Pillars and Poetry of the Mindful Warrior

Pillars of the Mindful Warrior

• The Weapon of Positivity: Stein emphasizes using an unbreakable positive mindset as a primary tool to confront severe life hardships, including his own successful battle against lymphoma. [1, 2]

• Samurai Mindful Breathing: Drawing inspiration from Bruce Lee and samurai philosophy, he advocates for reverse abdominal breathing and "Samurai Breathing" to remain deeply relaxed under pressure. A fundamental principle is that a tense fighter cannot perform well; maintaining calm allows a warrior to manage intense stress and process pain. [1, 2, 3]

• Mindful Movement for Healing: Beyond seated meditation, his philosophy highlights active physical mindfulness. At the Oklahoma Buddhism Conference, he demonstrated how hours of disciplined daily mindful walking and Kendo practice helped trigger cellular cancer remission after conventional medical options were exhausted. [1, 2]

• Fearlessness and Peace: True to the warrior archetype, the ultimate goal of this mindset is not conflict, but bringing inner peace to outer environments. Stein details using this grounded presence to de-escalate danger and defuse intimidation safely during his youth.

• "Dr. Wayne Stein, Professor of English, will deliver a talk titled “Resilience Against Cancer: Thriving Amidst Adversity” on April 14 as part of the TEDxUCO series. Dr. Stein will discuss the ways in which he has used the path of the mindful warrior and the weapon of positivity to overcome painful adversities while battling cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Stein learned how to be aware of pain and to practice mindfulness through his lifelong practice of martial arts; a tense fighter cannot fight well, but the mindful practices of Bruce Lee helped Dr. Stein, who is now cancer-free, to win his battle with lymphoma and to overcome the tremendous pain that it inflicts. Dr. Stein now works to teach others about mindfulness as a way to overcome adversity."

🌅🌅 Yang Dragons Romancing Thy Inner Yin Powers 🌅🌅

up. . .
raising up, . . .
waking up and seeing thy setting sun, . . .
possessing higher dragon skills, and never wanting to lose. . .
climbing the greatest walls of China and . . .
defeating thy middle golden eternal kingdom of doom, . .

🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅
riding faster, these brave Manchu Mulan warriors from the north,
fighting not against racial impurity, nor against sexist superiorities,
smiling, displaying but not playing, fist again fist, . .
winning, might against might, and defeating all Chinese, . . .
murdering thy royal Chinese family, . .
awakening thy Chinese Shaolin monks of peace, . .
becoming thy ultimate invincible warriors of the night, fighters of hope,
becoming undead demons fighters of the nightmares on Elm Street,
exposing thy weaknesses, and starting to defeat thy mighty Manchu,…

🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅
needing no tiger pills, no goat dope, no onion rope just spicy hope,
seeing thou Super Shaolin warriors standing tall, . . .
using super powers of righteousness of gore,
fighting against these new super hungry ghosts,
defeating thou brainless Manchu masters of thy Lost Empire,
raising thy fist of fury high into the blacken fire skies,
entering thy dragons, and entering thy white tigers of might,
testing winds of worries, as thy Manchu retreating backwards…

🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅
burning down thy Shaolin temples, shaking,
ending thy dream, one by one, until there are none,
all leaving moving to Korea and Japan, or
becoming pirates of the seas,
becoming legendary masters . . .
becoming kung fu, itself . . .
believing . . .
in thy . .
self . . . . . .

🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅🌅

thank you for reading, a long time ago, the Mongolians took over Shaolin, but the spiritual war never ends, and when you learn kung fu, ghosts appear at night as you learn kung fu; believe in yourself, raising your fists of fury . . high into the . . . night sky . . .