Learning a Martial Art:

Learning a martial art is this: Training reflexes and responses to physical attack. This is something I have personally had extreme anxiety over because of the training I received the first 18 years of my life. I had a lot of sneak-attack physical bullies, including my parents, and I was incapable to fight back. I learned to always fear being attacked at any moment, especially when my guard is down, and by people we are supposed to trust. When we are 2 years old, we can't even say, "Stop hitting me, grown man."

My father never hit me as a logical punishment, if I do this - then that. I am not traumatized by being physically moved from danger. I was beat because I was not completely in his control in mind, body and spirit. I did not do exactly what he wanted as he wanted me to do it and I had to figure out what that was constantly. It was an imposing of his will that if I could not think, speak and do exactly how he wanted me to, he had to destroy me and any semblance of Self and my Right to Exist. I would even say he was trying to kill me, not physically as in murder, but anything that was MY own expression, my personality, ME. I was not allowed to exist.

I learned very early to be a victim and my best defense was to cower and appease to try and avoid physical pain. I was trained to be weak and always submit because I had no other choice. When an elephant is small, we can tie it to a tree with just a little rope and it learns to be powerless to that restraint as a baby. Even when the elephant becomes fully grown and could easily destroy that illusion, it does not. It simply does not know any better because it feels like the same being that could not before.

One can call this a severe disruption of the Root Chakra in complete lack of feeling safe and in control, practicing hyper-vigilance and an incapability to relax. This is Anxiety. When Anxiety becomes dysfunctional to the point of manifesting physically, we call this Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Physical manifestations can include nerve disease such as Raynaud's Disease, Fibromyalgia, the shakes, panic attacks and also effect the body in other ways; such as hair loss, upset stomach, addictions, nightmares and auto-immune diseases; where the body stops defending itself. Over-stress is probably the major cause of any illness in the body aside from many forms of pollution and physical danger. It rots the body from within to be over worked and without down time and maintenance.

In the Erickson Model of Psychosocial Development, this is expressed as Trust vs. Mistrust, the Virtue of Hope and the first lesson is at age 0 - 1½ years old. Think about that Virtue: How does that feel to have to not have any Hope? How does it feel to never be able to Trust? This energy grows and shifts throughout life based on our experience. If we learn dysfunction from the beginning, that energy attracts more of the same experience because this is what we know until it hurts so badly, we MUST learn how to shift it and know something else.

Without Hope, many resort to suicide. In the United States, there are more suicides every year than homicide. That means our own mind is way more dangerous than anything someone else can do to us and this does not include failed attempts, self-harm and addictions that lead to self-destruction. And we do not acknowledge this as a problem. The news tells us of terrorists, serial killers, drug addicts and the "others" that are out to get us. I am not attacked by these people on a daily basis, but my mind sure likes to try and convince me I am in danger on a daily basis and also I am not worth being alive. It is training, programming, we can learn to control. The best defense is a good offense, not in combating and taking, but learning to fight and being prepared so we don't have to.

In the tradition I train in, Aikido, "Uke" is the attacker and the person receiving the technique - the fellow about to be on the floor. His role is just as important to the entirety of the move and also requires skill. Having a skilled Uke improves the technique. Their job is to give the energy from where the technique is performed and point out flaws in the possible openings where the energy in the space around us is NOT within control of the person doing the technique, the Nage.

Learning this tradition does not require great physical strength and size, a learned inadequacy. It is understanding energy and re-directing it. A 90 lb woman can throw a 300 lb man easily if she has mastered the art of directing energy. There is great confidence gained in being able to hold your ground regardless of seeming weak compared to others and therefore not in control of what physically happens to us.

As the person performing the technique, Nage "the Thrower", we learn sensitivity. Any of these moves have the potential to seriously hurt someone and break bones. Mastering the technique is defending your position gracefully without causing harm to the other.

This is a physical representation of all of life. We learn to control what is in our Control, our Self and trust that other is doing their thing and it is none of our business until it invades ours. Our 1 - bodies, 2 - emotions, 3 - needs, 4 - desires, 5 - voice, 6 - thoughts and 7 - relationship with life - are our ground that is held gracefully and without harm to other.

Namaste Y'all 💜🙏😉

***If you find these teachings helpful and enjoy them, please consider contributing to SoulCreate. SoulCreate will always be free to those that need it most and depends largely on donation and contribution to make that possible.

https://www.gofundme.com/soulcreate

Select pieces of the Art of SoulCreate are available here:

https://society6.com/artofzoebones