Kelly scribbles on paper titled "List of books must read", "The Warrior As Healer" by Thomas Richard Joiner. Thanks Jamie!

Great thought-provoking post, Jane --- it reminds me of back when I read "The Warrior As Healer: A Martial Arts Herbal for Power, Fitness, and Focus" by Thomas Richard Joiner. The book began by discussing the historical context of healing in the martial arts, particularly how it used to be that if you were a martial artist (say in the Shaolin tradition, for example), learning to fight would be synonymous with learning to heal. It was the author's wish that more martial artists would carry on the tradition of learning the healing arts as well as the martial ones. Of course, from a very pragmatic standpoint, it only makes sense to learn how to heal oneself if constantly put at risk of bodily harm. Correct me if I'm wrong, but your original post seems to rest on the assumption that most folks study the martial arts to do harm. I know that I for one, do Aikido not out of an intent to hurt others, but out of the need to be able to defend myself without necessarily damaging my attacker permanently, and I enjoy doing martial arts in general due to its propensity to increase the level of my own focus and self-discipline. That is, my goal being to push myself beyond what I might perceive as my furthest physical and mental limits and still be able to maintain control and balance (physical, mental, and emotional). I have a friend who was not only a Shodan in Judo at one point in her life, but is now an Integrated Health Care specialist, Reiki healer, and herbalist. We would often speak of the connection between the martial arts and healing --- her own theory is that all martial arts, at their very roots, are truly all about healing. I myself come from a family of nurses, but it was not until I started doing Aikido on a regular basis that I ever took the slightest interest in the healing arts. I admit that initially, it was out of the need to be healthier so that I could train with as much energy as possible, and to be able to best take care of myself in the event that I ever got injured. But I believe that in doing Aikido --- with its philosophy of peace and its blending movements that do not pit physical force against physical force --- that it was only a matter of time before I started to apply my knowledge of healing myself towards the healing of others. Of course, I am only one person --- and as you alluded, there certainly seem to be fewer people interested in learning how to heal than there are who want to learn to fight. For one, we live in a highly competitive society --- it's quite the dog-eat-dog world out there, and I suppose it comes as no surprise then that everyone's looking out for number one. As a consequence of this, you get more folks interested in fighting others than healing others. On a more optimistic note, you also have martial arts like Aikido that (in general) do not rely upon competition, but self-mastery to gain proficiency in it. One of the things we've got in kanji on our dojo wall is a saying by O Sensei, "Masa Katsu Agatsu" --- "There is no victory without self-victory." For now, I can offer only a wish similar to Thomas Joiner's: that more martial artists start taking an interest in the healing arts, even if initially in their own self-interest. But whether or not this happens is greatly dependent upon the spirit of both the school and the student. For some silly reason, I remain optimistic that the human spirit of kindness will somehow win out in the end. A lover not a fighter, Jamie

Agreed! If you study MA with the intent to inflict harm, in practice you probably will be a cranker, or in some way overly aggressive to your partener or opponent. If you study with the intent to avoid harm, for others as well as yourself, you will probably not only develope a flowing blending technique, but a means to heal and repair if something goes wrong. Just my opinion.

I'm not familiar enough with the discipline. Really, just the intent is a start. I think mindset has a round-about affect on many things that we are not aware of.

That was more a joke (gotta work on my delivery). I don't think that kiatsu would do anything for someone who was fibrulating, or had a compound fracture. Unless of course your an empath.

Um, not necessarily. Would one spend an equal amount of time training in just Kiatsu as training in Aikido? Also, is Kiatsu application dynamic? What I mean to say is, could it be used in all situations of physical 'healing'? I guess though, healing is healing.

I guess kiatsu doesn't count eh?! LOL.