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Using Your Imagination For Improved Performance
Martial Arts Healing
Many would ask why one interested in the deeper aspects of spirituality would have an interest in studying a "martial art" or self-defense system. Although many people discuss the martial arts as a spiritual endeavor, I have heard very few reveal any "secrets" of the spirituality of martial arts, except in the most superficial of terms.
Please note that my definition of a martial art includes only those self-defense systems that focus on the study of protecting oneself from all forms of attack, physical, mental and spiritual. These systems teach their students how to defend themselves from the most realistic forms of attack, often very brutal attack, to the extent that it can be practiced within realistic drills without injury to student and teacher. These systems would be in contrast to those devoted to preparation for traditional competition for trophies, as is seen the USA.
So, on the surface the study of a martial art appears to be antithetical to the attainment of a calm and peaceful life as one pursues spiritual evolution. I will attempt to explain by using the example of a medical student training to be a physician.
The comprehensive medical education and training a medical student experiences takes him into the depths of disease, suffering and death. She experiences events in her training that most human beings cannot imagine occur, and most should never know occur. The physician in training experiences mind- and life-altering thoughts and feelings that result in a kind of metamorphosis that allows her to see illness in other human beings where it is unapparent to the non-physician. Further still, the trained physician can now see signs of impending illness before any real illness has taken hold. Better still, the physician now has the skills to prevent many illnesses from taking hold of his patients and even himself. She has become a healer.
A person who chooses to become a student of an authentic martial art must also travel to the depths of dark emotion, evil thought and ill intent. This study begins with gradually experiencing on a physical level how ill intent might manifest on a most basic level, such as an attacker grabbing another by the lapel with the intent of hitting the person. As the student matures and is able to manage very basic attacks, she is gradually exposed to more realistic and brutal attacks. As he matures further, these attacks begin to include the dark emotion and ill intent that is fueling the physical attacks. As the student continues his education, he learns to increasingly recognize the subtle thought, emotions and "energies" that occur even before any attack on a physical level begins to occur. Like the physician, the martial artist can now see signs of impending altercation before any real altercation has taken hold. Better still, the martial artist now has the skills to prevent many altercations from taking hold in others and himself through subtle intervention using physical, mental and/or spiritual skills. Eventually, this is done before the average person recognizes anything could have gone wrong. The martial artist also has become a healer!
As we strive towards understanding and performing our purpose on the planet at this time, we must be vigilant of any obstacles that might get in our way. Given that all human beings in this dimension are a complete part of the ALL, potential obstacles in our path will involve one or more other individuals. We can now see how the study of conflict, through the study of an authentic martial art, provides another tool at our disposal to keep our paths clear so that we might more efficiently experience our higher purpose within the ALL.
Daniel J. Cardona, M.D.
Dan is a board-certified Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, who is also a student of and holds a first-degree black belt in Aiki-Ninjutsu under Do Shu Thomas Jotoshi Maienza, and holds a fourth-degree black belt in Toshin-Do under Stephen K. Hayes