LMA Approach to Breathing
Breathing under coloniality
Why is there such a long introduction to Liberation Martial Arts and so much time spent on breathing, priming, and the eyes? Because many practitioners come to Liberation Martial Arts with chronic pain, chronic fatigue, trauma, debilities, and disabilities (including me). Trauma and pain inflame and enflame, agitating our nerves. LMA is an approach to movement that soothes and eases us.
We spend a lot of time on our eyes, breathing, and priming for the sake of our nerves and our past experiences. We've also been and continuously are being indoctrinated to tense up, exert, force, destroy, and go harder.
Promoting ease requires a shift in our thinking; otherwise, we'll revert back to the conventional Western model of tension, over-exertion, disassociation, and movement as a shock rather than lubricant to our system.
The introduction to LMA is lengthy because we have to invest in shifting our paradigm. It's not a one-time decision because settler-colonial Western hegemony will continue to push us to revert.
Learning the Liberation Martial Arts approach is like learning a new language. This takes dwelling in LMA. Commit to reading at least five to ten minutes a day, every day. Consistency is the Way. Go in order. Understanding the Way is necessary before finding the Way. ("Why" before "what.)
Habits to carry are steady gaze, steady breathing, and ease. See the entire horizon to find the Way, breathe into your movements, and navigate with ease.
Attuning to your breath means attuning to the times you hold your breath and the things that cause you to hold your breath. Capitalism and oppression make me hold my breath, but the last thing I want is to allow them to suffocate me further.
Holding your breath suffocates yourself and your movement. You can't play or defend if you can't survive, and you can't survive without breathing. Holding your breath, especially under tension, can also have long-term health ramifications. In the LMA approach, we avoid mortgaging our future.