Step one in the pathway to Self Mastery under the Kingdom of Heaven.

Hello everyone in this post I am providing an excerpt from my book “Harness the Power Within and Without”.  In HTPWW I present powerful Shu Ha Ri Do concepts for self mastery under the Kingdom of Heaven. The symbol you see on the home page is a visual example of these concepts. The light burst represents the mind, water represents the body, and fire represents the spirit. More to come on the symbol in future posts!

The Body

The goal of this chapter is to increase your awareness and appreciation for the three parts of our existence.  In this chapter I will list some of the challenges facing us physically, mentally, and spiritually, and how to use these challenges as veritable firewood to light your inferno within. I will begin with the body, the body is influenced by what we do as stated in the body outline, whether we exercise or not, eat healthy or unhealthy, breathe deeply or shallow.  For example, I previously listed some of the systems of the body.  Well, quality of breathing and thoughts directly affect these systems.  Exercise or a lack thereof also has a profound affect on harnessing the power of the body.  Concerning, exercise your focus should be on flexibility, tendon strength, and muscle tone.  Physical training concepts will be covered further in the Shu Ha Ri self defense training manual.  A normal diet should consist of more fruits and veggies than anything else, which aid in blood circulation, absorption, digestion, and elimination.  Among the many health precautions, keep in mind that in ancient Africa it was known that death begins in the intestines.  According to the ancients we must be vigilant to keep them healthy, through frequent consumption of fiber like Psyllium Husk, or Wheat Grass, as well as intestinal cleanses.  In addition, regarding the body’s systems, when you become fearful or angry all the energies of your body flow together instantly for the purpose of self preservation science calls this fight or flight.

A basic Illustration of fight or flight                     

Simplistically with fight or flight your body prepares itself for standing its ground or escaping. However you describe this process you become stronger than normal.  One of your primary goals as a human being should be to develop the ability to control this process at will.   This can be achieved through breath control, a major part of meditation, remember breath rate rather fast or slow directly affects all functions of the body.  Whether your heart rate, adrenaline, and blood flow increases or decreases is affected by breathing.   In the martial arts we can call upon what’s within to get the body to perform a certain act with devastating power and precision.  We can also bring the body into an absolute state of peace and tranquility.  In martial arts terms we call this energy chi or ki, the.  This energy can be harnessed and channeled into any challenge physical, mental, or spiritual.  Self mastery concerning the body continues to evolve when we become aware of and appreciate the body and its power. Your awareness regarding the power of your body, will give you calmness and a confidence when faced with physical, mental, or spiritual/emotional challenges. There are many breathing exercises that you can employ to harness this power.  There are two that I use routinely and have had much success with. In this exercise you are training the body to be calm on your command.  When you remain calm you can gather everything within you together as you see with the fish in the illustration. Or you can become anxious and scattered, the choice is yours.

For calmness, and introspection

• Take one deep breath in through the nose
• Exhale through the mouth very slowly
• Expel all the air from your lungs
• The longer the exhalation the better the results
• Try to make your exhalation last for at least 30 seconds or a minute

For Intensity and focus

• Inhale deeply through the nose
• Exhale at medium speed.
• All the air in your lungs should be expelled in 10 to 15 seconds.

In this exercise you are conducting somewhat of a body systems fire drill.  Summoning your inner power and realizing how your body really does respond to this exercise builds confidence.  Doing both exercises twice a day is sufficient.  Another factor to consider when harnessing the power of fight or flight deals with your previous actions.  You are aware of right and wrong, you know if your previous actions are right or wrong.  Guilt, remorse, or innocence may not set in until you are in a fight or flight situation.  You may not have any thoughts at the time but the feelings of remorse, guilt, or innocence, may affect whether you fight or flee.  Guilt, and remorse have an immobilizing affect because in the heat of the moment deep inside you feel that you may have some how caused what is now facing you.  On the other hand, innocence promotes a feeling of righteous indignation, which impels, or stimulates you to fight for your rights.  Innocence is a power within that you should always have on your side with innocence you are clear minded and free of anxiety. Now that you have a practical grasp on how to harness the power of the body’s systems I would like to present you with a little imagery.  In the Shu Ha Ri Do Symbol the body is represented by water.  What are the attributes of water?  Its calm it’s cool.  However based on the stimulus it can flow rhythmically or

crash violently, water can be vaporous like steam or solid like ice.   Its versatile it reacts instantly, overtime it will dissolve anything its perfect.  To quote the ultimate inspiration in my life Jesus said he is the living water.  To quote another inspiration in my life Bruce Lee said we should be like water, be like water indeed when faced with any challenge in life reacting with sound judgment should be your goal.  At times the body could be spurred into action quite impulsively, like when in a verbal or physical confrontation. This is when mistakes, sometimes costly ones are made.  What spurred you into action?  Your mind of course, the good thing about the bodies relation to water is that it reacts to stimulus the bad thing can be just that, it reacts to a stimulus.  What type of reaction depends on the morals, ethics, values, and condition response patterns established in our minds.  We are accountable for what we do through our bodies it starts with how we think.

Swords Of The East