Adrienne joins the podcast while visiting Mount Soma! Links will be arriving soon.
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Internal Arts in a nutshell: “Stability born of rigidity feels strong. Stability born of shared load is strong. On the path of evolution: learning to let the Earth move through you
“Power and ease are not opposites.”
I started the school — our organization — in 1994. Though I was, and am, the leader, my leadership style has never been typical. In talks I’ve given over the years, I’ve described it as “leading while following.”
I try to feel the pulse of the time and the people within it. I ask for opinions, listen carefully, and do my best to filter out irrationality and anything inconsistent with our purpose. That process is not as easy as it may sound.
Now, after more than thirty years of this way of working, I am on a much-needed partial sabbatical, which I plan to continue until spring. It has given me the opportunity to rejuvenate — mentally, emotionally, and physically — and, perhaps most importantly, the space to reflect quietly.
I’ve noticed that the people around me don’t quite know how to respond to this shift. But I’m certain it’s good — not only for me, but for us, for our organization, and for our purpose.
What follows are my personal reflections on this process.
What I realized recently feels important — and very real.
What’s happening isn’t a mood, or a belief, or a story I’m telling myself. It feels like a genuine physiological and identity-level unwinding.
And interestingly—fascinatingly—enough, Dhanur Veda — specifically the art of archery in the form of sumo — is facilitating it.
For decades, being a leader required something specific from my body, not just my mind.
I had to stay upright when others leaned.
Absorb uncertainty without losing myself to it.
Make decisions while containing doubt.
Hold responsibility in my body, not just in thought.
That doesn’t live only as ideas.
It lives as chronic muscular tone.
Subtle breath restriction.
Readiness without rest.
A nervous system that never fully stands down.
Over time, that becomes a posture of self.
Not fake.
Not wrong.
Just held.
What I’m noticing now is that sumo, of all things, is undoing that pattern.
Sumo is unusual among strength practices because it doesn’t reward bracing.
It asks for grounding instead of tension.
Downward permission instead of upward striving.
Load transfer through geometry rather than will.
Trust in structure rather than identity.
When it’s done correctly, the body learns something quietly radical:
“I don’t have to hold myself up.
The ground is doing that.”
That’s not metaphorical.
That’s proprioceptive.
And once the body learns that under real load, it begins to ask another question:
“Then why am I still holding this elsewhere?”
So things begin to let go, which is described in Dhanur Veda as well as the ancient Chinese texts as a cultivation of the internal arts.
That letting go feels both destabilizing and relieving.
It can show up as fatigue.
Softness.
Emotional permeability.
Needing bread and butter instead of discipline.
Strength going quiet for a while.
That doesn’t mean leadership is disappearing.
It means leadership is moving from effort to organization.
From
“I must hold.”
to
“I am held.”
That transition always feels vulnerable — because the old pattern worked.
Here’s the quiet truth I keep coming back to:
I’m not becoming less capable.
I’m becoming less armored.
And armor, once it relaxes, always reveals how heavy it was.
This doesn’t feel like collapse.
It isn’t regression.
It isn’t abdication.
It feels like redistribution of load.
The same principle I’ve learned in the lift applies here too:
When geometry is correct, force distributes.
No single joint has to suffer.
Strength increases because effort decreases.
My life seems to be doing that now.
The line I keep returning to is this:
“I’m not letting go of responsibility.
I’m letting go of bracing.”
It is, rather, a sort of embodiment.
Or, as the ancient masters might say: you do not pull up the bar, you do not aim the arrow — the Earth does that through you.
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Live not to reach the rare. Live so that the rare can reach you.
I am on a partial sabbatical until springtime
Dhanur Veda: Life, Pu erh tea, archery, sumo, … it is all the same.
First minute or so of the YouTube video makes the point: Yi Jin Jing: The 5 Second Trick to HEAL Your FASCIA Instantly
Structure, containment, permission: In life, deliberate creates stable field structure and stable field in motion gives containment. the physiology gives permission. Impulsive creates leaks.
Most of life’s richness is chased—money, max lifts, rare teas, expensive things. Yet the real art is quieter. Dhanurveda, archery of the Veda, teaches aim without bracing. Tea teaches steeping without forcing. Training teaches lifting without leaks. The coherent field isn’t something you build by tightening; it’s something you notice when you stop bracing long enough to feel it.
I learned that the descent is part of the ascent. The field leaks when the pelvis isn’t contained. The pot muddies when the pour is delayed. Ritual doesn’t dictate direction; it seasons recognition. Recognition seasons ritual. Practice shapes preference; preference shapes practice. It goes both ways.
Calm doesn’t mean relaxed. Calm means organized. The field carries the release when the geometry is held without bracing. Over months and years, repetition seasons both vessel and practitioner, until the rare can meet you—at the floor, in the cup, or in the marketplace—without effort.
Coherence can be found in a walk, a warm bath, a quiet cup, or a lift held still during transitions. The ritual is personal. The field is universal. The teacher is recognition. You don’t chase the rare. You season the field so the rare can come to you.
“Ritual sculpts taste; taste sculpts ritual.”
A nice YouTube link: “The Art of Fascia Tensegrity: Moving Beyond Muscle in Tai Chi and Life” (for me, first two minutes felt enough). The mesh bag… fascia.
I am not an internal arts master. I am recognizing doors. Perhaps that is the most teachable stage of all. Ultimately, it is not about doors. It is about the room. But then, the doors are forgotten.
Recognition leads to no leaks.
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The art of movement through space and how to cultivate it.
why this is valuable for everyone if they exercise or not
being merging knowing and doing
Root → Align → Open → Drive
Dhanurveda: the Spanda phases
calm means organized
dr shen no such thing as chakras
learning how to move.
sumo [horse stance] then motion under weight is the true test.. can not fake it
geometry in motion under weight… multiple moves too soon put focus on external
dr wang on youtube.. question if it is even real?
long routines can be external training with minimal internal focus
cultivating CNS. fascia, muscle integration. proper exercise is not about the muscle but indirectly
CNS gives permission, Fascia [silk web] regulates the flow, muscle follows.
Dhanurveda: power arising when geometry is recognized as safe
life in the physical is the art of archery
silk reeling web… fascia
fascia snags… not muscle knots
reading… I remember Mantak Chia books showed spirals
microcosmic orbit as overlay
discover it… do not overlay it
hara “location”… pressure… place where fascia planes meet
all movement come through the hara—center of fascia planes
dan tien… first chakra
the doors are not the room
doors are just valuable gateways but forgotten once in the room
at age 75 realizing i needed another 20 years to finish Mt Soma
started working out watching diet lead to sumo. watched and listened to western dead lifters [Natasha Auguy, Stefi Cohen], realized mapping to internal arts while clarifying them via another angle [reality].
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Parasympathetic Reorganization
I have been studying the works of ancient internal arts masters. At first not as an area of interest but as a need for understanding of what was happening to me. This has become the topic of a book I am in the process of writing. I discuss it here not only because I need to for myself, but also to offer some insight particularly for those who are around me. I know they have been concerned and are wondering. They deserve some explanation.
This is not emotional processing. It is not a psychological revelation.
It is an ancient physiological art of unwinding that I am in the process of learning—of experiencing. The vehicle that I stumbled upon is Sumo. But the principles are universal and I believe essential for everyone.
I used to think calm meant relaxed.
What I’m learning is that calm means organized.
And when organization replaces bracing, there’s often a period where the old guard exits noisily.
Process / Phase
Parasympathetic reorganization
Autonomic rebalancing
Nervous system unwinding
Protective pattern release
Defensive tone dissolution
Baseline reset
System recalibration
What’s dissolving
Residual bracing
Chronic readiness
Guardedness
Stored vigilance
Latent fight-or-flight
Structural holding patterns
What it feels like
Edginess
Irritability without narrative
Rawness
Unbuffered sensation
Reduced emotional insulation
Heightened sensitivity
What’s actually happening
Pressure redistribution
Continuity re-establishing
Load sharing improving
CNS trust updating
Old safety strategies retiring
What replaces it
Quiet coherence
Structural confidence
Unforced strength
Baseline steadiness
Distributed support
Important clarifiers
Not emotional processing
Not catharsis
Not regression
Not instability
Not something to induce
Anchor phrases
“The system is reorganizing.”
“Old strategies are letting go.”
“The body is updating its sense of safety.”
“This is physiology, not psychology.”
“Calm is arriving through organization, not relaxation.”
To listen to the audio version, please click here.
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This episode traces the discoveries that gradually led to a book—not through theory, but through lived physiology.
What began as a practical inquiry into strength training quietly evolved into something broader: a direct exploration of how the human system organizes itself when effort gives way to alignment. Over time, it became clear that strength is not primarily a muscular problem, but a neurological and structural one—how the body coordinates, distributes load, and stabilizes through geometry rather than force.
These insights did not arrive as concepts to be learned, but as sensations to be recognized. Patterns such as spirals, triangles, and vertical stacking revealed themselves as natural organizing principles within the body—present in movement, posture, breath, and even perception. When these patterns are acknowledged, effort decreases, stability increases, and the nervous system settles. Strength becomes quieter, not louder.
Although many of the discoveries emerged through sumo deadlifting, the principles apply far beyond the gym. They speak to human physiology in general: how we stand, walk, breathe, focus, recover, and adapt. The same organizational intelligence that allows a heavy lift to feel calm also governs balance, resilience, and clarity in daily life.
This episode introduces the underlying thread of the book: that nothing new is being added to the body. Instead, something ancient and inherent is being remembered. When attention shifts from forcing outcomes to allowing proper organization, the system naturally expresses strength, efficiency, and ease.
The book is not a training manual, but a record of discovery—an unfolding recognition of how structure, awareness, and physiology converge when we stop trying to impose control and begin listening instead.
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The Wisdom Paradox: Open-Minded Discernment
The Physiology of Awareness
Wisdom is not an attitude or belief.
It is a physiological state of being — a state of mind, a state of nervous-system clarity.
“Be like water.” — Bruce Lee
Water does not hesitate.
It also does not panic.
Water knows the difference between:
People speak poetically about “expanding bandwidth,” yet in practice it often becomes:
Being open-minded with discernment is not common — because it is not merely psychological.
It is somatic — a nervous-system capacity.
People stay narrow because:
“The mind narrows to protect the self —
but the self is often what needs to grow.”
The narrow bandwidth becomes a closed loop of familiar thoughts — protective but confining.
Some attempt expansion by:
This isn’t growth — it’s osmosis.
The membrane is gone — everything flows in.
“A bucket with no bottom doesn’t hold more — it holds nothing.”
Bandwidth increased, but integrity was lost.
Not narrow.
Not porous.
But permeable with intelligence.
Water touches everything,
learns the terrain,
responds —
but remains water.
“Water is completely open —
yet never unconcerned with direction.”
Open does not mean unguarded.
Flexible does not mean formless.
Receptive does not mean impressionable.
“Bandwidth without boundaries is just noise.
Bandwidth with discernment becomes signal.”
Growing wiser doesn’t mean thinking more —
It means knowing what deserves thought.
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Let steady precision carry you (Dhanurveda). True valor is rooted in the Divinity within us all and commitment to that purpose. Yet these days, discretion has given way to righteous indignation…force. Thanksgiving Reminder?
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Let steady precision — not force — carry you.
Bruce Lee said, “Power comes from discipline.”
But where does discipline come from?
True discipline does not come from forcing yourself.
It comes from fascination.
Fascination is the engine that propels all of life.
It is the opposite of force.
The opposite of tension.
The opposite of doubt.
Fascination is love.
When you are fascinated by something, you are seeing the Divinity within it.
Fascination contains love, logic, power, commitment, steadfastness, vision, understanding, and purpose.
It is why we devote ourselves.
Why we build.
Why we endure.
Why we move forward, forward, always forward.
I have dedicated my life to Mt Soma because it fascinates me — the idea of creating something that heals humanity, ends suffering, and brings fulfillment to all.
That is life’s ultimate purpose. Isn’t it?
And fascination is what gives us the strength to pursue it.
🎯 Dhanurveda: The Vedic Architecture of Strength
Dhanurveda — the Vedic science of archery — is not just about combat.
It is about life.
Life is archery.
Every action is an arrow.
The classical sequence is universal:
1. Root → Prithvi (Earth)
The archer first roots into the earth.
Stability, grounding, immovability.
Everything begins with connection to the ground. the earth, the essence, the Absolute, the Transcendent.
2. Align → Sushumnā (Central Channel)
Before drawing the bow, the warrior “straightens the inner channel.”
This is the vertical alignment of the spine and pranic current.
“the current rises upward”
3. Open → Hṛdaya (Heart Expansion)
Just before release, the chest and inner being must open, not contract.
Open = clarity, fluidity, non-resistance.
This is the internal “opening of the channel.”
4. Drive → Mokṣa (Release)
The release is effortless, committed, precise action.
Not forced, but unified.
This is your “Drive.”
Root → Align → Open → Drive — maps exactly onto:
Prithvi → Sushumnā → Hṛdaya → Mokṣa.
It is the energetic and biomechanical logic of classical archery, of perfect Sumo, and of life itself.
🧠 CNS Insight: The Real Barrier to Strength
Deep in the tendons live the Golgi Tendon Organs (GTOs).
These sensors shut down force output when tension spikes suddenly or when the pattern feels unsafe.
When GTOs trigger, they can take 48–72 hours to reset.
This is why a lift can feel smooth one moment and impossible the next.
The nervous system protects long before the mind understands.
Body (muscle): fear → locks up
Mind: doubt → blocks
Both stop movement.
Both stop life.
And both can be dissolved.
Closing Thought
True strength is not force.
It is fascination organized into precision.
When the root is stable, the channel aligned, the heart open, and the release clean — strength emerges effortlessly.
That is the architecture of strength — in the gym, in Dhanurveda, and in life.
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How to get out of your own way: Mind and Body
body [muscle]: fears → locks up
mind: doubts → blocks
Both stop movement. Both stop life.
Both can be dissolved.
CNS: golgi organs in tendons blocks [once triggered takes 48-72 hours to reset GTOs monitor sudden spikes in tension.
The four Dhanurvedic aspects, aligned to daily life/Sumo:
Root → Align → Open → Action [Sumo:Drive]:
🌿 Dhanurveda
1. Root → Prithvi (Earth)
In Dhanurveda, the archer must first root into the earth.
Stability, grounding, immovability.
Everything begins with connection to the ground.
2. Align → Sushumnā (Central Channel)
Before drawing the bow, the warrior “straightens the inner channel.”
This is the vertical alignment of spine + pranic current.
Your “current aligns upward” is exactly this.
3. Open → Hṛdaya (Heart Expansion)
Just before release, the chest and energetic center must open, not contract.
Open = clarity, fluidity, non-resistance.
“channel opens”
4. Drive → Mokṣa / Release (The Arrow’s Flight)
The release is effortless, precise action.
Not forced — but clean, committed, unified.
This is your “Drive.”
🔱 Your Mantra is a Perfect Dhanurvedic Sequence
Root → Align → Open → Drive
maps exactly to:
Prithvi → Sushumnā → Hṛdaya → Mokṣa
It is literally the energetic and biomechanical logic of classical archery — and of perfect Sumo, of all life.
CNS Insight
The Golgi tendon organs (GTOs) — deep sensors in the tendons —
shut down force output when tension spikes suddenly or when a pattern feels unsafe.
Once triggered, they may take 48–72 hours to reset.
This is why a lift can feel easy one moment, then impossible the next.
The nervous system “protects” long before the mind even understands what happened.
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The Truth about Religion and Flatlining
