www.richardking.net
Health and Wellness are two important ingredients in living a happy
life, but how does self-defense training, especially women's self
defense, correlate into being healthy and well? Answer: perhaps more
than is presently known, considered or appreciated.
Health and Wellness equate to wholeness. The greater our wholeness, the
greater our health and wellness. The less our wholeness, the less our
health and wellness. The two are inextricably connected. Being healthy
and whole means being well. Being unhealthy and incomplete means being
ill to some degree.
Self-preservation is our most primal instinct. When we inherently
possess the skill to defend and secure our own preservation, we are
more whole, more healthy and well than we would be otherwise. We live
with confidence and peace, going through our days in a more relaxed
fashion because we know our survival, and that of our children and
loved ones who rely on our strength and capability to protect them and
their innocence from harm, is not easily threatened.
However, not having the ability to protect ourselves, to preserve our
life, places us in a less-than-whole, a less-than-well position to
which many people, especially females, can attest - at least the ones
who have survived an attack. The ones who could not survive an attack
most likely would love to have the chance to have a "do-over."
Unfortunately, in the game of life, there are often no "do-overs," no
second chances. As the saying goes, "You never get a second chance to
make a first impression." Likewise, you may never get a second chance
to save your life, which is why self-defense training is an absolute
requisite for those who wish to have a healthy, happy and harmonious
existence. If we're not willing to protect our life, how serious can we
be about living our life? Furthermore, and more poignantly, if we're
not willing to do what is necessary to protect our children and loved
ones, how serious are we then in discharging our responsibilities to
protect, care for and nurture them? Isn't this an integral part of our
inherent duty as parents? Animals in the wild, especially mothers,
protect their young with a vengeance. Why should human mothers
sometimes not take as passionate or aggressive a position?
Another aspect of living a happy life is being free. Yet, how can we be
free if we're enslaved to someone else's diabolical intent and
pernicious power? We can't. Because of the predatory nature of this
world, wisdom dictates that we possess the personal power and physical
prowess to defend ourselves from the predacious designs of others. To
deny our own power, to do nothing to preserve our own life, including
learning some basic self-defense skills to protect that life, is the
epitome of absurdity. How can we cry foul if our life is damaged or
taken from us when we have neglected the responsibility of defending
it? As Daniel Webster declares: "God grants liberty only to those who
love it, and are always ready to guard and defend it." The American
poet, Ezra Pound, reflects: "A slave is one who waits for someone to
come and free him." Contrarily, a free man is one who never waits on
others but takes charge of his own life, who realizes it is his life
and, therefore, its well-keeping is his responsibility, not someone
else's.
Every day in this world females are being assaulted, raped and
murdered. Do we think such heinous acts could never happen to us? What
would those women say who have been assaulted, raped and murdered (if
this last group could speak)? Would they say they thought such
egregious horrors could never happen to them? Most likely. The famous
American author, activist and lecturer, Helen Keller, said: "Science
may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for
the worst of them all--the apathy of human beings." If some people,
including women, remain apathetic to their own survival and do nothing
to insure it, they run the risk of becoming victims of their own
neglect, guaranteeing an unhappy, unwell and possibly torturous life.
Therefore, it becomes obvious that self-defense training, especially for women and females, is directly
connected to one's health, wellness and happiness. So . . . get some
self-defense training! It may save your life, and it will definitely
make you more whole, more healthy and more well.
Kind regards,
Richard Andrew King: Grandmaster, Kiado-Ryu Karate