intro TO SOULWARRIOR

Hello to all of our students and thanks to any new readers joining us for the “Moon on the Water” blog. My name is Jim Lucier, and I am the founder and president of SoulWarrior, a Stress Reduction Coaching Consultation service. I am also a retired litigation attorney, having practiced in Courtrooms throughout California for over 25 years. Presently, the bulk of my time and attention is focused on building the foundation for the SoulWarrior Program through appropriate funding and assistance from volunteers like my daughter Marina Lucier. As will be discussed, this program is designed to help men and woman of all ages overcome their fears and develop confidence so that they can lead the next generations into a World of peace, justice, and equality for all the Earth’s inhabitants. I feel particularly well suited to design a stress reduction program such as this one because my own life story is about overcoming challenging situations (conflicts) by developing internal survival skills that I apply to my life every day as new challenges present themselves. Over the course of my life, I have had to climb many mountains to find my “true self” and to become a “Soul Warrior.” As a child I was held back by ADD and near constant bouts of insomnia, which as a teenager I quelled with alcohol and drug abuse. Much later in life, through the application of the SoulWarrior process that I created, I was eventually able to tackle my alcoholism and have been sober for over 23 years.

When you think about it, humans face “conflict” in all aspects of their lives almost every day whether it be at work, at home, or on the playing field. Most conflict situations arise from interactions with people, such as a difficult boss or work colleague, the troublesome neighbor, or the relative that leans on you too hard. Then there are the more rare conflicts where your physical safety actually feels threatened on the street or in the subway for example, and you suddenly descend into panic if you are not trained to defend yourself. In addition to the external threats, people also face internal conflicts that many times arise when things don’t work out the way they want them to. We create a plan, we envision the plan, and then when we seek to achieve our objective something unforeseen arises to thwart the desired outcome, causing us frustration and despair. Oftentimes, it is the unexpected actions of other people that interfere with our plans, and this sort of conflict can be very difficult to control, especially when the other person is interested in helping you reach your goal. Whatever the cause, conflicts comes in all shapes and sizes and are often unique to the situation you find yourself in. However, one thing that all conflicts have in common is that they can trigger unwanted emotions such as fear, anxiety, stress, depression, low self-worth, and worst of all, a lack of faith or sense of hopelessness.

The degree of emotional suffering one encounters from conflict is usually measured by the amount of fear and anxiety a situation causes. At SoulWarrior we hold the view that “fear” and the negative energy it creates with stress and anxiety, can have a ripple effect, causing many other ailments including depression, addiction, insomnia, panic attacks, and chronic fatigue. Science has told us that severe mental disorders often caused by chronic fear and anxiety correlate with shortened lifespans and increased exposure to physical ailments such as cardiovascular disease, viral diseases, respiratory tract diseases, and sexual dysfunction, among others. Prolonged stress is unhealthy and unnecessary. At SoulWarrior, we view “fear” and it’s dark energy as the primary obstacle to personal development and the enjoyment of a healthy lifestyle. Fear is also at the root of many of our deep societal problems, which include racism, bigotry, divisiveness, poverty, and political extremism, to name a few. Given the amount of trauma fear and anxiety can arouse in both the individual and upon society as a whole, it’s unfortunate that there aren’t more programs like ours that teach people how to react to confrontation in a healthy and balanced way. An important part of the SoulWarrior program is to acknowledge your fear and then quickly and decisively move beyond fear and into the realm of “action.”  By taking decisive “action” humans can sometimes short circuit the “fight or flight” response to fear, and move quickly beyond the paralysis of fear, in pursuit of their true objective. The concept of using “right action” to oppose confrontation is a central theme to the SoulWarrior program because through “right action” we are able to transcend fear.

At SoulWarrior, we view “right action,” as the antithesis of fear, and therefore our objective is to train leaders to find the space beyond fear through “action.” This is the SoulWarrior path or “way.” However, teaching individuals how to tackle their greatest obstacles is only one important function of the SoulWarrior program. To follow the SoulWarrior path, the expectation is that each SoulWarrior will take what they learn and contribute their skills toward building a better World. The importance of this aspect of the SoulWarrior program cannot be overstated. At the time of this writing our planet has become a very hostile place to live and the United States itself is on the brink of potential unrest that has not surfaced in this Country since the Civil War. The people of this Nation have lost their faith in every major institution in America; they have lost trust in the financial system and the economy which seems to favor a small percentage of the Country’s wealthiest people; they have lost faith in our political system to the point that a riot occurred in the Capitol of the United States; and they have lost faith in the press, which started as a fact reporting service for the public and then devolved into its present day form as a nauseating media platform used to ignite fear and division among the population. When we throw the dark specter of climate change on top of this heap, it becomes clear that our institutions have not only failed us, they have put us and the lives of our families in imminent jeopardy.  With this in mind we developed the SoulWarrior program to teach students how to build their inner strength (“Soul”) to become the next generation of problem solvers and leaders (“SoulWarriors”), who are willing to contribute their skills to help solve the difficult problems faced by our Country and the World.  

Like many kids growing up in the 70’s I had numerous television and film heroes that I idolized and often mimicked as I played outdoors with my friends. There was Clint Eastwood (in many different roles), who epitomized the American tough guy, and there was Rocky Balboa, Luke Skywalker, and Yoda among others. However, there was one television character that I idolized more than anyone and that was David Carradine’s portrayal of Kwai Chang Caine in the television series Kung Fu, which was released in 1972 and ran until 1975. “Caine” as he was known in the series embodied all of the attributes that appealed to me as a kid. In 1972 I was a short and skinny 11 year old who was the recipient of occasional bullying on the playground. As a result of my diminutive stature, it was hard for me to identify with Dirty Harry or John Wayne. In my mind I was never going to be a tall, dark, and handsome guy able to over-power aggressive adversaries with brute force. However, Caine was a hero that offered something different. Something that I could reasonably aspire to. He was not large in stature and he was anything but a tough guy. He spoke in a soft whisper with his head bowed and he journeyed across the Western frontier barefoot, slowly going from town to town in search of his lost brother. Along the way he ran into every sort of nefarious character and when they threatened him with bodily harm he would seldom react with violence. Instead he would first try to solve his predicaments through peaceful methods. However, when all else failed he would resort to Kung Fu, but only in self-defense or the defense of others. He seldom killed an opponent, but rather would use his martial arts to incapacitate his enemies long enough to make an escape.  

My favorite parts of the series were the flashbacks that Cain would periodically have involving his training at the Shao Lin Temple in China. The Shao Lin Temple was depicted as a Buddhist monastery of sanctity and serenity that was populated by these tremendously wise old monks. Caine himself sought to become a Shao-Lin Monk by participating in some very arduous trials of the mind and body, and when he hit an obstacle in his training he would seek guidance from the old monks at the temple. The interactions between Caine and the Monks became regarded as classic TV film making, because the wisdom espoused by the Monks was very deep and thought provoking, especially for an impressionable eleven year old kid. In fact, I later learned that much of dialogue between Caine and the Monks was taken directly from the Tao-Te-Ching, an ancient Chinese text, which became the equivalent of a Bible for me as I endeavored to overcome my own demons as an adult  (Although not well known in the United States, the Tao-Te-Ching is one of the most popular texts in the entire World).

Long story short, in my late twenties I was living alone in California and began experiencing a real personality break-down arising from anxiety, low self-esteem, and alcohol addiction. I also had a serious concussion playing Rugby during that time which caused severe depression and insomnia. To deal with my issues I tried to imagine myself becoming a serene and wise individual much like Kwai Chang Caine, and to begin my transformation into a Caine-like being I enrolled in several martial arts schools in San Francisco (San Francisco is known as a Martial Arts mecca partially due to a large Asian population, but also because of the major role Bruce Lee played in the San Francisco Martial Arts scene). Beginning in my twenties and up to the present I have had a love affair with Martial Arts and Boxing that has spanned the better part of forty years. However, what started out as a quest to learn Martial Arts and other combat techniques morphed into something greater. As an avid reader it wasn’t enough for me to simply learn combat techniques. I was thirsty to learn everything I could about the philosophies that lay at the foundation of the Martial Arts, which include but are not limited to Buddhism, Zen (or Chan Buddhism), Shintoism, and Taoism.  

If that is not enough, my research into Buddhism and Taoism piqued my curiosity regarding other philosophies and religions and therefore I read and compiled hundreds of other books on Christianity, Hinduism, the Muslim faith, Stoicism, and Native American beliefs. All of my studies in this regard inspired my own faith and belief in the Spiritual realm, while helping me to build a balanced psyche that no longer bows to fear and doubt.  While many of the religions and philosophies that I studied look different from afar, I found that they actually share the same fundamental principles when you examine them up close and these common principles have been adopted by Martial Artists and other spiritual Soul seekers to build inner-strength and fortitude for literally hundreds of years. Ironically, modern day research in the field of quantum mechanics has demonstrated that there is a connection between science and the Spiritual realm, which further validates many of the philosophical principles we use in our SoulWarrior training. The purpose of the SoulWarrior Program is to share these common principles with students so that they will gain the strength and leadership capabilities to tackle individual “confrontations” fearlessly, decisively, and objectively, and in order to meet the growing challenges that threaten humanity, while keeping the core values of freedom, justice, equality, and Democracy at the forefront of their efforts. So with that introduction, let me introduce you to a concept called “Moon on The Water”. l

Conflict can be compared to a Devil that comes in many disguises. But it’s not necessarily the Devil’s disguise that matters, it’s our reaction to the threat that is of paramount concern. The ability to master our mental processes so that we can manage threatening situations calmly and confidently is a fundamental element not just for the sake of survival but also for our quality of life, which can be more joyful and fulfilling in the absence of unwanted stress and anxiety. As mentioned above, the techniques that I developed to find calm and balance in the heat of conflict are derived from my study of the Martial Arts and it’s philosophical influences, and there are literally thousands of books and articles on this subject, making it difficult to distill all that data into a single “practice” that can be easily understood by the layperson. Fortunately, a bunch of Medieval Samurai did part of the job for me by creating an analogy for their disciplined mental training called “Moon on The Water.” By understanding the concept of “Moon on The Water” we begin our journey on the path of the SoulWarrior. (“The Way of the SoulWarrior”). In the next blog we will talk more about “Moon on the Water” and how anyone can access the power it delivers. Please feel free to sign up for receipt of our blog via email on our home page, and please know that your email will not be shared with any person or entity at any time. Many thanks, Jim Lucier