Eighth Anniversary: Mettle Maker #257

Can you believe it?  Sat. 4/24/21 is the 8th anniversary of the weekly mettle maker -- time flies when you're having fun!

Over the years the frequency has changed, the name has changed, and the format has changed.  Which format do you like?  Did you prefer the experimental formats of last week and week before?  Do you like the format below?  Or is one of the old styles more to your liking?  Please post in the comments and let me know.  

The goal of these mettle makers is to inspire you to take charge of your life -- your education, your strength and fitness, your attitude, and your relationship with God.  Whatever you do, don't live your life in service of fashion, entertainment, food, comfort, or anything like that. 

The things that you think make you unique -- your likes and dislikes, your favorite food, favorite movies, etc. -- might actually be the things that prove you're just like everyone else.  What might make you truly unique?

Think about it.

Eighth Anniversary: Mettle Maker #257

• Loosen up your shackles. Warm-up thoroughly for at at least 8 minutes. Do 2-3 minutes each of (a) jumping rope or footwork (b) light calisthenics and (c) shadowboxing, forms, light heavy bag work, or 8 minutes of MBF.

• Seize hold of your fitness. If you do MBF every day (or close to it) you can afford to dial back the intensity as compared to training martial fitness once or twice-per-week. If you're not using the MBF program several times a week, you have to a little harder. Try a 15-minute half-pyramid of Rope Climbs, Sit-outs, Bag Lifts, and Leg Triangles. Do 1 of each, then 2 of each, then 3, 4, etc. until the timer beeps.

• Break free of the ordinary. Go for a P.O.W. run. Interlace your fingers behind your head and run 1 mile as fast as you can. This arm position (a) makes it impossible to fully fill your lungs and (b) wrecks pelvic rotation, eliminates arm lift energy, and removes your arms' ability to counterbalance the legs. 1 mile will feel like 3.

• Tackle the tough questions. Take the self-defense quiz below and see how you do.

• Liberate your taste buds with some maple seeds. Maple seeds are an edible, high protein food -- great for a fun snack or as a survival food. Catch some maple keys or "helicopters" before they get too dry. Split the casing at the spine to liberate a smallish green seed (technically a fruit I think). Eat them raw or toast them at 350F for 10 minutes as a snack, salad addition, topping for cereal or granola, etc. When toasted they remind me of a cross between a sunflower seed and a soybean (complete with the bitter finish of the latter). See pics below.

• Charge up your batteries. Assume posture of choice and regulate breathing to a slow and steady rhythm. Keep your eyes open and fixed. Do not fidget, wiggle or scratch. Allow your thoughts to dissipate like ripples on a pond and your mind to approach a state of calm and relaxed awareness. Do not think at all, but especially not in words -- do not evaluate, judge, make lists, fixate on emotions, let your mind wander, or any of that. Just breathe and be. This is called "contemplation" and practicing it regularly is associated with improved emotional resilience, increased patience reserves, and more. Add prayer and it works even better.

SELF-DEFENSE QUIZ — CLICK HERE

Keep Your Eye on the Sparrow: Mettle Maker #256

Keep Your Eye on the Sparrow: Mettle Maker #256

Which one of these pictures depicts the tool or behavior most likely to preserve your safety and prevent personal harm? Answer at bottom.

Answer at bottom of this post.

How many birds can you identify in your neighborhood?  If you don't know your neighbors, who do you know?

"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father’s will.  But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows." ~Matthew 10:29-31

A recent observation using BirdNET -- a free app that lets you record, ID, save and map observations so that you can learn birds and their songs. [/caption]

"The monthly attribute associated with the Hourglass is justice...The lower half of the Hourglass mirrors the upper.  Only if we are able to sincerely mirror the Divine Will can we have any hope of bringing justice into the world...Justice is almost always personified as a lovely woman wearing a blindfold and holding a set of scales -- blind to her own passions and the winds of fashion and public sentiment, she weighs the facts with maturity and judges fairly." [from the forthcoming Cabal Fang: Complete Martial Arts Study Course from Querent to Elder, 2nd Edition]

“Do resolutely what is just: defend the poor, the widows, the orphans and the churches.” ~Rule #47 of the Latin Rule (the code of the Knights Templar)

If you don’t know what these exercises are, you probably should buy the associated programs — available at https://www.mitch.store/?category=Dice

Answer: The oil change.  Breaking down by the side of the road is one of the most dangerous situations you can find yourself in, and it's a hundred times more likely than being attacked.  Service your vehicle and don't operate it with less than 1/4 tank of gas, just in case you get lost or you get stuck in your vehicle during cold weather.

FULGURITE: METTLE MAKER #255

FULGURITE: METTLE MAKER #255

ful·gur·ite \’ful-g(y)ə-,rit\ n [Latin fulgur] : 1. glass formed by a lightning strike melting sand or other material. 2. a physical representation of a transitory event or experience.

“Art is actually a process rather than an end product…with any luck the process is embedded in the byproduct…it’s a crystallized act of exploration.”  ~Jordan B. Peterson

“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self Reliance

via GIPHY

A DAY IN THE LIFE: METTLE MAKER #254

Listen to modern culture and the message you get is that we are free to do, wear, say, choose and pursue whatever we want virtually without consequence, that there are infinite viable paths to a life of fulfillment, that all perspectives, philosophies and approaches are equal, and that being care-free is the way to happiness.

But that’s a lie.

Some things work and others don’t.  It turns out that…

• two or three meals a day is an evolutionary adaptation to the needs of the body

• ritual and religion evolved as practical methods for managing personal and communal resources — psychological, social, and physical

• regular exercise and time spent outdoors are essential to health

• reading really is fundamental

• writing with your hand on paper is still the best way to journal and take notes

and so on. Toward that end, what sort of choices are you making?

What does your typical day look like?

A DAY IN THE LIFE: METTLE MAKER #254

1. Rise and shine. Warm-up thoroughly for at at least 8 minutes. Do 2-3 minutes each of (a) jumping rope or footwork (b) light calisthenics and (c) shadowboxing, forms, light heavy bag work, or 8 minutes of MBF.

2. Do your Chores. Get out your sledge, a sandbag (I used #55), a sturdy stand at least waist high (I used on inverted heavy duty trash can), and your dull training weapons. Set timer for 5 mins. Do 1 Shovel vs. the sandbag. Put down the sledge, load and unload the sandbag onto the stand, then shoulder it and walk 25 yards. Put the sand bag down and strike your heavy bag 5 times using fists, feet, or training weapon of choice. Then do 2 Shovels, 2 Loads, a 25-yard Shoulder Carry, and 10 strikes. Next round, 3 Shovels, 3 Loads, a 25-yard Shoulder Carry, and 15 strikes. Switch striking tool as often as you like. Keep climbing as fast as you can until the timer beeps. When it does, finish the set you’re on then descend the pyramid back to beginning. Created using Frontier Rough ‘n’ Tumble Fitness Dice ©. Get some.

3. Take your constitutional. What’s a constitutional? constitutional \’kän(t)-stə-‘t(y)ü-shən-ªl\ n 1. Belonging to, or inherent in, the constitution or structure of one’s body or mind. a constitutional infirmity, constitutional ardour or dullness 2. For the benefit of one’s constitution or health. a constitutional walk. Complete this month’s constitutional as follows: Sprints (25), Mtn. Climbers (25 full), Shrimps (25), Back Bridges (50), Ploughs (25), Sit-out Push-ups (25), Squats (100). If desired, add a heavy bag or other weight to the Back Bridges and cut the reps. Advanced players sub neck bridges.

4. Cook your supper. The plant at the top of the page is Curly Dock, a.k.a., Rumex Crispus, which I came across on my property the other day. In a survival situation, cook young leaves in several changes of water. In summer the plant dries to a dark brown color and looks scorched, at which time the seed pods can be harvested and ground into a buckwheat-like meal and fried into cakes or boiled into gruel. Note: Curly Dock leaves contain oxalic acid which isn’t good for people who suffer from kidney stones, gout, or related illnesses.

5. Sit down with a book. “Read with diligence, and do not rest satisfied with light and superficial common knowledge.” ~Marcus Aurelius, Meditations. Since our spiritual symbol of the month is the Hourglass, let’s turn to the Emerald Tablet, an obscure but profound ancient writing which speaks to the concepts inherent in the hourglass symbol. Below is an excerpt from The Emerald Table, an article by Robert Steele and Dorothea Waley Singer that appeared in The Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, Vol. 21, Issue 3, 1928.

“The Emerald Table itself is a brief summary of the principles of change in Nature, the foundation of alchemical doctrine, which purports to have been found on a plaque of emerald in the hands of the corpse of Hermes Trismegistus. There are several forms of it in Arabic, and their divergence is wide enough to make it probable that its ultimate origin must be sought, before the Islamic invasion, in Alexandrian philosophy, when Egypt was still Christian, though with a Pagan element. Kircher, a learned Jesuit of the seventeenth century, suggested that it was compounded of extracts from the Poimander and AEsculapius, Jamblichus and Proclus. But the oldest forms of the text we possess are all in Arabic, and Latin versions come early in the history of the transmission of science, one in the tract of Apollonius de principalibus rerum causis, another the central portion of the text here published, still another embedded in the Secretum Secretorum, while other forms are found in various later works. We give an English version, somewhat expanded:

THE EMERALD TABLET

True it is, without falsehood, certain and most true. That which is above is like to that
which is below, and that which is below is like to that which is above, to accomplish the
miracles of one thing.
And as all things were by contemplation of one, so all things arose from this one thing by
a single act of adaptation.
The father thereof is the Sun, the mother the Moon.
The wind carried it in its womb, the earth is the nurse thereof.
It is the father of all works of wonder throughout the whole world.
The power thereof is perfect.
If it be cast on to earth, it will separate the element of earth from that of fire, the subtle
from the gross.
With great sagacity it doth ascend gently from earth to heaven.
Again it doth descend to earth, and uniteth in itself the force from things superior and
things inferior.
Thus thou wilt possess the glory of the brightness of the whole world, and all obscurity
will fly far from thee.
This thing is the strong fortitude of all strength, for it overcometh every subtle thing and
doth penetrate every solid substance.
Thus was this world created.
Hence will there be marvellous adaptations achieved, of which the manner is this.
For this reason I am called Hermes Trismegistus, because I hold three parts of the
wisdom of the whole world.
That which I had to say about the operation of Sol is completed.

Threshold, Door and Gate: Mettle Maker #253

Threshold, Door and Gate: Mettle Maker #253

• Stand at the threshold. Warm-up thoroughly for at at least 8 minutes. Do 2-3 minutes each of (a) jumping rope or footwork (b) light calisthenics and (c) shadowboxing, forms, light heavy bag work, or 8 minutes of MBF.

• Open the door. If you haven't done this month's constitutional, get there (see video below). If you have, then do this little wrestling conditioner pyramid for variety. Get out your floor bag and set a timer for 6:00. Start off with the bag on top of you. Do 1 Reverse to Top Saddle, 1 Pass to Cross Body (with good form), and 1 Clock (mat is lava!). Step over bag and fall back into a Short Arm Bar. Then to 2 of each and 1 Short Arm Bar, 3 of each and 1 Short Arm Bar, etc. When the timer beeps, finish the set you're on and then descend in reps back down to 1 of each.

• Make your passage. Half mile Balboa run. Throw a variety of punches non-stop as you run. Finish faster than 6:29 and you've got me beat.

• Clear the bar. Can you pass the original 1908 Scout's Test? Do you know the composition of the flag and how to fly it? Can you tie the following knots: reef, sheet bend, clove hitch, bowline, fisherman's, and sheepshank? Do you know elementary first aid? Do you know semaphore or Morse code for every letter of the alphabet? Can you follow a track half a mile in 25 minutes? Cover a mile in 12 minutes? Lay and light a wood fire in the open using no more than 2 matches, and then cook a quarter pound of meat and 2 potatoes with no utensils? Have at least sixpence in a savings bank (that's about $10 in today's money)? Do you know the sixteen points of the compass? If not, in a survival situation you're less capable than an 11-year-old from 1908.

• Become the gate. The word "contemplation" has "temple" as it's root word. A temple is a space set aside for divinity to enter. Practice your contemplation so that you can be the gate through which the divine enters the world. Assume posture of choice and regulate breathing to a slow and steady rhythm. Keep your eyes open and fixed. Do not fidget, wiggle or scratch. Allow your thoughts to dissipate like ripples on a pond and your mind to approach a state of calm and relaxed awareness. Do not think at all, but especially not in words -- do not evaluate, judge, make lists, fixate on emotions, let your mind wander, or any of that. Just breathe and be.

."Lift up your heads, O ye gates,
Yea, lift them up, ye everlasting doors,
That the King of Glory may come in.
Who then is the King of Glory?
The Lord of Hosts; He is the King of Glory."
~Psalm 24

Recant: Mettle Maker #252

RECANT: from Latin recantare, present active infinitive of recanto (“to sing back, reecho, sing again, repeat in singing, recant, recall, revoke, charm back or away”), from re- (“back”) + canto (“to chant, to sing”)

The first fitness post I made on my blog, the pre-cursor of the current "mettle maker" format, went as follows:

Solo Martial Arts Workout 11/13/12:

1/2 pyramid up to 10 reps: Lunge, Jackknife, Jump Squat, Pike (Total of 55 each, 20 minutes).  500 kicks in combos of 2, 3, or 4 (20 minutes).  Stretching (10 minutes).  Contemplation/Meditation (10 minutes).  Total time 1 hour

I often cringe when I re-read old posts.  I look at this one and I think (a) How does it take more than 10 mins to do those calisthenics? (b) Why would anybody want to do 500 kicks in one go? (c) There's no definitive evidence that stretching is beneficial to a healthy, uninjured person. (d) What was I thinking?

I feel the same way when I read many of my other old posts about politics, corporate America, religion, and so on.  But I refuse to take them down because they're real.  I said those things.  I will not to try to sanitize my past.  No backsies around here, only keepsies.

Because, despite all my errors, misconceptions, and embarrassing moments, there is a unified refrain: the pursuit of excellence, sense-making, goodness and indomitable spirit.  If I hide my errors I also hide my improvements.  And thus I fail to let the power of the Divine Logos, to which I owe all that I am such as I am, to shine forth from my face.

So I recant in the literal sense of the word.  I sing back, I sing again, I sing forever.  I confess and reveal my sins and thus proclaim the Eternal Truth that reveals itself whenever and wherever its pursuit is dauntless.

Recant: Mettle Maker #252

This week we recant and rehab the first training session in the series that ultimately led to the mettle-maker format..

• Reheat. Warm-up thoroughly for at at least 8 minutes. Do 2-3 minutes each of (a) jumping rope or footwork (b) light calisthenics and (c) shadowboxing, forms, light heavy bag work, or 8 minutes of MBF.

• Repeat. 1/2 pyramid up to 10 reps (55 total) as fast as you can: Lunges, Jackknifes, Jump Squat, Pikes. This should take about 10 minutes, not 20.

• Recycle. Instead of 500 kicks in combos of 2, 3 or 4 in 20 minutes, do 25o vs. air or 150 vs. the heavy bag in combos of 2, 3 or 4.

• Rerun. Are you prepared to run to escape or get help in the event of an emergency? Cover 2 miles as fast as you can.

• Reflect. Assume your meditative posture of choice and regulate your breathing to a slow and steady rhythm. Keep your eyes open and fixed. Do not fidget, wiggle or scratch. Allow your thoughts to calm and your body to relax. Now review the biggest mistakes and sins of your life -- the things that most fill you with the most shame and horror. Now think about all of the beloved people you have known who were taken from this world before their time. Ask yourself, "Why is it that God has permitted me to live? What is my purpose? How am I going to make amends for my mistakes and denounce my sins -- not in my words but in my actions?" There is a word for this: repentance. Dedicate yourself to this and it will change your life. By the way, this is a condensed version of the second exercise in the first week of The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius.

Bone Shaker: Mettle Maker #251

The essence, the meaning, the central issue, the tastiest bit -- this is the marrow.  To get to the marrow, break the bone and dive deep.  Get down to the core.

Get dirty.

When you skim the surface of an endeavor, not only do you fail to arrive at its kernel, you reduce the total time and energy available for mining once you decide to dig.  Read that again and let it sink in.

Life is short.  Death is forever.  Don't waste time getting your head right -- right with truth and reality, right with your calling, right with God.

Bone Shaker: Mettle Maker #251

• Roll the bones. Warm-up thoroughly for at at least 8 minutes.  Do 2-3 minutes each of (a) jumping rope or footwork (b) light calisthenics and (c) shadowboxing, forms, light heavy bag work, or 8 minutes of MBF.

• Break some bones. Have you completed this month's constitutional yet? If not, get there. If so, do it again but substitute O Goshi (or similar hip throw such as Cross-Buttocks Throw) for Seoi Nage. Use the heaviest bag you can manage (60 - 75 lbs. works for most folks). If you're stuck, see video below.

• Rattle your bones. Are you prepared to go for a strenuous hike -- either for fun or in the case of an emergency? Shoulder a pack of about 2/3 your comfortable max (I used #25 because I rarely hike with a pack >#35) and cover at least 2 miles. Do this regularly so that you can manage when the chips are down. Those who never hike and don't own packs, start with a #10 bookbag and work your way up. Advanced folks, extra credit if you fashion your own pack from tarp and cordage.

• Pick them bones clean -- apply survival strategy to everyday life. Wander for hours after realizing you are lost and you'll waste precious energy and daylight. Stay put instead. Make shelter before darkness falls and rest warm. Assess resources, abilities, likelihood of rescue, etc. Get your bearings by watching the sunrise. Then, based on facts, decide on sitting tight and signaling for help or hiking out. Here's the thing: this is true about other areas of life. Every penny spent on toys isn't saved for retirement, every minute spent training low-percentage techniques takes time away from critical skills, every bit of attention paid to the frivolous steals time from the essential. Where can you scavenge a little more money, a little more time, and a little more attention for the things you really care about? Chew on this and take corrective action.

• Feel it in your bones. Set timer for 10 minutes and practice your contemplation. Assume posture of choice and regulate breathing to a slow and steady rhythm. Keep your eyes open and fixed. Do not fidget, wiggle or scratch. Allow your thoughts to dissipate like ripples on a pond and your mind to approach a state of calm and relaxed awareness. Do not think at all, but especially not in words -- do not evaluate, judge, make lists, fixate on emotions, let your mind wander, or any of that. Just breathe and be.

Keepsies: Mettle Maker #250

When I was a kid we played marbles.  My pop showed me.  Playing marbles was on the long list of games he had mastered, right along with croquet, dominoes, and checkers.  I never saw him lose at any of those.

When you play marbles you must decide if you are playing for fun or if you are playing for “keepsies.”  When you play for keepsies, you get to keep the other guy’s marbles.  This is the origin of the expression “playing for all the marbles.”

Real life is always keepsies.  Get this through your head and say it with me.

REAL LIFE IS ALWAYS KEEPSIES.

This is true with regard to your philosophical life, your emotional life, your physical life and your spiritual life.  Thoughts, desires, actions and beliefs have extremely important consequences.

Face reality because life is for keepsies.

This month’s martial focus is Grappling (stand-up wrestling or “clinch work” in the common parlance) and our spiritual symbol is The Bell (contemplation).  All of this month’s mettle makers will revolve around these two themes.

KEEPSIES: METTLE MAKER #250

• Warm-up thoroughly for at at least 8 minutes. Do 2-3 minutes each of (a) jumping rope or footwork (b) light calisthenics and (c) shadowboxing, forms, light heavy bag work, or 8 minutes of MBF.

• Train for keeps. Complete this month’s constitutional which is all about directly relevant martial fitness. Get out a heavy bag, grappling dummy, or just a big gym bag full of towels, mitts and gloves and get through this: 25 Seio Nage (put a shirt or sash on your bag or dummy as needed), 100 yards of Bear Walks, 25 Scarf Hold Switches, 25 Bag Lifts (regular or Kansas-style, your choice), 25 Shots, 25 Sprawl ‘n’ Punch, and 1 HB Squeeze to failure. If you finish in under 15 minutes, go back and do 20% more of each exercises 1 – 6. If any of these exercises are unclear, sounds like you need to take come out and train with us or sign up for the Hermit Path Distance Learning Program! .

• Move for keeps. Run 1 mile like somebody’s chasing you.

• Forage for keeps. If you want to forge your mettle, don’t shy away from reality — confront it head on. Get up tomorrow morning, walk out your front door, and give yourself 20 minutes to find breakfast. You don’t have to actually eat it if you don’t want to, but say to yourself, “If I don’t find something to eat this morning I’m going to skip breakfast.” I did this on Monday and the best I could do in 20 minutes was some wild onions, some inner pine bark and some pine needles for tea. Slim pickings in my suburban neighborhood because many of the spring plants haven’t shot up yet — see the video below that I made last March. A few calories and some electrolytes could make the difference between life and death in a survival situation. Get dirty!

• Contemplate for keeps. There is a common misconception that contemplation is about shutting out the world or “navel gazing.” What we call contemplation is very similar to zazen, the meditation method taught in Zen Buddhism and is closely related to the Christian “prayer of quiet.” Call it whatever you want as long as you do it. Set timer for 10 minutes (beginners 5 minutes, advanced folks up to an hour). Assume posture of choice and regulate breathing to a slow and steady rhythm. Keep your eyes open and fixed. Do not fidget, wiggle or scratch. Allow your thoughts to dissipate like ripples on a pond and your mind to approach a state of calm and relaxed awareness. Do not think at all, but especially not in words — do not evaluate, judge, make lists, fixate on emotions, let your mind wander, or any of that. Just perceive reality. Click the picture above for more pointers. Stay with regular contemplation practice and you will begin to “break through” and experience true, inner quiet (the presence of God, theoria, satori, “silent illumination,” etc.).

Life Line: Mettle Maker #249

Life Line: Mettle Maker #249

• Warm-up thoroughly for at at least 8 minutes. Do 2-3 minutes each of (a) jumping rope or footwork (b) light calisthenics and (c) shadowboxing, forms, light heavy bag work, or 8 minutes of MBF.

• Come in under the line. Set timer for 10 minutes and string up a line about jaw height -- hand wraps, jump ropes or Karate belts will do. Visualize opponent's head sitting on the line as you move forward and backward up the line, practicing lightning bolt movement and throwing combos from alternating sides of the line. Start with a jab-cross combo, then move to jab-cross-uppercut, jab-cross-hook, etc. No idea what any of this means? Links to home training options below.

• Go for red line. As a training session finisher, complete one 50 yard heavy carry (BHC, FC, SC, etc.) at 2/3 of your PR. Walk it off for 2 mins. Then push up the weight to PR and walk to failure. If 2 sets aren't enough, you aren't doing it right (I picked BHC and did a #105 and then finished with #140 for 50 yards).

• Go offline. When was the last time you put your phone on do not disturb, closed your laptop, shut off your tablet, and spent some time completely disconnected from glowing screens? Do it. A whole weekend would be great, but do the best you can. What do you do with the time? Cook a new recipe, read a book, play Master Mind (my favorite game) with your partner, or go outside and get dirty.

• Fall in line. Last week we kept a notepad handy and gave ourselves demerits for behaving in a manner inconsistent with our precepts (the Five Vital Graces). That's top-down pressure, and it works. But this week, try using bottom-up pressure instead (see video below). Align yourself with goodness, truth and light like a string on a violin vibrating in accord with the others, or a compass needle lining up with the earth's magnetic field. Try to sense when you are "out of line." Common symptoms of imbalance are tension, worry, nail-biting, talking to yourself, cursing, impatience, anger, loss of focus, forgetfulness, drumming, and tapping your feet. When you manifest a symptom, slow down and search yourself for the underlying cause. Heed the answer, address it sensibly, relax, and move forward.

FIGHT DIRTY: METTLE MAKER #248

FIGHT DIRTY: METTLE MAKER #248

• Warm-up thoroughly for at at least 8 minutes. Do 2-3 minutes each of (a) jumping rope (b) light calisthenics and (c) shadowboxing, forms, light heavy bag work, or 8 minutes of MBF.

• Face some foul weather dirty work. I’m pretty accustomed to training outdoors. But this week the weather has been so completely icy, frozen and inhospitable that a couple of mornings I just couldn’t train out there. So every half our or so throughout the day I did 10 each of PUP and SQT. Be extra scrupulous about form and pace — 2-count descent, 1 count hesitate at the bottom, 2-count press, 1-count hesitate at the top.

• 20 min. command and mastery knife pyramid drill. Get a dull training knife and a floor bag or grappling dummy. Set timer for 1o mins. Complete 1 of each of the following four exercises (a) 5 attacks to bag from Top Saddle, roll to bottom, 5 attacks from Bottom Scissors, Reverse back to Top Saddle. Do a Smearing Get-up (don’t forget the push-cut). (b) Sprawl. (c) Sit-ups with a double “X” air slash (step over bag, hook rear toes, and fall back into over/under Short Arm Bar position and work from there). Then do 2 of each, 3, 4, etc. until timer beeps. Finish that set, then descend. 50 Push-up penalty if the business end of the training weapon touches your body at any point during the drill. If any of this doesn’t make sense, sounds like you should enroll in the Cabal Fang distance learning program or come out and train!

• Have you done this month’s constitutional twice this week? If not, get it done. If so, reward yourself with something nice, like a long walk, a new book, or a fun fitness tool, etc.

• Do you know the prevailing wind direction for your home territory? In my area, the wind most often blows from the south in summer and the north in winter (see wind rose on the right). Find the regional climate center for your state, do a search, and generate the wind roses for you stomping grounds. If you know the ICAO code for the airport climate center nearest you, plug it into the URL from at the WRCC and you can get what you need, or if you’re in the SE, just go the the NCCO. You can’t rely on wind direction if you get lost, but you can use it as a backup, for support of a supposition, to determine if there’s a new weather pattern blowing in, etc.

  Fight as dirty with yourself as you would in self-defense.  Last week your assignment was to put one of the Five Vital Graces (Wonder, Sagacity, Frugality, Indomitability and Fraternity) into action.  This week be extra self-critical.  Keep a notepad or a scrap of paper and a pen in your pocket.  Write down the Five Vital Graces on the paper.  If you catch yourself behaving in a manner inconsistent with one of the five precepts, put an “x” next to it for that day.  Max score for a given day is 5 — one point for each precept you kept.  See if you get better over the course of the week.  “That which is measured improves.”

SLIP AND FALL: METTLE MAKER #247

SLIP AND FALL: METTLE MAKER #247

• Warm-up thoroughly for at at least 8 minutes. Do 2-3 minutes each of (a) jumping rope (b) light calisthenics and (c) shadowboxing, forms, light heavy bag work, or 8 minutes of MBF.

• Eight minutes on your slip ball. Set a timer for four minutes and get in front of your slip ball. Put in 4 minutes in your preferred stance and another 4 in reverse stance.

• Hit the dirt and scramble for a loose weapon. If you are under attack and there’s a scramble over a loose weapon, be prepared to come out on top — without falling on a blade and injuring yourself in the process! Put on safety goggles and toss a rubber or wood training weapon up in the air about 6′ away. As soon as it hits the ground, dive forward and gain control of it with your right hand. Your enemy just missed — attack the imaginary killer two or three times. Stand up and repeat until timer beeps. Put in four more rounds, one right and one left with baseball slide and shoulder roll. That’s 6 minutes of practical self-defense action that’ll force you to practice all weapon grips with both hands while training practical movement. If you need training on the specifics on grips, pickup and/or movement techniques you’ll have to show up at Cabal Fang to learn them!

• Learn to tie a trucker’s hitch with a slip knot and two half hitches. One of the most useful knots of all time, and my personal favorite. In the pics below I’m using the knot to lash a t-shirt to a backpack. But you could use this to hold a box onto a flatbed truck or to cinch down a tarp. See photo set below.

• Don’t fall from grace — fall into one of the Five Vital Graces.  This month’s spiritual symbol is the Hand of Mysteries, and each one of its fingers equates to one of the Five Vital Graces: Wonder, Sagacity, Frugality, Indomitability and Fraternity.  This week, put one or more Vital Graces into action in the real world.  Need examples?  You could travel to a new place and experience its majesty (Wonder), install a security or smoke alarm (Sagacity), sock away some money in savings (Frugality), do something that you’ve been putting off due to fear or dread (Indomitability), or help out a friend in need (Fraternity/Sorority)

Handprints: Mettle Maker #246

Handprints: Mettle Maker #246

• Warm-up thoroughly for at at least 8 minutes. Do 2-3 minutes each of (a) jumping rope (b) light calisthenics and (c) shadowboxing, forms, light heavy bag work, or 8 minutes of MBF.

• Do the February constitutional. Calisthenics are the most efficient fitness investment when you factor in equipment cost, space, time investment, injury risk, and functional strength. Do this month's constitutional: 25 BRPs, 100 WTCs. 50 ZSQs, 25 CNPs, 100 JJKs, 25 GUPs, and 25 PUPs.

• Put your hands on your floor bag and on the ground and make tracks. Get out your floor bag or grappling dummy and set timer for 10 minutes. Complete 6 Wrestling Shots away from your floor bag, Bear Walk back, and then pick up the bag and squeeze it as hard as you can using a Gable grip. When you gas out on the squeeze, put down the bag and repeat. Cycle through this as many times as you can in 10 minutes. If you aren't breathing hard when you get done, you are either a very fit person or you paced yourself. Note: This drill was ceated using Scufflin' Dice © -- available at Mitch's General Store. Use coupon code FEBFLASH at checkout to get any set of dice for 50% off.

• Look for some handprints in the snow -- some critter handprints that is. As I mentioned last week, the snow makes animal tracks incredibly easy to spot and follow, and it's so much fun. Last week we tracked a raccoon. This week watch this video and go look at a rabbit and a squirrel to see if we can determine which way they're jumping.

• Speak to the hand. The Hand of Mysteries that is. Watch this cool video about this remarkable symbol.

Alas, Flesh: Mettle Maker #245

Alas, Flesh: Mettle Maker #245

• Warm-up thoroughly for at at least 8 minutes. Do 2-3 minutes each of (a) jumping rope (b) light calisthenics and (c) shadowboxing, forms, or light heavy bag work, or 8 minutes of MBF.

• Do some calisthenics. Calisthenics are still the biggest bang for your fitness buck in terms of equipment cost (zero), space (very little required), and functional strength. Do this month's constitutional. or dodge over to Mitch's General Store and use coupon code FLASH121 to get 50% off any fitness dice order (offer good until midnight 2/5/21).

• Striking and self-defense movement drill. Set timer for 3 x 3:00/1:00 and get in front of your heavy bag. First round, strike with your focus on movement. Make sure that you are popping, weaving, dropping and twisting. For the break, practice your stalking steps. Walk the area like a crane stalking minnows. Second round, concentrate on striking with accuracy. For the break, practice your stalking low crawl around the training area. Move slowly and silently, keeping your navel within 2 inches of the floor at all times. Third round, strike with maximum power. For the break, practice your stalking high crawl on hands and knees. If you are stalking properly you should be exhausted. Not exhausted? Crawl slower and more quietly next time.

• Go out your back door and see where your dinner is headed. Find some animal tracks near your home (trust me they're there!) and follow them as far as you can as if your life depended on it. In a survival situation there are no vegetarians because critters are more nutrient dense than weeds (not that weeds aren't yummy and great for fiber). Go get 'em, tiger. See video below.

• Alas, you are only flesh. To quote theologian Paul Tillich, "Finitude in realization is anxiety." Sooner or later the realization of mortality will shatter your soul's pretentious façade and you will have to deal with the existential threat of death. Where is the solution to this ultimate reality? Our first clue can be found in the great Evelyn Underhill's definition of mysticism: “One of the most abused words in the English language, it has been used in different and often mutually exclusive senses by religion, poetry, and philosophy: has been claimed as an excuse for every kind of occultism, for dilute transcendentalism, vapid symbolism, religious or aesthetic sentimentality, and bad metaphysics…Mysticism is the art of union with Reality.” Write at least 50 words in your journal on this topic. If you aren't squared off and all set, schedule a meeting with me and let me help you get there.

Telos: Mettle Maker #244

Telos (/ˈtɛ.lɒs/; Greek: τέλος, translit. télos, lit. "end, purpose, or goal")[1] is a term used by philosopher Aristotle to refer to the full potential or inherent purpose or objective of a person or thing,[2] similar to the notion of an 'end goal' or 'raison d'être'. Moreover, it can be understood as the "supreme end of man's endeavour."[3]

Telos: Mettle Maker #244

• Warm-up thoroughly for at at least 8 minutes. Do 2-3 minutes each of (a) jumping rope (b) light calisthenics and (c) shadowboxing, forms, or light heavy bag work, or 8 minutes of MBF.

• Do some purposeful fitness. What are you getting fit to do? How about real stuff in the real world. Set a timer for desired training length based on your fitness level and needs -- I did 10 minutes for maintenance -- and adjust weight of sledge and sandbags as well. Start timer. Do 10 Sledge Blows, 50 yard shoulder carry (I did #40 each shoulder), 25 weapon strikes per hand (I did live tomahawk strikes vs. a wooden pell), and 10 Step-ups (I used a 25" box). Repeat until timer beeps. Created using Frontier Rough 'n' Tumble dice available at Mitch's General Store. Use coupon code "SCUFF21" at checkout and get free shipping (offer good until 1/31/21).

• Yank drill. Don't be one of those martial artists who fixates on fancy moves and neglects the blunt power of basic movements. Put a rope on your floor bag or heavy bag and practice yanking. Do not pull or reel. Yank with maximum violence. Imagine that you are pulling an attacker away from a loved one by taking hold of a wrist, arm, coat sleeve, shirt, etc. and yank with your entire body rather than just your arms. I try to put in a couple of rounds of yanking every week or two so that, if need be, I can yank as hard as a bayou 'gator. If you're doing it right, this is exhausting. Get there.

• Make fire using natural materials only. You can use a commercial lighter, but don't use newspaper, sock lint, or anything manmade for tinder. I prefer cedar bark fluff and the bark of paper birch. If you need a little more detail see Chapter 7 of The Wildwood Workbook or, if you're all at sea, sign up for the Bobcat Frontier Rough 'n' Tumble Program. And please be sure to build your fire safely -- clear a large patch of dirt or build it in a fire pit, chimenea, fireplace, stove, camp fire ring, etc. away from combustibles and obey local ordinances.

• Review your 2020. Sit down with your journal or diary and take a hard look at last year. Did you achieve the things you set out to do? What were your successes and failures? Evaluate your metrics. Did you use the right measurements and tracking methods last year? How could you improve your metrics this year? I've made slight adjustments, but mainly my metrics are staying the same for 2021. You can view them here. If you don't keep a journal or diary and you don't have any metrics, then how do you establish your personal teleology?

MARTIAL ARTS DISTANCE LEARNING PROGRAM AVAILABLE. 100% free! Cabal Fang is martial arts for personal development, self-defense and fitness -- enroll today!

Vault of Reason: Mettle Maker #243

Vault of Reason: Mettle Maker #243

• Warm-up thoroughly for at at least 8 minutes. Do 2-3 minutes each of (a) jumping rope (b) light calisthenics and (c) shadowboxing, forms, or light heavy bag work, or 8 minutes of MBF.

• Do some scufflin' fitness. Set a timer for repeating 1 min. intervals. Cycle through 1 min each of Sprawl 'n' Punch, Bear Walks and Heavy Bag Squeezes (use your floor bag and squeeze as hard as you can!). As a maintenance drill, run about 3 cycles (9 mins total) at moderate intensity. For something more strenuous, up the intensity and run more cycles.

• Hike, vault, and roll. Put on a pack and hike to a place where you can practice your vaults and rolls. Take off your pack and put in a few minutes of movement practice. I used a couple of park benches -- see video below. When you're done, put your pack back on and hike home. Adjust weight and distance, and number and type of movements, based on your fitness level, training cycle, and so forth. See video on the right.

• What plant is this? Here's a hint: it's the same plant the famous wand is made of -- the one Voldemort wanted to get his hands on so badly. It’s Sambucus canadensis or common elderberry.  Berries ripen from late July to August and should be cooked before eating, which explains why you always see elderberry jam, preserves, wine, etc.

• Acknowledge your higher power. If you don't believe in God you might want to reconsider. Recognition of a higher power was central to the survival of our hominid ancestors when they were on the verge of extinction 70,000 years ago and is easily supported on scientific and logical grounds. Of the roughly 20 sound logical arguments for existence of God, the best, in my opinion, is...

  
  The Cosmological Argument

  1. Whatever begins to exist has a cause.
  2. The universe began to exist.
  3. Therefore, the universe has a cause.
  4. The universe began to exist at the point of the Big Bang.
  5. Before the Big Bang there was no time, no matter, and no causality.
  5. Therefore the cause of the universe is timeless, immaterial, and uncaused.
  6. A timeless and immaterial first cause is commonly known as God.

  The first classic rebuttal is "Not all things that begin to exist have a cause." But persons, animals and things are not popping in and out of existence all around us. If you insist on completely rejecting our current understanding of how things work, I can't help you. The only other avenue of escape from this argument is to dispute the standard model of the universe. But the standard model -- in which the universe had a beginning and will have a cold dark end -- has remained the scientific consensus despite all challenges thus far, including the Steady State Model, the Oscillating Model, the Baby Universe Model, the Multiverse Model, and so on.

  Based on the evidence and the current state of the scientific debate, we can say with relative certainty that the universe is of finite size, it had a beginning, it will have an end, and that only the Uncaused Cause – a.k.a God -- is infinite.  So start saying your prayers. It might feel a little awkward at first, but like anything else, you'll get better with practice.

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The Ropes: Mettle Maker #242

The Cabal Fang monthly focuses are Self-defense vs. empty hands and the Rose.

The Ropes: Mettle Maker #242

• Warm-up thoroughly for at at least 8 minutes. Do 2-3 minutes each of (a) jumping rope (b) light calisthenics and (c) shadowboxing, forms, or light heavy bag work, or 8 minutes of MBF.

• Do the monthly constitutional. Complete a 15-minute half pyramid of Sprawls, Mountain Climbers, Push-Ups, Slow Side Kicks, Drop Duck-unders, Steam Engines, Jump Squats (for split leg exercises and kicks L + R = 1). A half-pyramid is 1 of each, 2 of each, 3, 4, 5 etc. until the timer beeps.

• 16 minutes of Frontier Rough 'n' Tumble mix 'n' match fitness.   Set timer for 1 minute intervals and cycle through the following four times: Rope Climbs, Bowie knife air strikes, Sledge Blows, and Wrestling Shots. 

• Can you tie a taught-line hitch? It's one of the most practical knots known to man, useful for setting up a clothes lines, staking out tents, and so on. Knot slides easily but holds well under moderate loads. Steps below.

• Say a prayer. If you already have an active prayer life, don't let me interfere. But if you don't, let me show you the ropes. Why? Because recognizing a higher power was central to the survival of our hominid ancestors when they were on the verge of extinction 70,000 years ago. Recognizing a higher power is step two in the Alcoholics Anonymous 12-step program -- the most successful mutual-aid, self-help program in history. And there are hundreds of reliable studies showing that prayer improves cognitive function and happiness quotient, reduces alcohol intake, fights depression, aids in psychological resiliency, and much more. Get started. If you've never prayed before, or you're rusty, start small. Say grace before meals, say your prayers before bed, or start your day with a simple prayer like, "Heavenly Father, I pray thee stand with me today, guiding my thoughts, desires, actions and beliefs so that I may walk in your ways in all I do and say this day." If you don't feel better I'll eat my hat.

Cut the Chatter: Mettle Maker #241

99% of what goes in the world is just racket.

Cut the Chatter: Mettle Maker #241

• Warm-up thoroughly for at at least 8 minutes. Do 2-3 minutes each of (a) jumping rope (b) light calisthenics and (c) shadowboxing, forms, or light heavy bag work, or 8 minutes of MBF.

• Face the 25-minute "Stayin' Alive" drill. Set timer for 5 X 5:00. Round 1, run away from your training area. Round 2, run back. Round 3, shadowbox. Round 4, pick up your floor bag (a heavy bag with chains removed) and do not put it down until the timer beeps. Practice your stand-up grappling -- squeezes, Scarf Holds, chokes, etc. Round 5, wrestle the bag. Put it on the mat and practice your Bridges, Reverses, tackles, Bottom Scissors, etc. Click here for a video.

• Pick a finisher. Cap off your training session with a quick "finisher" -- a short but intense contribution to functional martial fitness. Take your pick: (A) 100 yard heavy carry (choose a sandbag based on your fitness level -- I used #105), (B) 5 minute IMT run (C) As many kicks as you can in 5 minutes. That ought to "cut your chatter."

• Do you know what bird this is? It's one of the chattiest birds in North America, and it's name comes from the Greek kitta -- "chattering bird." If you don't know its call, then you don't know one of your closest, most talkative neighbors.

Give up? Click here for the answer.

• Cut the chatter and see how different the world looks. We are constantly awash in racket -- music and media of all kinds, T.V., YouTube, podcasts, books on tape and on and on -- much of it verbal. Words can be very useful. But pointless words are just noise. Shut off the media, go outside (or at the very least go to a quiet space), and silence your chattering monkey-mind with 10 minutes of contemplation. Set timer for 10 minutes and assume your posture of choice. Regulate your breathing to a slow, steady rhythm, making sure that you fully fill and empty your lungs with each breath. Keep your eyes open and do not fidget, wiggle, or scratch. Full instructions and more info in the video below.

Discern: Mettle Maker #240

DISCERN (Dis*cern", v. i.) 1. To see or understand the difference; to make distinction; as, to discern between good and evil, truth and falsehood.

Embedded in the phrase "pay attention" is the idea that the truth is something you purchase with your powers of focus.  It is no coincidence that wisdom is associated with vision and attention. Check out all of the spiritual symbols above that are associated with focus.

A friend said I looked like a silly turtle man in my last movement drill video.  I laughed and replied, "I know, it's hilarious. But did you try it though? Crawling low and slow is way more strenuous than you might expect. Same is true of IMT runs and runs with objects in hand (like weapons). Martial movements are very different than everyday movements and sports movements!"

A soccer kick is not roundhouse, and a punch you throw in aerobics class is not a strike, and so on.

The modern mind seems to be increasingly unable to discern with the power of the ancients.  My current working theory is that this is caused by "duality creep" -- the human tendency to separate body from soul, natural from supernatural, and metaphorical from material.  You don't have to chase the Mad Hatter down the MOQ rabbit hole in order to begin collapsing your duality. Just realize that nondual thinking leads to higher quality discernment.

Remember that shoulds and oughts are not the same thing as iss and ares.

Discern: Mettle Maker #240

• Warm-up thoroughly for at at least 8 minutes. Do 2-3 minutes each of (a) jumping rope (b) light calisthenics and (c) shadowboxing, forms, or light heavy bag work, or 8 minutes of MBF.

• 5 rounds on the heavy bag with a slip stick. Around here (per the S.A.F.E. M.P. protocol) we never just wail on a bag. Put a slip stick on your bag, set timer for 5 x 3:00/1:00. Turn down the power and work on form. Martial artists work a heavy bag far differently than fitness trainers do. See video below for instructions on making your own slip stick if needed.

• 10 minutes of situational fitness. Do whatever fitness drill you want to do -- calisthenics, a run, pick whatever you want -- just do it impaired, distracted, or stressed. Put in earbuds and play annoying music, tuck one hand in your belt as if it's injured, etc. Pain and strain change the game. See video below from the club last week.

• Go outside and sketch something. So what if you're not an artist? Get a paper and pencil or pen and sketch something. This will focus your attention like nobody's business. Relax and get into it. If you'd like to hone your outdoor skills, start keeping a sketch book. Once you've sketched a plant you cannot identify and then looked it up in a book, you'll never forget it. For more on this, see Chapter 18 in The Wildwood Workbook.

• Nondual thinking changes how you see the world. Yesterday was Christmas, one of the most important holidays of the year for most of planet earth. Christmas is a celebration of the ultimate collapse of duality by means of the Incarnation -- when God becomes man so that man might become god through grace. Meditate on the below quote from a blog post by Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick.

"Athanasius the Great...was the hero of the First Ecumenical Council in 325, having been the one whose theological expressions won the day, sifting out falsehood from the truth and resulting in the first version of the Creed we recite in every Divine Liturgy. Yet for all that, he was actually only a deacon at that first great council, not even allowed a vote in the proceedings. He was there only as an assistant to his bishop, St. Alexander of Alexandria. He eventually succeeded St. Alexander on his throne, and as the Pope of Alexandria, in 367 he wrote one of the letters that came to be famous in Church history as the first known listing of the canonical New Testament books.

But Athanasius showed remarkable wisdom even when he was young. His most well-known work, On the Incarnation, may have been written when he was as young as 23. And it is on this work that I would like us to rest for a few moments today, particularly on its most famous sentence.

In the fifty-fourth chapter of On the Incarnation, St. Athanasius wrote a sentence that has echoed down through the centuries even into our own time as a brilliant summary of the Gospel. He wrote this: “God became man so that man might become god” (54:3).

This doctrine is called theosis."

~Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick, Ancient Faith Ministries

Selfless: Mettle Maker #239

Selfless: Mettle Maker #239

• Warm-up thoroughly for at at least 8 minutes. Do 2-3 minutes each of (a) jumping rope (b) light calisthenics and (c) shadowboxing, forms, or light heavy bag work, or 8 minutes of MBF.

• 5 rounds on the heavy bag. Around here (per the S.A.F.E. M.P. protocol) we never just wail on a bag. Set timer for 5 x 3:00/1:00. First four rounds for speed, aiming for constant contact. Rounds 1 and 2: Outside range hands -- Jab, Cross, Bolo punch, etc. Round 3: Inside range -- Elbows, Knees, Steam Donkeys, Crams, etc. Round 4: Outside kicks -- Roundhouse, Side, Piston, etc. Round 5: All-in for power -- work all ranges and aim for maximum punishment.

• 10 minutes of "life in the balance" fitness. Set timer for 10:00 and cycle through the following: 1 Rope Ascent, 1 Crow Sit (until you tip over), 1 Wall Walk, 1 HSPU. Modify/Adapt/Overcome. If you can't climb a rope, hang it next to a wall or tree and use your feet, or just hold on until you gas. No rope? Use a pole or Pull-up bar. If you can't do a Crow Sit, put your forehead on a yoga block. If you can't do a Wall Walk, do an Incline Plank. If you can't do HSPUs, do a Pike Push-up. No excuses. Get there.

• Do you know what the picture at the bottom of the page is? If not, you're missing a valuable survival skill. Turn to page 31 in The Wildwood Workbook or ask me in the comments and I'll tell you what it is.

• Empty your cup to fill your cup. This month's symbol is the Chalice, which is often associated with the Holy Grail. In Arthurian legend, Sir Galahad is warned that he may lose himself by taking up the quest. He replies, “If I lose myself I save myself!” The chalice symbol embodies the universal medicine of self-sacrifice and the relinquishing of ego. The more we exalt ourselves the farther the grail cup recedes; the more we humble ourselves the faster it returns to us. If we lose ourselves like Galahad then perhaps there is hope that we can save ourselves. This is why we must relinquish our own wants and needs before we can accept the communion wine ("Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven"). This operation is depicted on the XVIIth key, The Star. Meditate on this pouring out and pouring in. Last week I suggested that you can't say "Yes" with all your heart without first learning how to to say "No." This week I'm telling you that you have to be empty before you can be full.

• If it ain't in the training journal it didn't happen. Do the work, the external and internal, and write about what you did and thought in your journal. Introspection, self-examination and measurement are the key to progress.

Fast and Dicey: Mettle Maker #238

Fast and Dicey: Mettle Maker #238

• Warm-up thoroughly for at at least 8 minutes. Do 2-3 minutes each of (a) jumping rope (b) light calisthenics and (c) shadowboxing, forms, or light heavy bag work, or 8 minutes of MBF.

• 10 minutes of command and mastery with your weapon of choice. Select a dull practice weapon (wooden knife, tactical pen, stick, rubber gun, cane, stick, whatever floats your boat) and set a timer for 8:00. Repeat the following until the timer beeps: Slip Ball or Air Strikes x 1o, Push-ups x 5, Reverses x 5 (if you can't do your wrestling moves with your weapon in hand you have a problem), Standing Broad Jumps x 5. This drill was created with Command and Mastery Dice ©. Click here to get a set.

• 10 minutes of frontier fitness. Get yourself a sledgehammer and a sandbag and set a timer for 10:00. Climb a half-pyramid until the timer beeps of Shovels, Loads, Shoulder Rolls, and Air Strikes x 4 (Palms, Steam Donkeys, Caulks, etc.). This drill was created with Frontier Rough 'n' Tumble Fitness Dice ©. Click here to get a set.

• Bug-out heavy. Don't assume you can quickly get out of trouble carrying a load. Slip on a backpack of at least #25 and hike for at least 20 mins. Do that weekly and work your way up to 1+ hours with #40+ so that, if you ever have to get out of Dodge you can do so. And, as an added bonus, it makes long hikes with light and medium packs really fun and easy when you go on adventures! See video below of my last adventure with my daughter Morgan and her fiancé Jack -- it's hilarious!

• Empty your cup. The idea is an ancient one. If you fast from food and improve your ability to control what you allow into your mouth, you will also control what you allow into your mind, heart, and spirit -- and you might even be able to fill the empty space thus created with spiritual food and drink. This is why fasting is so prevalent in all traditional religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, and orthodox forms of Christianity. Assuming you have no precluding health conditions of course, try skipping one, two or even three meals (silly rabbit -- breakfast actually means "to break your fast" after a whole day of not eating). Consider a permanent change, like one of the traditional fasting forms (such as abstaining from meat on Fridays) or giving up something that you enjoy but you know isn't good for you -- like soda, alcohol, candy, or tobacco. Some folks think that you can't say "Yes" with all your heart without first learning how to to say "No."

• If it ain't in the training journal it didn't happen. Do the work, the external and internal, and write about what you did and thought in your journal. Introspection, self-examination and measurement are the key to progress.