In each moment of our lives we are presented with the opportunity to choose between Love and Fear. Love embraces what is. Fear rejects it.
The human animal is wired to respond to challenging situations in much the same way as other animals: fight, flight, or freeze. The challenge is seen as a threat and our responses are fear-based (not just fear, but anger, hostility, contemptuousness, resentment, etc.). The human spirit, on the other hand, is inspired to transcend and include the challenging energies through understanding and compassion—Love.
Many martial arts draw their strength and effectiveness by emphasizing fear as motivation. Students are instructed to develop armor to resist incoming energy and powerful weapons to pierce opponents’ armor. The world is seen as a harsh and hostile place, and training rewards fear-based behavior.
Paradoxically, we are actually empowered by love and compassion, even in the face of threatening behavior. We are physically stronger and have clearer perceptions and better reactions when calm, centered, and expansive. Some martial arts use this to their advantage.
The challenge is to allay the fears of our animal nature while learning to handle unpredictable behaviors with confidence and understanding. Those who can do this are rewarded with expanded consciousness, a heightened sense of well-being, and a trove of unexpected abilities.
In this seminar we explore:
“The Edge”: a step-by-step method to train ourselves to overcome our hardwired fear-based responses through Presence and Energetic Coherence.
“Borrowing Jin”: how to short-circuit an attack and steal its energy—effortlessly!
“Soft power”: Overcome through softness? To do it you must override your body/mind’s absolute certainty that it already knows the best way to generate power. We increase our effective power by relaxing our muscles and letting the energy do the work.
…and much more!
TCA @ IRIS
Love or Fear: Toward a Love Based Martial Art
July 16th 2011::10am – 4.30pm::lunch included
6.30pm::Special evening Kirtan w/ Kirtan Rabbi
$80 for workshop
$15 for Kirtan
$90 together
