass through you, and you are liberated from it altogether.

Epilogue

What we call resilience may have less to do with toughness and more to do with efficiency. Systems that force people into narrow modes of functioning increase stress by design. Practices that widen the circuitry—through movement, posture, breath, and individualised development—allow the same pressures to be sustained with far less cost. This means you shift to heightened attention, without the noise and distortion. This is true of martial arts, and elsewhere. The question may not be how much stress a person can endure, but where that stress is allowed to go, as well as how you relate to a given situation. When you are able to self regulate and engage continuously, response becomes immediate, efficient, and fluid. Not because thought is suppressed, but because it is not obstructing perception. Then you do not comment on the rain, you just continue growing.

The Slow Fire: Training Beyond Fear, Thought, and Survival – Part 2

Posted on Last updated on by joeharman8 | 6 min read | 187 views

From Reaction to Regulation: How the Body Shapes the Mind

“Regulating the body is one of the most direct ways to regulate the brain, because much of what the brain does is to predict, manage, and respond to the body.”

The idea that mental health is separate from physical structure is increasingly difficult to defend. The brain is not an isolated control centre; it is embedded in a living system of nerves, muscles, bones, connective tissue, hormones, and feedback loops. Regulating the body is one of the most direct ways to regulate the brain, because much of what the brain does is to predict, manage, and respond to the body. In terms of martial arts, the work is to focus on the body through certain exercises, so that in the process you also take care of the mind.

Physical training offers a useful analogy—one that is also a direct cause-and-effect process. Bones strengthen through controlled stress and recovery. Muscles grow through breakdown and reorganisation. Movement patterns refine through repetition, error, and adaptation. Mental development follows similar principles. In addition to this, when you feel your body break down and recover, you will feel mentally more robust. I am not talking about breaking down completely, just reforming and replenishing the tissue anew, which is an entirely healthy process. Challenging misconceptions, forming new neural pathways, and reorganising perception require exertion followed by integration. This reforms neural pathways and a certain pruning of old pathways occurs.

Because the body and brain are dynamically interconnected, a substantial portion of brain function is causally dependent on bodily regulation. This includes working with metabolic, physiological, and internal perception processes. So when you work with this processes, you are actually working with both the body and mind through physical activity. This is not about emotionally charging your activity with motivational talk. With a strong intent to perform vigorous activity, you bypass motivation and go straight to energising the body. This is known as Kriya in Yogic circles, or simply working with the energy body. Rather than the body influencing the brain secondarily, the brain’s operating mode is continuously shaped by bodily state.

Without recovery, the system breaks down. Without challenge, it stagnates. Importantly, this process is inseparable from the body’s condition. Posture, breath, movement quality, and tissue health directly affect cognitive and emotional regulation. And when there is a healthy body, the signals which are sent upstream to the brain are also returned downstream to the body, metaphorically speaking. This is a circular relationship. Awareness towards this creates a powerful process of self regulation, and there is no need for emotional stimulation such as in high motivational states, which can cause burnout particularly if unregulated.

“Breaking the mind—understood not as damage, but as restructuring—is as fundamental as breaking down muscle fibres in strength training.”

There is a state called “No Mind” in Zen martial arts. Breaking the mind—understood not as damage, but as restructuring—is as fundamental as breaking down muscle fibres in strength training. It is not that you mindless go around over training and breaking yourself down physically and mentally. It is in this context that “no mind” should be understood.

Martial Arts and the Centre of Gravity

“The Hara Centre are often treated as mystical, it describes something physically concrete: the body’s centre of mass, deep core engagement, diaphragmatic breathing, and integrated posture. These aspects of the physiology can be treated as inputs to the brain, much like external inputs.”

Traditional martial arts articulate this understanding of becoming physically centred through concepts like the hara or dan tian. The Hara is the centre of regulation and maintenance of energy. While terms such as the Hara Centre are often treated as mystical, it describes something physically concrete: the body’s centre of mass, deep core engagement, diaphragmatic breathing, and integrated posture. These aspects of the physiology can be treated as inputs to the brain, much like external inputs. So when you centre your practice around a grounded posture and a developing a strong body, these often out perform purely cognitive interventions for martial arts based around performative technical execution, or even highly motivated and driven behaviour.

When stress or force is received into the Hara Centre, the system tolerates pressure more effectively. In particular, when the breathing is regulated through activity of the diaphragm, this pressure is able to be distributed effectively. For example, when there is a forceful exhale, and an engagement of the core, this signals smooth alignment of the system including the diaphragm and skeletal system into activity. This is why martial arts, yoga, and breath-based meditations emphasise coordinated exhale with movement.

“A strong exhale, particularly with full engagement, acts as a regulatory signal: it couples breathing, core engagement, and intention into a single force.”

Just as lifting a heavy object with the core distributes load and reduces fatigue, grounding stress through posture and breath spreads neural and muscular demand across the whole system. From a scientific perspective, this is training the nervous system at its foundation, not bypassing cognition or goal driven behaviour but stabilising it. A strong exhale, particularly with full engagement, acts as a regulatory signal: it couples breathing, core engagement, and intention into a single force.

As we have seen, it is important to distribute, contain, and circulate the forces of the body effectively. Without this grounding, stress remains concentrated—often in the head and upper body—leading to faster exhaustion, reduced perception, and poorer decision-making. This often makes moving the body a sluggish effort. So the idea is self regulation through movement and activity. Then, you do not need to worry about over learning the technical side of things, or being highly driven and confident about what you are doing. You do all of these things as well, but they become more of a side show.

“Just as a cake needs time in the oven to transform raw ingredients into a stable, palatable form, energy needs to “sit” in the system — contained, regulated, and integrated — to become effective, fluid, and sustainable.”

Martial arts is a whole body affair. In this sense, martial arts training is not merely about technique. Nor is it about developing the kind of cognitive load and mental saturation which is characteristic or overloading the short term memory when revising for an exam. This is what leads to stress, burnout, and a lack of self regulation. For example, during the exam there is a sense of relief and sudden expulsion of thought onto the test paper, but often not much is retained in the long term. Nor is there further inspiration to continue. This is because there is often just an immediate and tense effort. However, just as a cake needs time in the oven to transform raw ingredients into a stable, palatable form, energy needs to “sit” in the system — contained, regulated, and integrated — to become effective, fluid, and sustainable.

Fear: A Catalyst for Consciousness and Transformation

Posted on by joeharman8 | 7 min read | 101 views

Fear. Often seen as a shadow looming over our aspirations, it is one of the most misunderstood emotions. Of course, most emotions are poorly understood, but fear is frequently painted as negative—a paralyzing force to be avoided or suppressed. But what if fear is something more? What if, instead of a barrier, it is a signal, a spark that drives us toward greater awareness and growth?

In truth, fear has no inherent negativity. At its root, it is pure energy—intense, raw, and immediate. When approached with understanding and appreciation of its immediate nature, fear can be a gateway to transformation and an opportunity to enhance our awareness. When we say “immediate”, this simply means that it can trigger us towards an immediate response, rather than causing us to react and lose all hope and become powerless.

Fear Sharpens Awareness

One of fear’s most profound gifts is its ability to intensify our consciousness. Consider how fear feels: it’s visceral, immediate, and impossible to ignore. It demands our attention. Whilst we can ignore the reactions to fear by responding appropriately, we cannot ignore the energy it brings. And for good reason. The heightened sensation of fear sharpens our focus, making us acutely aware of our surroundings, our body, and the choices available to us.

For example, a deer sensing a predator experiences an acute surge of awareness. Fear doesn’t paralyze it—it energizes it. Its body becomes attuned to every sound, every shadow, and the terrain underfoot. To become aware of this is a sign of intelligence. This heightened state of awareness allows the deer to act decisively and respond to danger. There was a time when humans were also more like this, but due to over reliance on information rather than experience, this intelligence has been seriously reduced.

For humans, fear can function in the same way. When we stop resisting fear and instead allow ourselves to feel its intensity without being overwhelmed by it, we open the door to greater clarity. Fear forces us to confront the present moment with heightened perception, breaking through the mental fog of complacency or distraction. The immediate fear is then transformed into a greater possibility which no longer resembles the initial trigger which we mistake as fear itself. Fear is just an energy, it is neither good nor bad inherently.

From Instinct to Insight

Fear begins as a sensation in the body—often in the legs, preparing us to move before our minds have fully registered the situation. This initial trigger is a gift, urging us to respond. But when we ignore or suppress fear, it stagnates, taking root as doubt or anxiety. Limited expressions of Doubt and anxiety are more and more prevalant largely because we no longer employ the legs as we used to. Hunter gathers, as well as other kinds of physical works historically employed the use of the legs more than today’s workers. Such people were already is full swing and able to ride the initial feelings without buckling better than the generation today. Wee can learn these lessons too.

By becoming more conscious of how fear manifests, we can intercept it early, transforming it from an instinctual reaction into an opportunity for insight and intelligent action. This process involves awareness—not just of the fear itself, but of the environment, circumstances, and our inner responses. Fear, in this way, becomes the first step toward heightened consciousness.

Fear: A Transformative Energy

At its essence, fear is a neutral force—a burst of energy that can either hinder or propel us, depending on how we engage with it. If left unchecked, fear can grow into a weed that stifles our development. This is true of any other emotions, which can wither and die. But when we meet fear with awareness and purposeful action, we transform it into a powerful ally for growth.

Think of a seed buried in darkness. The soil around it might seem suffocating, but that very darkness contains the potential for life. The seed doesn’t linger in fear of its constraints; instead, it uses the pressure, heat, and energy around it to sprout and expand. The same is true for us. Fear, like the darkness surrounding the seed, can be a catalyst for liberation if we engage with it consciously.

Fear as a Tool for Movement

In martial arts, this principle is both practical and within our immediate experience. A moving target is harder to hit. When fear strikes, we must act—move our body, focus our mind, and channel the energy of fear into purpose. At the same time we can learn to move even before it takes root. This proactive approach keeps us dynamic, adaptable, and resilient.

Fear heightens our awareness of the immediate moment, making us conscious of our surroundings, our options, and our potential responses. This state of heightened consciousness is the key to transforming fear into a constructive force.

Liberation Through Fear

Fear, when met with conscious action, becomes not a foe but a teacher. It can be a harsh teacher, but if you listen to it It reminds us of our aliveness, our ability to respond, and our potential for growth. The path to liberation lies not in avoiding fear but in embracing it as part of life’s rich variety.

When we take responsible action in the face of fear, we experience its transformative power. Fear challenges us to go beyond our comfort zones, to move toward growth and expansion. Each time we act to take possession of fear, we reclaim our power and discover new dimensions of our strength.

Fear as the Seed of Growth

Just as the seed doesn’t hesitate in the darkness, we too can use the intensity of fear to propel ourselves forward. The seed doesn’t rely on perfect conditions or certainty—it acts, taking nourishment from its surroundings and pushing upward toward the light. If it somehow could think about everything cerebrally rather than making extreme effort, it would not act with such intelligence. Instead it would see obstacles everywhere. Today, many of us over think everything in this way, beyond the necessary levels.

Similarly, fear can nourish our growth when we stop resisting it. To resist is to separate and turn it into an obstacle. But this is a limited vision of reality. By engaging with fear consciously, we integrate its energy into our journey, using it to fuel our evolution.

The Gift of Fear

Fear isn’t the enemy; it’s an ally. Or, if you like, it is neither an ally or an enemy. Its intensity wakes us up, forces us to pay attention, and calls us to action. This is the same for any emotion looked at in its entirety. It is just that martial arts works with fear because of its associations with conflict. The next time fear arises, don’t push it away. Feel its presence. Let it sharpen your awareness and heighten your perception of the unfolding moment. Do not separate it into an obstacle to get rid of because this gives it a dimension of power which is not inherently within its reach. This is a choice. Use its potential for transformation rather than making conclusions about it based on short sighted vision.

Fear is the doorway to transformation. When we embrace it, we discover that it’s not a force of limitation but one of liberation. By moving through fear, we find clarity, growth, and the limitless potential of our own nature.

So, instead of fearing fear, let it become your companion—a guide to deeper awareness, conscious action, and continuous evolution. Through fear, we step into the fullness of life. This is one way. There are of course many others. The idea is to use far and its challenges and opportunities, turning them into the ever-expanding possibility of who you are meant to be.

Liberating the Genetics: From Determinism to Determination [Part 1]

Posted on by joeharman8 | 10 min read | 97 views

This article is split into two parts. In part one, we explore why there are so many misconceptions about genetic influence. In part two, we will look at specific exercises you can do, as well as taking your understanding further. According to Yogic lore and martial arts sciences, the energy body contains genetic factors which influence the physical body. Within this energy structure there are certain influences which can determine the outcome of the physical expression of this nature. We will explore how this is so.

“Nature itself has programmed our energies to a certain point. How we evolve further is largely down to our own conscious development.”

When we talk about genetics, something we need to understand is the influence they have over our physiology. The genetic components make us human, and to a large degree they makes us driven to succeed in life. They are for liberation and expansion. They have gone through millions of years of evolution. This has lead to a high level of complexity. Deep within our cells, there genes act like a kind of hardware. So this aspect of our genetics is fixed, but the expression is open to infinite possibility. Let’s see how this is so.

It is no wonder that genetic complexity can become confusing in our minds. It can appear to be a huge mess, just because it plays out in a haphazard way. But this mess can be made into a complex and beautiful symphony. By arranging the components in an organised way, the cacophony of influences in life can be harnessed for our benefit. Then you have an organised mess which is perfectly coherent. This arrangement of a potential mess and disaster is what martial arts aims towards.

We need to also understand the factors which genetics do not in themselves influence. Say for instance, you have a genetic predisposition to some sort of disease. This predisposition need not become an overwhelming influence on your experience of life. In fact, the influence over your life can be reduced dramatically depending on the kinds of martial arts or other health practices you engage in. Nor does it mean you will end up on the operating table in need of medical intervention because of this predisposition.

Genetic predisposition means there is some sort of factor which may increase the likelihood of something happening, which at the same time has to do with a whole host of other entangled factors. What this has to do with sealing your fate or determining your genetic inferiority or superiority has been debated throughout history. In fact, genetics and hereditary predisposition are so intertwined with traditions, social customs, and unconscious behaviours, that it is impossible to separate these factors. So by adapting your attitude and behaviour, it is held in traditional martial arts circles that you can actually influence your own destiny directly by adjusting these factors.

Separating the entanglement

When one factor is entangled with many other factors, this gives the appearance of all the factors being one big mess. So when everything becomes a mess in your perception, it is natural to try to control things and limit your experience of life. Many people think that by limiting their experience, they gain control over the situation. This is true to some extent, and is enough for some individuals. Others will want to liberate themselves from such impositions and controlling circumstances altogether. It is like how a bind weed attaches itself to a plant. You can separate the bind weed off so that the rest of the plant grows, or accept the entangled weed as part of the overall construct of the plant. Once you eradicate the weed, it becomes necessary to weed some more too.

Say for example, you have a genetic predisposition to stress. This is at once an evolutionary tendency, as well as being developed within the high pressure situations you were brought up in and have experienced. So it is possible to experience this evolutionary pressure as a negative thing, and to label it as bad. However, pressure is not in and of itself a bad thing necessarily. It becomes a bad thing when the mind fixates on it and inflates its influence over your experience of life. However, it is only part of the overall mixture of life. You can increase the percentage of this mixture so that whatever you materialise becomes a high percentage part stress. We will look at how this works shortly.

Increasing receptivity

Often the best way to influence the disposition of a person is when they are least aware of it. This is why certain practices and ways of life have been promoted in martial arts according the the individuals level of receptivity. From an early age, a martial arts practitioner would be put into intensive work, as well as brought up in the right atmosphere. During the early years of childhood, the young martial artist was yet to build up a wall of resistance. His involvement with martial arts was indiscriminate. It is not that you cannot remain this way later in life. You can, it is just that societal influences tend to push people into narrow identifications, to specialise into a particular role.

Say you are asleep. Your body is in a relaxed state so that you are open to rest and regeneration. In the same way, if you have brought down the stress levels within yourself, through martial arts practices or mediative exercises for instance, then your receptivity to factors other than stress is increased. You have brought your internal mixture down to those elements which are receptive to more sustainable resources, rather than reactive just to high intensity situations. When this is experienced directly, this is when the masters message can be most keenly appreciated and heard. Otherwise you remain unreceptive and distracted, or even dismissive.

It is entirely possible that you will go back to normal ways of life after a profound experience, so it is always advisable to maintain a certain level of discipline appropriate to your experience. What this means is that a profound experience can change your receptivity to things, but at the same time you will require a certain level of discipline and willpower to keep up this level of receptivity. This is why it is said that you reap what you sow, or that the process of work should be focused on rather than the results.

It is like if you cultivate a flower, you will need to do the weeding in order to flourish. Or, if you want to create a sense of wellbeing and pleasantness within your chemistry, you will need a higher percentage of oxygen to the brain, as well a lower percentage of stress hormone build up. This is one simple example. Say you bring down the stress hormone build up, by engaging in breathing exercises or martial arts forms consciously. Your body will remain the same to look at. It was just the the internal mixture haw changed. You might have a higher proportion of oxygenated blood, or an increased blood flow. The are all small examples of how things look the same, but the experience, particularly over time, changes your whole perception.

Determination over nature

Aside to being predisposed to stress, there may be many other factors, such as lifestyle, social dynamics, diet, etc., all of which may contribute to health ailments, or good health. From early childhood, many people have been told discriminate against certain things around them. In doing so they may have accidentally limited their scope for development. For example, someone might control their exposure to germs or types of food excessively. This often becomes detrimental to their overall health. There are cases where this is necessary of course. On the other hand, a more varied diet and acceptance of potentially stressful situations can build a tolerance towards what would otherwise be debilitating. So the same pressure to evolve as a species can become an inhibiting factor leading to health ailments. There are exceptions to what I am saying, but even so, it is possible to reduce the ill effects of certain disorders by amplifying the positive impact of surrounding factors.

In martial arts, it is said that the energy body can become inflated, or compressed depending on the types of activity one engages in. The energy body is in many ways describing the genetic material of the body. It can be a chaotic mess, or it can be an organised chaos. This is why according to tradition, certain warrior clans would enforce strict discipline in terms of life style and diet. They would therefore develop within the warrior a certain rigour and resilience, even under extreme pressure. The idea was to influence the genetic material of the body in an energy sense, rather than by controlling external factors. In doing so, the body would naturally become more invigorated and less reactive to external factors, which may otherwise prove detrimental. The idea was to influence the determined factors of the body, so that your actions determined natures influence.

When the genetic material is spread vastly over the body, it is felt everywhere in an extended sense. In Chinese medicine this is known as externalising the Qi. There is said to be a certain level of so called pre birther qi, which we see children externalising quite naturally and harmlessly. All that is needed is the right level of nurturing. What is lacking in modern society is what to do about the rest of the energy which enters the body after around the age of thirteen onwards. There have of course been elaborate practices developed in systems of martial arts and yoga which aim to install a sense of inner power and self liberation. The disciple who follows these practices diligently and unwaveringly will eventually gain control of nature, and liberate themselves.

The externalisation of energy after childhood is essentially survival based. This is necessary in certain situations, such as when fighting an enemy for instance. Obviously, during normal activity it just goes where nature intends it to. When this Energy is concentrated in a certain spot, usually the Hara Centre or the lower abdomen, it becomes a potent and concentrated force. The Hara Centre is the seat of the self, and it is from here that the energies gather and can be sent upwards to the brain, according to Yogic and Martial Arts tradition.

Nature itself has programmed our energies to a certain point. How we evolve further is largely down to our own conscious development. This is what the internal martial arts practices aim at. And without the necessary restraint and protective atmosphere, these internal forces of energy could easily be mishandled or overwhelm the individual. It is for this reason that such practices were kept secret. Instead of articulating this scientifically, it was often done through symbolism. For example, the awakening of the dragon when the hero arises means that when you obtain mastery over your energies, that is precisely when you need to take maximum responsibility and become fully involved in your practices. This often falls at your feet rather than being a chosen responsibility.

Emotion and Martial Arts

Posted on by joeharman8 | 14 min read | 126 views

“When you treat an object of desire with a level of deep respect, then you no longer view it as something to acquire and gain conquest over. So it is not a question of doing away with passion and desire, but of treating it with the same level of respect as you would a prize of some sort.”

When it comes to martial arts, many people believe that they must get angry in order to summon the energy to defeat an attacker. It is not so much that you must not get angry or taken by events. This happens whether you like it or not and is out of your control to a large extent. At the same time, it isn’t about becoming excessively reactive. What isn’t out of your control is where you steer this anger. In other words, it is about how you respond to the emotional situation.

The confrontation you enter into is fraught with emotional energy. It’s in the air. It is an emotionally charged atmosphere. So it is important to accept this within yourself. Planet earth would not exist without this kind of atmospheric pressure. Only when you accept the situation as it actually is, can you steer the emotion in the right way. This is why traditionally, martial arts involved dropping the idea of winning and losing. It was a tool to make you focus on the process rather than the result. It wasn’t to stop emotion from happening, but to stop emotion from becoming unbridled and leading to all sorts of excesses.

In the past, the master would put the disciple into some kind of aimless work. The more they did this aimless work the more they retained a sense of balance and equilibrium. This could be something as simple as carrying a pot from a well. In the past this was needed before taps became widely available. But long after it was needed, the rituals stayed. However, nowadays this sort of aimless work has lost all meaning. You simply call for a delivery. So we are becoming far removed from normal work which we now see as pointless. However, in the past cultivating the right state within oneself became paramount, rather than the fruits of this labour.

If you try to become devoid of emotion in a confrontation, you will not summon sufficient energy to survive an attack. You cannot shun or suppress emotion in such a situation, or any situation for that matter without become dried up and lifeless some degree. At the same time if emotion becomes unbridled, it becomes a kind of passionate madness. In the ancient past, you would be dead at a fairly young age in many places. So the game was up fairly early. Today however, people are living in states of stress and tension into later years which leads to inertia and chronic fatigue. This is why so many martial artists have taken to performance enhancing drugs, their sense of ambition becomes uncontrolled and has turned into a pursuit of stimulation to overcome inertia.

“The Master would put the disciple under such pressure, and then all of a sudden they would burst open. So after a certain period of incubation, the seed shoots out and grows. In this context stress must be understood as a stimulus for growth.”

When you become dried up, you will look for scraps or left overs to feed off of. For example, some sort of reactive situation to get into, like fighting someone. These are what stimulate such people. This includes all sorts of reactive states. This is why Martial Arts is often depicted as a struggle rather than a liberation. Initially, this is to be expected, but is not the end goal.

Unfortunately, many martial artists have learnt to associate deep experience with pain and loss. They toil and toil, and then at the end there is just pain. The majority of people don’t tend to develop pleasantness to its full extend. We will look at how this is done in a moment. So the long term progression of work became associated with pain and loss. No wonder people give up, if that is all they see for their efforts. They have seen drugs and heightened stimulation as a temporary escape to lift them out of such a pit. In doing so it is only natural to consider emotions as a problem to escape, because it carries them off into an abyss. The majority of the time is spent functioning in a state of stress rather than pleasant emotion. This is because many of the institutions and ways of society exploit the human being as a resource.

You don’t need to go about supercharging yourself full of rage and passion. Yes, this makes you more reactive, but it also makes you less responsive to more possibilities. This is why people become mad about beating people up. They become averse to losing and so they gain pleasure from winning. This is an instant gratification due to indulging in a state of reactivity. So it is said that you must fight someone in order to win some contest down the line somewhere, otherwise you will be unfulfilled. But this is not so.

However, if you were more pleasant in your experience, you would not think about objectifying some person as a means escape from stress. All sorts of alliances have been formed under such a limited understanding of emotions and how to handle them. With such a mindset, there is a deep sense of enduring struggle, there is less and less room for any kind of pleasant experience other than the pleasure of winning or beating someone. Of course, struggle is natural, but it is what we do with it that counts.

What to do about emotion? First and foremost you must make them into something very pleasant, rather than experiencing them in shoot form. The shoot is an initial burst of life which occurs during certain contrasting weather conditions. For instance, after the cold months, the air pressure changes and you get spring. This understanding of human beings is what gave rise to various master disciple relationships. The Master would put the disciple under such pressure, and then all of a sudden they would burst open. So after a certain period of incubation, the seed shoots out and grows. In this context stress must be understood as a stimulus for growth.

Various systems of martial arts have told you what sort of emotions will arise during a confrontation. Psychological studies have also shown what sorts of emotions are felt most deeply during such situations. But no one talks about how these can be incubated. More than that, emotions have been treated as static and unchanging. This is ridiculous.

Incubation means keeping emotions warm rather than burning them out. When you incubate something, it transforms under such heat. There are ways of doing this, such as mediation and mindfulness exercises. Mediation simply means sitting still or directing the energies in some way. Mindfulness means you concentrate unwaveringly on whatever it is your are doing, such as martial arts form. This is a way of quietening the mind so that you become focused.

So we end up studying emotions and theories about them in the initial stages rather than experiencing them to the fullest extent possible. But this is a stagnant analysis, rather than a live observation. When you become mediative, it is not that you become passive. It is just that you have travelled through emotion and come out the other side. You have used it for your growth, rather than being used by it and the provoking situation.

When you sit with pleasantness for a long duration of time, you begin to experience every emotion differently. This requires a certain experience of stress as well as a Deep acceptance. There is also a time lapse, because the chemical nature of the body requires time to process reactions into new solutions. The mind can get there straight away. This is the meaning behind deep focus. This does not mean you just sit with stress and accept it as it is. Instead you are transforming it with the right vision about what to do. Once you have done this, emotions are no longer a problem because they act as a springboard to something else. This is the true meaning of emotional development. Only when your emotions have transformed into something else will you take the time to look at anything other than survival and conquest over others.

For most people, the fullest extent of their emotion is passion. This could be passion towards sex, drugs, fighting, or whatever else. Whichever way, passion is used as a way into deep experience. The only problem is, the journey often comes to a halt prematurely. It is is like jumping off of a cliff to experience the rush. It is right to take the jump, but the problem is you didn’t think of hitting the ground hard! As a result, peoples deepest experience becomes associated with risk taking and pursuing some object which eventually causes them suffering. There is no limit to the madness of unbridled emotion, anymore than there is for your capacity to develop.

It usually never occurred to people that when you treat an object of desire with a level of deep respect, then you no longer view it as something to acquire and gain conquest over. So it is not a question of doing away with passion and desire, but of treating it with the same level of respect as you would a prize of some sort. This is why traditionally martial arts always aimed at inculcating a deep reverence and respect towards the Master or the forms of practice. The idea was to observe the thoughts and emotions passing by, just as the wind turns from high to low pressure. This is why it is important to reduce the hype of your activity and slow down the breathing and movement in mediative practices.

In martial arts, risk taking heightens the sense of adrenaline. This can become a powerful tool if you learn to use it wisely. This increases pressure within. It causes butterflies in the stomach, and anxiety associated with loss and overcoming pain. This is why some people develop heightened appetites and abnormal sensitivity to the environment. At the same time, when you learn to respond to intense experience towards martial arts practice rather than simply reacting, you are released from the fear of losing and the negative emotions associated with it.

It is all about searching for a bigger experience of life, which is what everyone wants anyway. So you have to become conscious of this. You need not stop at anxiety and adrenaline rushes. You use these reactive states as a root to spring from, a core of experience rather than a peripheral one. When the flower sprouts out of the seed it is no longer a seed. In the same way, when you overcome fear and anxiety, you no longer experience difficulty and pressure in the same way. You create a certain distance from it even though you feel it.

Say for instance that some weeds are growing on your flower bed. At certain times of the year, weeding takes up most of the day. The flowering happens as a consequence of working the land properly. Only then can you cultivate the flower bed expertly. If the weeds go unattended, then they can grow out of control. So you need to understand that you are working for something greater.

You may have noticed when it is cold and wet, and then the following day it is hot and sunny the weeds grow tall and gangly almost overnight. This is due to a collision of atmospheric pressures and weather conditions. Amidst this collision of these forces the weeds take full advantage. The same is true of your own pleasant experience. In other words, the same conditions which create negative emotions are the fuel for positive ones. This needs to be understood.

Most people have taken stress and anxiety as their own experience, and pleasantness and joy as some sort of fantasy land. However, it is just a case of putting in the necessary work. When you experience some level of heightened emotion, you go from low to high pressure. This is a stimulus, not a goal. This is particularly the case when you are in survival mode, the pressure suddenly increases. This is why in martial arts, you are taught to become always fully aware. This does not mean hyper vigilance, but perception of danger and readiness to act. They said stay ready, not stay reactive.

When you let the emotions develop within you, they can spring forth and take over the flower bed. These outcrops can be of different sorts. You can have weeds that take over, which is to say negative emotions of hatred, envy, and other reactive states. These flower into certain forms too. At the same time, the weather conditions permit the growth of other flowers. These other flowers include less reactive states which are a result of responding to situations consciously. For example, you can distend the Hara Centre or sink into a posture, rather than become rigid and tense in the shoulders and back1. Tension held in the shoulders and back leads to fatigue, stress, and headaches. This is a breeding ground for certain negative chemical states within the body.

Initially, there is always a reactive state of tension which you then respond to with a postural adjustment.This can be in any situation. It is not that reaction is better than response to it, it is just that tension is an initial stage in the cultivation of kinetic energy. This is just one example. If you don’t make this dimensional shift, then you leave yourself open to stresses and the build up of negative emotions from reactivity to events. You must instead be like the plant which uses the heat and energy of the stressful season to convert energy into transforming yourself. You then don’t let the weeds which have made there way onto your land define who you are as a person.

So it is about experiencing the storm to the full extend whilst doing the necessary work to create something pleasant out of the situation. When the branches of a tree bend in the wind, this sends a signal to strengthen the roots. If it snaps, this sends another type of signal that says it’s all over. This is the reason for pressure testing used in the traditional systems of martial arts. Pressure testing was used to develop flexibility. This has almost disappeared due to obsession with winning contests rather than being open to the possibility of losing. There is nothing wrong with winning, obviously it is a good thing, but the aim and orientation of your work needs to be correctly understood in order to get the most out of competitive forms of martial arts.

So when you have too many weeds in the garden, flowering is no longer your goal anymore, the flowers are a side effect of weed infestation. You then see these flowers as outside of your control, which they are not. You then become a bed of weeds, which take over the nutrients of the soil. More than that, the whole flower bed becomes distorted. Of course, you can weed it out, but it becomes a lot more difficult than if you had been aware of this happening initially. Better to start off properly. There is nothing wrong with weeds, but they share the same plot of soil as flowers and prevent the possibility of flowering. I hope you understand what is meant by this.

A martial artist must ultimately learn to treat emotions with reverence and respect. Only then will you be able to express them beyond their crude forms. If you are going to experience these things, why not cultivate them further than their initial expression? This involves accepting them and nurturing them as you would an ally or a friend, for this is what they are. The moment you accept a friend they way they are, they are more pleasant towards you than if you try to use them for some objective means. You then develop as a result of that relationship. Otherwise there is only suspicion and a mutual distrust between the two of you. Whole communities have developed out of both crude expression and cultivated expression. It is time to develop the right communities in martial arts.

References

1 https://intuitivemartialarts.com/2024/02/13/hara-centre-seat-of-creation/ Hara Centre: Seat of Creation

From Expectation to Inspiration

Posted on by joeharman8 | 12 min read | 108 views

There in many in Martial Arts who believe that it is best to switch off your concerns about the opponent. For them, the thinking is “We should handle it severely, and that’s it, to Hell with the other guy”. When you follow this line of reasoning, then you justify maiming your opponent or worse. However, when you say “There is no opponent”, it is possible to lapse into defeatism and accept your fate. This has always been the problem with the spiritual side of martial arts. However, the goal is always to develop your consciousness and awareness, without being defeated. In other words, you do what is needed to ensure your survival, but when your survival is ensured and you just want revenge, this becomes a sickness.

It is not about embarrassing the other guy. This requires a certain resentment towards the opponent, that they are the bad guy and you are delivering justice. When you hyper develop egotistical thought, your own mind stabs you in the back. It cuts you just as a sharp blade wielded by a novice. When you carry bitterness in your heart, or sow the seed of it, then this is not what is referred to as the empty mind approach. This is a sickness.

So the idea behind taking action is to ensure that it does not grow into something bad. For instance, the goal of winning a contest is to strive to the utmost. this becomes bad when you try to secure a victory, or you fear losing such a status. This is because such accumulated baggage becomes burdensome and you are no longer driven by inspiration but by narrow minded expectation. Never waste time become self satisfied in such a way. If you are never satisfied, then that is good, it means you expect a lot from yourself. If you expect little from yourself, it means you have given up hoping to stretch and surpass expectation.

Empty Mind

The empty mind approach simply means you have emptied the car of its petrol. This does not mean you forgot to fill it up, or that you drove nowhere. No, instead “empty your mind” means drive to the destination, not anywhere that’s unnecessary. So you empty only after you have reached. So you are driving your own inspired action to its natural conclusion, rather than an unrealistic or unnatural conclusion.

Let’s say you wanted to become the greatest martial artist ever. It is only when there are such grand expectations that inspired action becomes possible. So reaching the goal would only inspire less action. It is better not to reach that goal in that case. Or, if you did somehow reach it, you would quickly need to find another way of staying involved. This is where most people fall short. When they have achieved their dreams, they no longer see the point. But you can always push a little further, couldn’t you? If your dream was to achieve ten thousand hours of practice, then raise that expectation to double, and then triple!

Empty mind means you take no sides and you just see things the way they are. It is said that there is honour among thieves. What this means is that when you take from a situation to benefit yourself, you will find many other corroborators to encourage you for your efforts. So a thief is never short of friends. If you lower your expectations and inspirations to something achievable, you will find no shortage of encouragement. This is self robbery. It is only when you disregard such encouragement that you will truly surpass realistic everyday goals. This is important, because most goals people make are usually too easy to remain motivated with for long, or they are inspired by others expectations for them. This is for them, not for you. Quality is measured not by fulfilling some goal. So the goal need to be measured in terms of whether you are applying yourself totally or not.

Becoming Aware

But when you remain aware, aware for instance that your opponent could be less dangerous than you immediately think, you open up different possibilities. This is equally so if you see them as more dangerous than you. We will get onto this shortly. It is often the case that people walk around without concern for how they are behaving towards others. If you walk in a forest loudly, you will disturb the wildlife so that they run away. This is happening everywhere, people disturb each others peace and then blame each other for their own lack of consideration. I would say that this is how the vast majority of fights break out, due to sheer ignorance. This is a huge development of the ego that was never there in previous generations.

Assailants are often like wild animals, they pay attention to these things and are in a hurry to react. This is partly because they have hyper developed their survival circuits so that they are on red alert all the time. To achieve this is beneficial, but to stay there indefinitely is a disaster. From the survival perspective this makes sense. From a well being perspective, this is every day torture because it’s overusing the senses which become unavailable for anything else. Your whole experience then becomes one of emotional chemistry geared towards survival rather than prosperity. So the survival circuits should be available when needed, but not compulsively reacting to outside events indiscriminately.

The human being is built more for well being as its ultimate goal. The same body that hates can contain the opposite emotions too. Therefore, it is not about the body. It is instead how you perceive the world and the way you orientate the energies which itself creates the chemistry. I frequently change from struggling at a task to being dead to the world. this is not a problem for me because one state naturally transitions into another if you go about closing and widening the gap between activity and rest form that occupation.

When you look at what people fight over, these are petty, useless matters. Someone spilling your drink in a bar has nothing to do with you. This is simply societies experience playing out in a social situation. It may be happening around you and in a situation you are involved with, but it would happen anyway without you there. These situations are just thousands of years of evolution by trial and error still happening. The intelligence within you should guide you towards intelligent action.

Being No. 1

You should not have a problem that someone is bigger and stronger than you. If you meet somebody more capable than you, this is good because you have an opportunity to learn. If you can befriend such a person, then this will be a great partnership. If your idea of winning and victory is beating down somebody else, just to secure your own image, then this is a horrible waste of potential. If however, you engage in a martial arts contest with somebody far better than you, then you are pushing yourself to the limit. You will reach your full potential. You can never do this against an easy hand picked opponent, or an easy target. If somebody is pushing you to the limit, then this will just make your experience more intense and meaningful. It will make you perform better and experience the richness of life.

So far we have looked at how, most of the time, just paying attention to how you might rub people the wrong way in an environment stops most altercations. You see their intensity as a means to switch yourself on and become more aware rather than threatened. Through certain meditative practices you can be totally involved in chaos yet keep a fire between yourself and the outside world. Fire is a pressure that burns everything.

I would say that around ninety percent of fights can be avoided by paying abolsute attention to how you are in your surroundings. This makes such situations positive rather than negative. The problem is people pay absolute attention to fixate on how somebody has looked at them the wrong way, or bumped into them. You cannot pay absolute attention to two things. You can have the two things going on at once, but they need to synthesise into a coherent vision. It is not either or.

Instantaneous Analysis

In martial arts, it is necessary to develop an instantaneous analysis. This isn’t a case of stopping the response to danger and slowly going over the options. No, because then you set yourself up as a mark who cannot think on the spot. You don’t want to come across hesitant. Hesitation kills. If you hesitate, you are then clearly demonstrating that you are incompetent to act. It is about seamlessly going over the options and doing what’s necessary instantaneously, there and then.

Similarly, in a martial arts match if you are going over some exercises in your mind without perceiving what’s in front of you, you miss the point. You are building an experience based on the past rather than building a future based on the present. This way, even if you make a mistake, you are paying absolute attention and full awareness so you know where you went wrong instantly. You can then auto correct in a kind of flow state of improvisation. This is something master guitar players do, they play the wrong note on occasion but it is dealt with then and there and actually opens new possibilities. So a mistake accepted as a pathways becomes a means of liberation from hesitation and inertia. It is part of the creative process, not fearing mistakes. This requires a certain clarity and consciousness about life.

From powerlessness to Power

When a cornered animal fights, it just goes into survival mode full on. Does this require any sort of power? No it requires a powerlessness to do anything else. When one is powerless and insecure, they always seek to squash somebody else because they know they’ve had it otherwise. This is not a bad thing, there is no good and bad in nature. This kind of emergency mind set is obviously what will happen if somebody comes along and butchers your family in front of you. This is not meant to scare you or sound harsh, but in all likelihood you will grab the nearest thing and survival will happen as it does in the jungle. You will just do what’s necessary to stop them, yes or no? This requires responsible action to avoid. So this doesn’t need to be practiced or rehearsed. This is what we want to avoid, but it will happen if we don’t take precautions to ensure our own security.It is the avoidance which needs to be practiced as means to gain control over the situation.

Fear is a powerful externalisation of energy which happens whether you want it to or not. However, the way it expresses itself can be changed. So even the automatic survival process can be harnessed to some degree, or it can be left to react with events on its own. Men in particular tend to become more aggressive when under threat. In martial arts we say that the greater the challenge, the greater the potential power to overcome. This means that under extreme circumstances, if you can harness the energy and squeeze opportunity out of it, this is where true power lies. So when under threat, you can just dissipate the energies at the level of the instinctive reactions, or you can send it upwards. There are many ways to go about this.

Not for the faint of Heart

Say you have particularly powerful energy emitting outwardly. You need to develop certain tools which are purely receptive and absorb this energy. This is where the breathing comes in, as well as the postures and stances. The Hara Centre1 is the powerful energy centre for generative purposes. The Solar Plexus, or heart centre, absorbs this energy when breathing becomes properly attuned to the internal system. This proper attunement does not happen when you are breathing purely in reaction to external events. So by concentrating here, at the Hara Centre, you remain more in control.

The other way is to make certain sounds2, which create the right kind of internal attitude and synchronise the breathing patterns with a strong posture or stance. So remaining mindful of these considerations can greatly enhance your ability to respond to emergency situations and find cunning ways of subverting them altogether. This takes the fire and intensity of a situation and transforms it into something beneficial. The idea is to become aware that the situation is happening, but conscious there is more going on than just the survival process.

In many self defence classes, you are advised to fight back automatically. For example, there is the whole “It’s me of him” mentality, or “he’s trying to stop me feeding my family, so I must put an end to him”, this kind of thinking. Either that, or you are told to pre meditate a minimal damage response. The thing is, that if you’re wrong about this, you have a big problem. This kind of thinking came about when martial arts became a mass production affair.

Just like we predicted that people would always work in factories, we predicted that the situation could be planned for in advance. Evolution does not work this way. So it become necessary to pre package techniques which are said to work in the absence of awareness or even basic competence. This gets people moving and gives them a bit of confidence to take further steps. However, if you make the mistake of taking on some sort of quest to defeat people, then then existentially this requires a huge level of self responsibility and competence. It is not me saying this, it’s a condition of taking things on in life. This is why martial arts was deemed not for the faint of heart.

References

1 https://intuitivemartialarts.com/2024/02/13/hara-centre-seat-of-creation/ Hara Centre: Seat of Creation

2 https://intuitivemartialarts.com/2023/12/20/sound-and-form-part-1/ Sound and Form Part 1

Hara Centre: Centre of Creation

Posted on Last updated on by joeharman8 | 16 min read | 110 views

“The earths atmosphere, which is electromagnetic, would not be possible without the earths core being the way it is. The Earths core is hot and high pressure, like our own physical centre. The surround electromagnetic atmosphere of the Earth can be likened to the nervous system. So the core directly affects the nervous system, and the nervous system is not possible without the core. So you can transform you energy and situation by working with this core in ways that are not possible otherwise. “

When you perform an action from the core, it radiates outwardly to the periphery. This is the case for any martial arts movement. In fact, it takes a lot more competence to do this than to perform the move superficially. So the idea is to move the core, the abdomen, and then extend out from there. It does not happen the other way around, that you start with the limb first, and hope that this creates a whole body motion.

It is like how the Earths rotation begins at the core, and this moves the mantle and the plates. The plates and the surface do not move the core. In the same way, the chemical receptors on a plants do not make its roots grow. If pesticide is used too much, then this just impedes the plants overall development of certain internal processes which produce these things naturally. The same thing goes on in the human body. In terms of movements, the internal signals which are related to the core, function much better if the core is the initiator of the movements. This helps you memorise and imbed certain movements more deeply. Even on a superficial level, it is better to perform core movements because the core leads all basic movements. In this way the only things that changes is the particular limb you are using when driving from the seat of the abdominal core. So your kicking and punching becomes very similar.

Knowing the Unknown

When you do a punch, it is only a punch from the core if it starts at the core. This is why in martial arts they say “Hit from the core”. This core is the abdomen or Hara Centre as it is known. “Ha” means Sun in Chinese. According to the Indian Sutras, “Ha” means the same thing too, and “Ra” refers to a radiant sun, the centre of the Universe. So together, “Ha-ra” can be taken to mean the earths centre, or the universal centre. It is from the centre that the rest of creation happens. You can only illuminate the vastness of the unknown from the high pressure centre which eventually creates light. In the Solar System, energy starts as non visible. This energy only becomes visible light after some time when it extends out from the Sun and certain particles react at a certain distance from the source as the pressure drops. This is the case with Martial Arts.

The Hara Centre, the physical centre of the body, is the only energy centre which can transmit itself anywhere in the body directly. It manifests differently depending on the action. In terms of technique, it can go to the arms, legs, or elsewhere physically. This is why it is universal in nature. In others words, it is not just located in the abdomen, the energy can be transported anywhere. The lower abdomen is the source. For example, if you drive a nail into a block of wood, you do so from the core, just as you do with say, a golf swing. This applies to everything. It starts one place and ends up somewhere else. All these things are driven from the core. It is impossible to start from the end, because this isn’t yet in your experience. This is why in the traditional arts they never rushed learning, nor were they given to over analysis.

It is just because you don’t know how to do a movement before you have learnt it that we say “drive from the core”. You cannot do a complex kick before you have learnt to do this. So you practice something you don’t know by doing something you do already know. This is why I always say “drive from the core” first. Personally I don’t bother with explaining all the details of a particular move because this becomes obvious over time with the right fundamental platform. This platform is a strong core. It is not necessarily an athletic strength, but the right energy and maneuverability. 

So develop the Hara Centre first. It is only possible from there to know the unknown. It is only when this unknown comes into your direct experience that you learn the mysteries of martial arts. The core functions much better in children. this is why they learn everything naturally. The adult core usually becomes lazy from excessive sitting and poor lifestyle habits which we develop in society. The point is that we can switch on this source to learn anything like a child does, even as an adult. So this core is like the little white dot in the Dark space of the Yin Yang symbol. This is called mastering technique, so that it manifests properly.

Drugs and Chemicals

The expression Energy takes can vary dramatically depending on a number of factors. But when it originates in the Hara Centre and finds expressions elsewhere, then there is some discretion and volition as to where it ends up. Otherwise, if it starts elsewhere, it is often an unconscious act, or simply accidental. Conscious acts are always intentional and consciousness is always a choice. Let’s say that the energy is taken in from external sources, such as some sort of chemical supplement. Such chemicals tend to inebriate the system so that it acts purely from a chemicals basis, or dampens other energy sources in the body. This is the problem with drugs and chemical supplements1.

So chemical energy is itself a manifestation of pressure and heat. These are naturally occurring when things begin in the gut. For instance, many chemicals can be created internally which people are now ingesting more and more because their system has gone taken a kind of backwards step. This takes a bit more time and particularly a mediative digestion, so that the body can rest and regenerate properly2. But people are “Go, go, go” all the time. It is for this reason that Excessive physical training can happen at the surface level, because the chemicals are just being replaced by supplements. It is like with plants. The soil quality is going down, so fertiliser and chemical sprays are needed just to get some fruit and ward off disease. None of this is necessary until you exceed the natural capabilities of the earth. The Hara Centre is like the Earth.

So chemicals come in, then they will run their course over a certain period of time and then dissipate at some level. Often, these chemicals are being abused, so the natural production goes down and a kind of external dependance happens. Of course, the biggest intoxication from outside occurs when greed and corruption take over in the mind. It is for this reason that in the traditional arts, they urged against competition and prestige. Competition is fine once you have develop the necessary mental fortitude. In my experience, there are so many life lessons which I have absorbed that it almost derailed me completely. So if I didn’t have the necessary inner tools of development, I would have been broken by certain experiences. This is why I stress “Meditation, meditation, meditation”, or some kind of meditative dimension and development of this. 

Overcoming Self Deception

The biggest deception if from the intoxication of conquest. The lust for conquest brings about the same disorders as actual chemical abuse in many cases. This is a false high. This is referred to as Maya in the Indian systems, or simply self deception. This is because when you overcome the need for these things, it is as if they never happened and the events become meaningless. This is not so with any reality which is learnt from the core of truth, which is the Hara Centre. There is nothing wrong with chemical supplements, they can be taken if needed. But the very same things can be created internally, setting in process and lasting mechanism. The results are often the same but more sustainable. But what a difference it makes if you can produce these things internally.

Inter Transformation

We have looked at how the Hara Centre can transmit itself anywhere in the body. With the other centres of the body, such as the chest or head, these act as relay points, so the energy takes a more roundabout route. There are exceptions to this, such as Martial Arts masters whose physical body’s have failed them but they have developed the proper energy channels. These are exceptions however. With the Hara Centre, it can reach anywhere. It is like how you can create a heater with the use of electricity, there are transformers involved in that kind of technical process to convert energy. If you want to create heat, movements is needed for example. Movements is a kind of transformer in the human body. There is all sorts of mind work that goes into it, such as knowledge and motivation to move. This is why in many ways, reality begins in the mind. Importantly, the mind is linked to the gut, not just the brain.

The earth itself transforms heat into water, and then water into steam. All of these processes are only possible because of the earths core dynamo, which is molten iron largely. This is like the Hara Centre. The earths atmosphere, which is electromagnetic, would not be possible without the earths core being the way it is. The Earths core is hot and high pressure, like our own physical centre. The surround electromagnetic atmosphere of the Earth can be likened to the nervous system. So the core directly affects the nervous system, and the nervous system is not possible without the core. So you can transform you energy and situation by working with this core in ways that are not possible otherwise. 

Let’s look at technique. If the punch begins at the shoulder, then you are not punching from the core. You can still do it, but a lot of additional steps are taken, often unconsciously. So the idea behind “using the core” or the abdomen, comes from this idea that from this centre of mass everything spreads outwardly. There is an inner intelligence that grasps this intuitively. So if you get this, then you are 90% of the way there. Why 90%? because the microorganisms of the body account for 90% of the body’s make up. And these guys are largely in the core and work according to the gut primarily. From the core, the rest radiates outwardly. In terms of cognition and learning, if the brain and nervous system attempt to perform a particular movement without the cores involvement, the results are limited. This can produce many problems, such as over use injury and a whole host of physical ailments, particularly later on in life.

From Gross to subtle 

If you point a finger, this can be performed from the core, or you can simply wave the arm out and point the finger. If the action is led from the core, then the finger pointing is just the final expression at the end of the movement. In other words, it is the end phase of a core movement. You might say, that everyone can point a finger, what’s so special about that? However, anyone who doesn’t pay attention and concern towards these things on the path of martial arts is setting themselves up for problems. This is why in the traditional systems, the master would look at how you conducted yourself in every aspect. So to take care of the large, you can pay attention to the small things, which is required if you wish to transform these initial steps into greater possibilities. The idea that you can do something carelessly but repeatedly and yield good results is completely wrong. You go from basic to complex, from gross to subtle expertise. 

So one initial movement sets up the possibilities for the next. It is the same with a punch. You rotate the core into the punch and there is a lot more power and transmission of energy as a result. This is because it began from the centre of mass and transformed into a punch as part of a complex process. It’s not like you get each phase technically correct separately and then it works. No, instead you have to transform one phase into another. It is like the pressure of the earth gradually dissipates as you move away from the core. This creates the complex physical reality around us. Due to this pressure release, other forms of energy, such as gravitational energy and electromagnetic energy, gradually express themselves. These act upon the physical word we experience. This is a complex process, but it is an intuitive one. Gravity can then act upon larger masses, whereas it is weaker the closer you get to the centre. This is because other more powerful forces of Chi energy, or radiation in Scientific terms are happening closer to the centre. This is also known as dark matter1. 

So in the human being, when you perform a punch, it is only possible because of a release of energy which gradually takes another form. This is how you create something from nothing. This nothing actually contains the whole possibility, it just that this has not been Brough to bare in your experience yet. But it will the more you work with it. This is why there are no set traditions other than oral transmission in most traditional systems. You have to work for it internally.

Self Creation

If you just swing the arm at the opponent, then there is an entirely different effect even if it looks the same as a punch from the core. This is why there is so much emphasis on breathing from the core, digesting properly from the core, and moving from there in the traditional systems of martial arts. The diamonds are produced there. In the Earths core, Molten Iron erupts out of the surface from the core. It is only when the atmosphere changes that we see the diamond formation of this same heat energy, which has now solidified. These diamond are what we create in martial arts, expressions of high pressure which have materialised. The Earth doesn’t think about it, it is an energy intelligence. These diamonds can absorb electromagnetic waves from the earths atmosphere. So the Earth itself generates an electromagnetic fields which sustains the outer surface. The same thing happens in us, and this is entirely intuitive when you develop the right perceptions through practice. When you rely too much on physical strength of the limbs, you can easily forget about using the core properly. This leads to various injuries, which although inevitable sometimes, become chronic and excessive. It is just like if you exploit the nutrients of the earth more quickly than they are created, you will likely have issues. 

Let’s take the example of digestion. If you eat whole foods, or healthy foods generally, then these have to be digested in the stomach properly. The thing about sugar is that it goes straight out of the stomach and into the blood stream. It doesn’t go into deep nourishment, such as bone and deep tissue regeneration. This is why it is linked with so many internal problems, even if it gives you a sugar hit. Healthy whole food on the other hand, goes into reproducing the cells and creating an entire person. Over the course of around seven years, Science has show the the entire organisms cells are likely to be replaced. This isn’t so if degeneration is happening too much at the same time as replenishment. So when anything is done at the surface level, whether that is learning or nutrition, there is a certain level of nourishment which gets neglected and undermined.. 

When blood sugar builds up too much, you can get a range of health complications, such as nerve damage, and inability to produce enough insulin. We have also looked at how osteoporosis may happen too, because the bones need nourishment, not just the muscles and blood. So when a person exists at the surface level, what you end up with is an irritable or excitable mood with a kind of frantic and compulsive disposition. This undermines health obviously. This can in itself lead many of types of mental health conditions, as well as physical ailments. The variety of these are countless, and exploding across the world. From this, we can see that a physiological problem can become a psychological one quite easily, once certain patterns of behaviour become habitual. So certain patterns of behaviour are thought replenish or undermine ones pre birth energy, or chi. 

The point is that what appears to be a mental health issue, often has its origins in the physiological or energy realm. So by taking care of the physiology, you end up taking care of the mental side. This is the same with martial arts. It is often the case that people train with all sorts of gels and sugary liquids, just to keep certain chemicals active in the blood stream. From a performance perspective this has some benefits, such as making one more aggressive and reactive. This comes at a heavy price, because it intoxicates your system just like a drug. Drug and chemicals are just a different part of the cycle. You take them in and perform some activity. It is possible to take in various supplements properly, but that is something else. It requires a level of self restraint and awareness to perform certain activities properly. From a health perspective, over supplementation is not only stupid but disastrous. So when the body eventually breaks down with age and wear and tear, the solution for many is to take a cocktail of supplements to keep the game going. But this only hastens decline or fails to get at the source of the problem to change things.

References

  1. https://wordpress.com/post/intuitivemartialarts.com/2227 Conquest at all costs: Drugs in Martial Arts.
  2. https://intuitivemartialarts.com/2024/02/02/how-to-use-stress-for-your-own-health-and-the-importance-of-the-hara-centre/ How to Use stress for your own Health, and the importance of the Hara Centre.

Do you Need a Coach in Martial Arts?

Posted on by joeharman8 | 10 min read | 100 views

The word Coach, or instructor, suggests that you are taught some skills and then given some advice about what to do with them. For this, obviously some instruction and expert advice is needed. So an instructors job is often to change you or modify you in some way, according to some sort of teaching. There are good and bad ways to conduct yourself. So in many ways the coach is employed to act as a source of knowledge. This implies an end point, rather than become an architect of your own creation, or becoming something no one else has ever been in the ultimate sense.

When it comes to a Master, or a Guru, this means something far more profound than learning a set of physical and psychological skills. Through them, you are to become your own source of knowledge. One decides to follow a master because they want to transcend the duality of competence and incompetence, of theory and practice. With a Master, you can learn from them how to become free from dependance, whilst at the same time utterly dependant on their guidance in a psychological and physical way to some extent, just like you would a coach. There is no right or wrong about this, it’s just that whatever the source of you competency, you use the guidance of somebody to improve.

A coach is an example to follow. They demonstrate the skills, and then they are transmitted to you. This is done because the necessary inspiration has been demonstrated. In this way, the instructor and the instructed form a symbiotic relationship or receptivity and transmission. The blossoming of this particular flower is done in laboratory conditions, according to a step by step approach. this is the modern way, according to scientific instruction. However, in the wider nature, a flower blossoms naturally, and the tendencies of the seed can go various ways depending on the conditions of the soil, or the environment. The Coach is looking to create the flower, by digging around in the structure, as if it is somehow buried inside there. They may even look at a natural flower and then seek to artificially recreate it. The Master knows it is not possible to blossom in this way.

So the Master works outside the lab, according to what they are presented with. The bond between master and disciple is then created. It is in this particular relationship that the master is able to function. Otherwise, without the necessary inspiration and trust, the only thing they can do is show some techniques with limited success. Indeed, this is why in the past nothing was transmitted to the disciple often for years. They needed to develop a certain level of striving and longing to know more, rather than satisfying some egotistical expectations. For example, the master is never openly criticised in certain cultures. This isn’t because they are perfect, it is for the benefit of the disciple, so they learn not to blame others or become self satisfied. The level of trust from the disciple the grows because they are not suspicious or envious any longer. However the expert coach is often criticised unless they bring success upon the athlete or instructed student.

Depending on what you want to learn, the coach is needed or not. For example, you want to learn some particular set of skills. Then certainly the coach speeds up this acquisition by providing sound advice and bringing clarity. However, if you want to go further, then more is needed from you. For example, you might learn how to punch or kick from a coach. But this says nothing about the existential problem of bringing stress upon yourself by dominating others and challenging other people constantly. A Master will usually advise against fighting, because they know that one who declares themselves as an alpha specimen knows no end of up and coming challengers. This eventually leads to peoples downfall in the end. However, in terms of confronting an opponent, a coach can instruct you on this.

The Master will suggest seeking peace or enlightenment rather than fighting. It is not that they are against combat, it’s just that they are more focused on blossoming than hardiness. However, you can also blossom with sufficient hardiness and tenacity. The Martial Artist knows that this can never happen unless he is well armed. So psychologically, and physically, many are prone to disagree that peace is even possible or useful. So they give themselves to a set of martial techniques. the only difference here is that with the Master, the disciple gives him authority of what they should be eating, drinking, behaving like, and sleeping like. It all depends on whether you value the every day things, or just the spectacular in terms of who you give authority to these matters. Defending your own life or eating properly are not of any more or less importance to one another. It actually depends on how well in advance you wish to safeguard your own security. This is why expert advice is needed.

When the Martial Artists experiences martial arts psychologically or physically, it is like a a prism which has reflected light. The light of incoming information has gone in, been transformed in some way, and then expressed as an appearance of light on a spectrum. For example, energy can fuel a thought, an emotion, or stillness. It actually depends on how much light you throw into creating stillness within yourself whether or not you experience it. Equally, whether you step off a cliff or into danger is not dependant on your bodily control or mental effort, but in the trajectory of your of your ongoing efforts.

This is what is meant by being in the moment, which means not to give attention and awareness to emotions but rather to pure knowledge, or the light. When disciple decides to take in the outside information only to absorb it directly, rather than transform its form in some way, then he becomes the master of his own destiny. Then, such a person can find meaning in whatever they do, from whichever inflection of light. You then absorb more light as a consequence, to the extent that you see it more often than others or shed light on matters which would otherwise confuse you physiologically or psychologically. The threats and challenges from others then have reduced psychological and physiological relevance or intensity, and therefore seem increasingly irrelevant.

When the body, mind, and emotions are in survival modes, the martial artists experiences this as himself. The energy coming in has been reflected into various subsidiary forms, often without awareness. Just try breathing in a shallow way rapidly for some time. Your emotional and thought state become one way. When you breathe more deeply, you begin to align more of the body physiology and framework to deal with the incoming waves of breath and energy coming into the body. Wether you create these or perceive them is beyond the point, you simply experience it as you so that it and the body is one and the same. This has been the goal of internal Martial Arts for Millenia.

When you slow down the deep breathing, focusing on the Hara Centre, feeling it circulate the body, gradually you feel as though there is no external threat and there is a greater internal awareness. In fact the external threat is simply a stimulus to kick start all this. This doesn’t mean you can’t act externally, just that you are no longer experiencing the outside internally. You are creating it yourself. You are instead experiencing the internal and projecting that outward. This is known as moving with the Chi, or projecting the chi. What this means is that there is an inner unity. This Chi is interwoven with other energies systems, like a scaffolding, so that it can add to the longevity stock of the whole system. This is why in Chinese medicine they focus on Chi energy to heal the body, rather than some other component off the body. The Chi body is not just some energy, it is literally a body of energy across many levels.

Moving with the Chi, or Chi energy, is a partuicular dimension of energy which is more subtle than emotion or thought. At the same time it influences both, and is part of the same structure. This is expressed differently in Yoga, which deals with various Sheaths or Koshas. Imagine you have a scaffolding around a building you are making. You need this scaffolding so that you can continue expanding the main body of the building. In the same way, the bones, emotions, hormones, and blood, all need a strong structure to circulate through. However, they would crumble is the scaffolding where removed. You are creating and recreating this all the time. In fact, the bodies cells are said to turnover completely after seven Years. This explains why peoples can overcome adversity, regardless of their past.

So the Chi is fundamental to building the Body. This Chi is also known as Prana in the Indian Systems. The more gross bodies are not enough by themselves to keep the body going in a powerful way for long. There is simply an upsurge and then decline as the body matures physiologically speaking. This is why many martial Artists who experience prolonged states of stress and tension eventually compromise the integrity of their organism if they have not worked with other aspects. If instead the body is used as a platform for the experssion of this more subtle Chi Energy, then it both holds the body together as well as strengthens it. This is why the Masters of tradition have emphasised working on the energy body, whereas todays athletic coaches focus on the materials of the structure and exploiting those for short term gain.

When you work with the Chi body, you do not need to change anything because it is all there. For example, when you work with the Hara Centre and Deep breathing techniques, you will feel as though it is no longer you that is breathing and the breath even stops. This can be very of putting for people who count the breath or over think the breathing, because they begin to panic and the breath quickens again. However, what is actually happening is that you are tuning yourself like a fork to the cosmic breath, which isn’t actually air, because the same air follows a different universal pattern to that of the planet or the body. Obviously all of the planet contribute to what we are experiencing here on earth, but the most fundamental is the solar energy, or the sun. The sun can be intense of relaxed, but it always expands and contracts in waves, rather than cycles of high and low.

The Hara Centre is the body’s beginning, it is where you started in the womb, and it is from there that you generate and circulate the energies of the body. It is in fact the master of the bodies energies. For example, if you are deep breathing using the Hara Centre and applying sustained pressure here, your emotional states and thoughts will become altered because it is playing a more central role in the generation of cellular and bodily changes. Otherwise thoughts become less concentrated and more scattered. So you can change all the social situations of you day to day life, as well as the thoughts and emotional states you experience externally, but you cannot change this fundamental factor that this storehouse of energy is and where it all begins. Depending on how central to your experience this activity becomes, you become less acceptable to the cycles of the outside circumstances, which are outside of you control and which happen in cycles rather than waves. Internal breathing focus and work is one hundred percent within your control, even if outside conditions hamper development or help it.

Lubricating the Joints and Hydrating the Body

Posted on by joeharman8 | 11 min read | 75 views

When we speak of internal martial arts, what we want to do is amplify the quality of what we are doing. Take the example of a microphone. If it is ramped up, the output is greater even though the speaker is the same. So this is what we are doing with the body, we are amplifying its output internally rather than adding effort externally. Or, we are doing both in some way. One way to achieve this, a major way, is to lubricate the joints of the organism properly. When we are talking about lubricating the joints, this is what the internal styles are about, and this is why there is meticulous attention paid to the form. we want to make sure every aspect of the body is paid attention to. It is not that it is outwardly effective, this just amplifies output. So there is a connection between the inner and out expression.

Once the joints are lubricated, they are more able to move freely and without hindrance. As soon as you wake up everything is less flexible. So stretching first of all wakes the body up. This is what you are doing with the reaching and extension motions of the traditional martial arts forms. it is just an organised way of doing what is natural when you stiffen up. You are looking to extend the energies in various ways. Otherwise you walk around as though asleep in a dull and lethargic ways. Yes, you don’t have to be asleep to be unconscious, you can even walk around like that. It is possible to reduce the consciousness whilst a certain agitation fires you up. This is known as unconscious activity. We will see how to increase the transmission or energy as well as the fluidity of its expression.

In general, the potency of the cells becomes so much greater when fused with water, and it almost seems supernormal and everything becomes magnified. Let’s look at this. The body is over 70 percent water, and this has tremendous implications for brain function, which we will look at in a moment. For now let’s look at vision. In fact, if the cells of the eyes, such as the cornea, are lubricated, only then is it possible to magnify. Otherwise, ones sight fails.

There are times when you don’t want to focus on the external.So, if the eyes are closed, then other cells become more active internally. This is known as internal vision. This is the reason for closing the eyes during intense internal focus. This assists perception and even outward vision eventually, by magnifcation of your faculties. Various scientific studies have shown the the corneal cells are among the most taxiing of the entire system metabolically, which is a major reason for widespread exhaustion in todays hyper focused and artificially illuminated world. Personally, I find it difficult to focus in the presence of applied artificial light. So what I do is soften my gaze and focus internally, as there is often no real need to focus on what is made obvious by the external environment.

When the joints become lubricated, everything becomes more effortless. Or everything that was once a big effort becomes easful and full of energy. So there is a certain grace and harmony within your movements, a fluidity about them. This is what the traditional forms aim towards in many ways. Otherwise, all the traditional forms just become meaningless and ugly, or just limited. This is intricately tied to the breathe as well as the activity of the joints and transmission of energy. So when during a meditative posture, the diaphragm moves closer in alignment with the abdomen, the tide rises just as when the moon is full on Earth. This is the meaning behind all the talk of the moon, the sun, and the earth in various scriptures. Because the human being is largely water, all of this has a profound effect on the individual, just as the moon affects the tides. This obviously affects the emotions and thought in a subtle way, which can become amplified. So, it is not that we look like water, it is just that our being is largely to do with water.

So then the water pressure increases and it tries to raise up, there is an increase in energy. The blood is trying to circulate more widely, and everything becomes more oxygenated. The internal pressure builds higher and is less localised. The greater capacity to receive energy from the outside, in the form of oxygen, makes it possible to increase this internal source of pressure. This pressure is the greatest at the Hara Centre, or the Dan Tien. If this energy can be sustained, it fuses with the organism over time. For example, the Hara Centre, the body centre of gravity, is the warmest area of the body. If the pressure is built here through various internal martial arts practices, or Yogas, then the charged particles become more potent. This causes a certain polarisation which is assisted by upward pressure. You then get an ellipsoid shape, leading from the Hara Centre towards the Brain, through the breathing apparatus of the Diaphragm and lungs. This is symbolised by the tree, where the energy gradually turns more towards bearing fruit rather than raw base energy at the roots.

Fire and Water: Yin and Yang.

So depending on the style and temperament of the martial artists, there is either more fluidity and grace involved, or more violence and thrusting of energies. With the more violent styles, these are more Yang. This means they make more use of heat. The more subtle styles make more use of Water, or fluids. This thrusting action, whether fluid or violent, occurs through the spine, which is full of cerebrospinal fluid. This can be increased by various internal meditations and practices, which radiate through the spine via the fluid. This radiation from heat operates through the body, specifically transmitting through the spine and the cerebrospinal spinal fluid, as well as elsewhere. Obviously, this can greatly affect emotional and thoughts, and in a big way these can be influenced. This is the reason for the various explanations of how fire and water styles interact and mutually reinforce one another in various ancient texts. It all depends whether you use the fire to ignite or to connect more deeply and then extend upwards via a process of transformation.

When the outward bound senses or focusing intently, naturally the eyes become more hydrated. This comes at considerable cost. For example say you are looking at a screen all day. The amount of hydration required of the Corneal cells is amongst the highest in terms of metabolism in the system. If the gaze is softened or the eyes are closed this brings the focus inwards. In other words, you move from outer to internal vision. It is the same as if your emotions are used to gratify what the outward bound sense are perceiving, or if they are used in the service of supporting the organism internally. Or there can be a combination of both, and enjoyment of both perspectives. Generally speaking, an internal martial artist will be more focused on using the emotional states to turn inward in focus.

What is internal vision? Well, if outer vision is a reflection of light, then internal vision is a perception of it in various ways. Light enters into the system via different frequencies on the electromagnetic spectrum, and only a small proportion is visible light. The rest is perceived as heat, or even sound, as well as other forms. So sound waves requires a medium to transmit themselves though. How well we receive these waves depends on the level of hydration and where about it’s happening. So one way to perceive more deeply, is to lubricate the joints and close the eyes using various basic martial arts forms. there are countless numbers of these, and most are effective. Alternatively, you just perform any meaningful movement, such as picking up a ball, and pay total attention to it, feeling each articulation.

So if you lubricate the eyes only, then that is where everything is focused. If you lubricate the joints effectively, then this transmits various internal sounds and breath vibrations through the body more potently. This is the reason for the classical martial arts forms as well as the sound forms. For instance, the sound “Ha” encourages and activates the Hara centre, which is the body’s centre of gravity. The sound “Sh” or “S” encourages extension of the action of the Hara to the very end of the breath. this links breath to action, and action becomes more fluid. When various classical forms or performed using this sound, the articulation of the joints encourages greater hydration and transmission of energy. This is a profoundly powerful practice if it is done with the right understanding.

The the internal attention is like the external attention, it is just focusing on a different and more subtle energy. The vibrational quality of a hydrated system, which aims to become in tune with the classical forms, has a very different aura about it than when it is performed without presence or preparation. It Gains an entirely new vibrational quality. The fluidity of the movement is also much better if everything from the fingers to the arms are in synchronisation. When we say fluidity, this also means the internal fluid, which is encourages by gracefully and subtle outward motions. For instance, if you make a fist, practice doing so by first extending the fingers and hands, and then slowly folding in each finger one at a time in a smooth fashion. This lubricates the hands effectively. This can be done with the entire body.

Throughout the day, our attention is drawn towards often meaningless trvililities. This is a kind of theft when you think of the possibilities lost. The water element is being externalised more and more, which must come at a cost. So when the entire body becomes lubricated, the Chi energy, or simply vital energy, becomes much more able to transmit rather than becoming localised or constipated. With effort and practice, it is possible to remain in such a state of energy and transmission of energy even in the midst of external distraction.

When I say hydration, it’s not just a case of consuming water. This is just one aspect. If you breathe, you can breathe with the lungs only in a shallow way. You can also distribute fluid in a shallow way, to just the peripheral limbs or senses. If the circulation or hydration becomes bad, then things dry up. Hydration can be done badly. For example, the use of steroids retains water in the limbs which causes bloating. On the other hand, if water is used to hydrate the joints and even the deeper areas of the brain, then these faculties begin to become more full and vibrant. So by focusing on the internal energies, the deeper areas of the brain become hydrated, not just the instinctive and peripheral areas. this has profound implications for internal perception as well as intelligence. This explains why intuitive faculties seem like nonsense to those who are simply analytical and in the habit of orientating themselves just to the external environment. There is of course nothing wrong with it, it just one perspective.

So the absence of light in certain ways has a power of its own. This is the power of darkness, which is always represented by nothingness, or Yin. The absence of light, or yin, actually has a strong and vibrant presence. It is just not visible. This is why whatever you can do consciously, you can do much better once you have internalised it and are able to move to a no mind, or intuitive state. This obviously requires practice and mastery, but essentially, this effortless effort can be tremendously more powerful than deliberately trying for a pre determined outcome. So when you are able to internalise the breath and lubricate the joints well, this contributes towards a massive change in perception and capability. This is why in certain Chinese Styles, they have referred to cultivating the energies as the birth of an entirely new body of perception, or the Chi energy body. It is not some extension of the physical body, it is at once separate and connected.

Inner physical practice? Karma and Riding the wave of the inner fight

Posted on by joeharman8 | 18 min read | 93 views

When it comes to inner practice, you might tend to think about meditation our the mental side of training. However, you can also train your physical body in such a way that you increase physical and psychological capabilities without unnecessarily breaking the body down or burning out mentally. In fact, it is possible to change hardship into a transformative process rather than causing unnecessary wear and tear. The aim of inner practice on the physical level is to use physicality in order to transcend the need for violence. Violence is a kind of karma, which instead of weighing you down can be used to dissolve certain elements within you freeing you prime pressure.

The thing to understand is that inner martial arts doesn’t mean avoiding violence altogether, because violence cannot be completely avoided. But nor is it a goal in itself. You might be happy that you fought someone and won, but that’s only because you didn’t get seriously injured, or because you gained some notoriety and money. So this victory is only momentary, it’s the very same situation the next day, the same challenges, the same need to strive for progress. In fact the more you grow and achieve the this entails continual development and work. it is the very same thing as having a child. This entails additional responsibility and competence to nurture and bring up the child. This is understood in the Eastern tradition as creating a karmic bond. All we are doing in terms of martial arts is taking the same responsibility towards the inner landscape.

So physical martial arts prowess involves using physicality as a developmental tool and a solid platform or foundation to build upon, whether psychologically, financially, or spiritually. To do this effectively, you must learn to externalise the energy when necessary, and store it back up again when you have used it as needed so that nothing goes to waste. This is known as circulating QI in the Eastern systems. So the idea is to become environmentally friendly. In other words, rather than letting it dissipate or externalise completely, you bring the blood flow and energy back into the life support system of the organs and internal structure rather than polluting the surrounding atmosphere. Or, on the psychological level, you make some sort of analysis rather than just leave it as it is, learning from the situation. Both create a more positive karma. Importantly, whether positive or negative, karma simply means working.

So it works on several level, this internalising the externalised force. Obviously you can then plan some kind off strategy internally, and then externalise that too. It doesn’t matter which way around, just that the two forces of the internal and external remain linked.

Stretching and compressing the body

For most people, training involves working on muscular skeletal alignment and energy expenditure. This is for health and fitness purposes. For example, you might learn to punch or kick, and learn all about the external mechanics of correct form. You then might repeat these in an exercise class. This is in an effort to perform certain actions repeatedly as a habit, breaking down and building up the muscle tissues over and over again. This increases muscle size and enhances basic fitness. This is because If the energy and blood collects in the limbs then there is an increased activation in the muscle fibres and they work more effectively. It is simply a case of allocating resources, or increase the supply to meet an increasing demand. In any case the demand goes up, which is to say karma is increased. That means more responsibility in working intelligently. The longer oxygenated blood pools there, the less fuel is being allocated to the organs, such as the heart. This puts them under increased strain. So getting the right mix of rest, output, recovery and balance is essential.

It is hard to know whether the muscles grow back stronger because of work, or the individual simply gets better at doing the exercise and the muscles grow back just the same as before. So it can be that no strength increase occurs but improved competency makes you stronger and better. In fact, it is well documented that with increased muscle fibres and neuromuscular activity, there is a greater output of strength. What is not clear cut is whether this is down to the nervous system or physical muscle size. In my experience it is more to do with the nervous system, which is strongly related to perceiving the environment and initiating response. The body just fires in an all or nothing way unless it is mediated by the nervous system. When the nervous system remains unpestered, it can renew the body energy fairly easily, because it isn’t fighting the compulsions of the body so much. However when it is in fight or flight this can become draining over time even if initially there is some boost of energy.

When it comes to muscular force, there are several ways to increase the surface area of a muscles. For example, by stretching the muscle, there is a lengthening of the tissue so that you create more operating space for blood flow and oxygen to fuel. The advantage of this method is that you don’y break down the tissue so much as you do in excessive physical labour, even if there is some stretch related tearing from time to time. By overworking the muscle directly, it grows back bigger than before rather than longer has in stretching. There is not really a need to go for just one method, usually a combination of the two is preferable, stretching and strength training. For most people a combination of both improves the overall integrity of the body.

Importantly, with stretching, there is an ease within the system which creates space for the internal organs to operate effectively when the muscle is lengthened over time. This can combat the excessive tightness built up sometimes experienced in strength training alone, which can compress other aspects of the system, such as the movement of the organs. So in stretching the body framework is used to support the the organs, so that even if you feel stiff and akward you persevere with stretching and everything eventually eases up over time with practice. For example, if you contract the muscles over and over, this can encourage tightness, which compresses the rib cage and shoulders, amongst other areas. If you use the muscles to remain erect in your posture, you eventually reach a state of ease and comfort felt mainly in the organs. Excessive tightness hampers breathing and restricts postural ease so that organs function more poorly.

Using breathing as a tool

If a muscle is stretched, the fibre lengthens so that there is a greater area of tissue and more flexibility to extend. Lets look at how this enhances breathing, not just limb flexibility. With repeated practice, new stretching of the muscles can allow greater lung capacity because the inner muscles of the chest and abdomen are no longer restricting breathing so much. So lung capacity has more to do with muscular flexibility and activity than size alone. The lungs don’t act on their own, it is only through the breathing apparatus of the thoracic region and abdominals that they are expanded. This is why it is so important to lift the body and move from the core, so that there is core activation as well as an expansive lift.

In fact, doing the stretching exercises should aim to stretch the breathing muscles of the abdomen, diaphragm, and chest, first of all. The limbs are secondary. This is why it is important to stretch the spine for maximum body length, whilst at the same time allowing full opening of the chest and expansion of the abdomen whilst inhaling. You also want to remain anchored to the ground for stability and to use gravity effectively. The greater heights you reach, the more the need to remain anchored. This is the karmic bond. That means when you inhale, you won’t lift away from the centre of gravity, which is in the lower abdomen and hips. Then, during the exhale the body can relax properly and fully sink down into the posture. This relaxes everything so that you feel at ease, even if you start of aching and in some pain.

After the breathing muscles have expanded, they naturally drop back down and contract. After the surface tension of the muscle has been maximised by stretching and extending the fibres fully, they relax and everything comes back down again much like evaporated water forms droplets of dew on the ground after rising when heated. This is because the muscles are mainly made up of water which changes state at high pressure and when heated. So just as water reaches high pressure and drops its heavier elements as it ascends to the air, a certain cleansing happens in the muscles fibres if they are stretched properly. This releases you from the grip of karma. This is why you feel relaxed and invigorated after stretching, even if you might feel depleted of energy if you over exert the muscles by over activity, whichis a way of creating karma. Creating and releasing from karma is necessary, because without the force karma brings, motivation drops.

When a bubble bursts, first it expands and then it returns back to the surface as a film. This is due to a change of state in the water, a change of pressure and and expansion of the molecules. This is symbolised by the mountain, which has a strong horizontal base, and as it reaches the peak vertically and becomes single pointed. In the human body, there is a thick band of muscle and fascia around the physical centre, the lower abdomen, which when subjected to centrifugal force, turns into a vortex or a rotational kind of energy. so from a stable horizontal base, it is possible to drive upwards. During activity, this sends a swirling energy up the spine due to the increased pressure created, which reaches the peak in the head. This is the interaction of the yin and yang overlapping forces. This is similair to how the rotational turning of the earth between the two poles creates the same centrifugal force which drives water upwards and out of the mountain spring, where it is purified and drops the murkier elements. In other words, when the churning and crunching of the abdominal organs experienced during physical activity create activity, and upward ascension happens if it is not impeded.

Going with the example of the mountain spring, once they molecules reach a certain threshold and have risen, a certain space is created where the pressure drops once again and things return back to normal. From high altitude the water returns to the earth and the cycle continues. What this explains is that you break the bonds created by activity by expanding the boundaries of energy so that the hold is loosened. For example, you build a strong body and then stretch it with physical exercise so that it becomes relaxed and expanded. This internal action is known as Kriya in Yogic sciences. This is the same thing described as the cyclical relationship between yin and yang In Chinese medicine, which has both internal and external practices.

When the muscles fatigue, the blood flow turns inward towards the breathing muscles of the abdomen and chest, including the intercostals and diaphragm. So once you have worked up a certain amount of intense activity, naturally this energy travels upwards to the lungs from the body physical centre, the lower abdomen. So whether or not the goal was to do this, simply by expending energy the body draws back in what has been expended, just as droplets of water descend back down to the earth once they have vaporised as steam. Everything can be used and re used. Again, once a certain threshold has been reached, this naturally happens. Or, if you work directly with the abdominals and breathing muscles of this region, then you end up being able to perform exercise with more vigour and energy because you have increased the capacity of circulation. So it is not important which way round you do it, only that you go through a process of expenditure of energy, a change of state which enables the cyclical process of transformation.

Internal and external energy expenditure

When a person is young and full of energy, then expenditure is naturally the way forwards. When one reaches an older age, where the abundance is not so natural, then generating this energy from within consciously becomes the way. Both are natural. So with the younger athlete physical activity tends to dominate, whereas with the older athlete perhaps the breathing exercises and mediation are the focus. This is why many athletes cannot understand how a Tai Chi practitioner can just sit or stand there focusing on the breath for long periods of time. However, the reason is that they are using their muscle skeletal system to keep their spine erect so that the breathing muscles, particularly the diaphragm, abdomen, and upper body, are able to move freely. The younger athlete is using up energy externally to achieve the same thing. In both cases a different expression of the same energy is created, a transformation occurs.

The the internal practitioner is not using energy and the body frame so much for massive expenditure of energy produced by high intensity physical activity. The body becomes more internalised in its activity. At the same time, when the internal organs are able to hang from the bodies frame like structure, rather than collapsed on top of each other, they are able to support maximal energy cultivation in a healthy way. So the sitting postures and harmonic movements are aimed at creating such a frame which allows the body organs to function properly. Because the younger athlete or animal can achieve this automatically in their prime, or at least without so much detrimental effects, this stage usually comes later. Although, it would be hugely beneficial if a younger athlete could experience this kind of work, but it is impossible to experience something like this unless there is a pressing need or an unusually grand goal.

When people take steroids, this increases the amount of testosterone in the blood. This basically means that hormones and activity levels increase which means that an individual can work harder and recover quicker. The young athlete is more or less in this state in their prime anyway. This explains why there is usually the goal of reproduction or athletic performance, because the same hormones are used for both. when one or the other is the sole focus, the other tends to dominate less. Desire is desire, and the object of desire might change but this doesn’t change the process of energy, which is to transform and reach a common state of dissolution. The question is can hormones be used used for internal, or spiritual purposes? It is definatly possible, anything can be used to enhance your own development. If you can focus as exclusively on practice as consciously as the survival process drives you, then you have total involvement with that rather than an external desire.

Steroid use decreases the amount of testosterone naturally created within the body, so most of the time it is needed by individuals experiencing difficulty producing hormones internally. When it is created from within naturally, it must go towards supplying the entire body, such as the organs, before going to the muscles. Both ways increase the karmic structure of the body. However, there is less left over when it gets to the muscles from the internal body than when it is injected in from the outside. When it comes from the outside, this situation is reversed and whatever is left goes to the organs. The latter is a terrible idea from a health perspective, which explains why organ degeneration is a common side effect of steroid abuse over time, because everything goes to muscle growth. So all activity is karma, which simply means a consequence of activity rather than a value judgement. Such abuse also undermines even strength and power in the long run, because only when the organs function well can health and fitness be maximised.

Imagine you rev the engine of your car and speed across the road at 150 mph. If you do this once or twice, you might get away with it. It may feel quite exhilarating. But if you do this repeatedly, then over time, you risk your life increasingly. This isn’t a good idea if you want to experience the drive properly, only if you are escaping from some kind of pressing danger. This is essentially what is happening when people over train and abuse their system, they are over practicing survival and attempting to curtail their demise, as if that is life. The, the body thinks it is fighting constantly. So this is also used as a way to trick the body into a reactive all or nothing response to beat an opponent. This too can be used as a spiritual process. Yes it’s a powerful way to do things, but it’s just asking for trouble in the end unless you transform this energy with inner practices. We will look at how this works. So maintaining a good level of organ functioning is needed if the whole system is to reach a balance and become functionally optimised.

Cheating Death

During fight or flight, the blood goes to the muscles to react to a threat. This is obviously needed sometimes. During this phase, the body thinks it’s going to die, and attempts to function in a limited way to prevent being wiped out. This is true of many reactive states. The heart rate increases and breathing becomes panicked. Here, the body is not trying to live, it is trying to not die. So the goal of inner martial arts is to ride this wave so that you create all sorts of buffers through breathing exercises, postures, and paying attention towards over riding the detrimental effects of impending death. Such exercises are not aimed at fighting effectiveness. So you could say that the inner processes are trying to to live, whilst the body alone in its primal reactive state is heading towards death slowly or quickly depending on the situation. Luckily, usually these things are not fatal, but in terms of experiencing life, emergency situations tend to sap the energy and undermine health over time without corrective action.

Inner martial arts practice is the reversing of this process, so that when your body thinks its going to die, you consciously find a way to bring the blood and energy back to the internal breathing muscles. It is not a case of deluding yourself or wishing away impending danger. This is a fools paradise, take positive action instead. You are just trying to put the brakes on your system so that you hang on and ride the situation as gracefully as possible. by riding the wave you do not stop it. The situation around you still unfolds but you experience it fully consciously, through the energy systems, breathing, and postures as a powerful response. In other words, you experience the event from an elevated position and understanding. The energy or Chi body, is part you and part your surroundings. The instincts are all of the body. This merging of two types is symbolised by yin and yang, which is the developed human being. This experience adds a new dimension to the same event so that it no longer overwhelms you. Since the body is always dieing to some degree, there are no shortage of opportunities to practice the internal side of martial arts which is aimed at prolonging life. You do not need to wait for a particular event.

The energy which fuels the muscles to fend off an attack or sprint away from it must have come from somewhere. The limbs and peripheral nervous system literally steal this energy and blood supply which is otherwise used for maintaining the system. You are looking to redirect this back where it was stolen from. So it makes sense to steal this back, or to use this situation to your advantage. The ancients talk of trial by fire. What this means is that the intensity of the situation can be used to tranform your inner state, just as we looked at earlier with the state of water.

Heat produces transformation, so that you become more flexible to experience without breaking. At the same time you take on a new experience under such transformation. So when a threat is dealt with, what you want to do is retrieve this energy back to the internal organs of the body predominantly, so that you are enriched. This is the science of inner martial arts. The external fight still happens but it is no longer as consequential as the inner exchange. You can even be covered in injuries and not pay much attention. Not that this is the aim, the aim is to transform your experience to the highest possible expression. The key is to remain in awareness as much as possible, only switching to attention of the opponent when necessary not by compulsion or reaction alone.

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