Luminous Warrior Self Defense Journey

 

The 9 Self Defense workshops outlined below form an entire journey through the Luminous Warrior Map.

Each workshop can be taken individually, in any order, and at any point in time desired, to allow individuals to create their own unique journey through the Luminous Warrior Map. If you, your group, or organization are not called to complete the entire journey,  you can pick and choose from the workshops below.

 

The Mind (Element of Air)

In this workshop you will learn powerful ways to use the mind for self defense purposes. Understanding the victim-perpetrator-rescuer dynamic and how to step out of this “Triangle of Disempowerment” through body language, stance, walking, verbal approaches, appropriate eye contact, and de-escalating physical responses, as well as pre-emptive striking are essential components of this workshop. We will focus on ways of owning one’s power while letting go of those parts of our ego that do not serve us in self defense scenarios. Learn about the “4 brains” and how trauma is held in the brain, as well as specific ways to engage the brains to function under stress, release trauma after events, and bring about healing. The lessons you learn will empower your mind with new information and allow you to become more aware of personal patterns, attacker rituals, and group dynamics. Together, these practices and tools will give you the power to reduce the risk of potential attacks, increasingly avoid  dangerous situations altogether, and bring healing to past events.

Relationship with Self (Elements of Air and Earth)

The relationship with your Self is one of the fundamental relationships you have to come to terms with in order to understand what personal patterns may be acting as dormant attractor patterns for violence. Of course, we are not responsible for the actions of other individuals, so we are not talking about blaming yourself for other people’s actions or any patterns that may be consciously or subconsciously present within you. We are however, talking about making unconscious and subconscious patterns conscious, so you can develop a more peaceful relationship with your Self, and therefore attract more peace in your life. Understanding our own patterns, triggers, and hidden desires, as well as our personal relationship with violence, fighting and the benefits of a victim mentality, are important factors in moving from self defense to self empowerment. This will be a physically and mentally intense and challenging workshop with the intention to understand your Self more clearly, transform unhelpful patterns, and empower new ways of engaging with the world within and around us.

The Body (Element of Earth)

We hold trauma not only in the brain, but memory is also held in each cell of our bodies. In this workshop we will learn ways to tap into this cellular memory, and dislodge the psychosomatic and physical imprints of trauma from the body. We will focus on empowering the body by allowing it to release old triggers as well as memories of trauma and fear. This workshop will heavily focus on personally and collectively experienced or witnessed trauma. We will do so by concentrating on self defenses that are appropriate for the trauma that has been literally or metaphorically experienced (e.g., chokes, holds, headlocks, bearhugs, ground defenses, weapons defenses). We will also learn Shamanic Healing practices (e.g., Extractions) that are effective in releasing the energy of trauma from the physical body.

Relationship with Loved Ones (Elements of Earth and Water)

What are your biggest fears regarding keeping your loved ones safe? What is your loved one’s biggest fear? Who is most vulnerable in your family system and how can you strengthen them? These are the questions we will address in this self defense workshop. We will work on developing specific plans of action that address your fears, and empower you to have options and choices in worst case scenarios. By doing so, we take the momentum out of the fear trajectory –thus they become less likely to manifest literally in your life. We will also teach you ways to energize what you desire rather than what you fear, while at the same time allowing you to have a plan of action should your biggest fear ever manifest. We encourage you to bring your loved ones to this workshop as participation will empower the entire family system. We will also cover awareness, avoidance and self defense techniques you can teach your children so you can be more at ease –and they can be more empowered– to stay safe. Sorry, no kids under the age of 18 can participate in Luminous Warrior Self Defense workshops due to the intensity of the workshops and the nature of the content.

The Emotions (Element of Water)

Your emotions play an important role in your well-being and perception of safety and fulfillment. Unfortunately, many individuals do not truly understand the source of their emotions and are too afraid to dig deeper. In this workshop we focus on truly getting to know and working with your emotions as messengers of deeply hidden truths (e.g., desires, hopes, fears, doubt). We will use the appropriate combatives and self defense movements to transform and release emotions, while at the same time claiming the messages, lessons and gifts contained within. The tools you will learn allow you to become more conscious and more capable of working with and transforming your own emotions as they come up in your day-to-day life. We will specifically address self defense scenarios and those situations in which you may not have been able to “finish,” “engage,” or “escape” the fight. These situations often lay dormant and can act as silent triggers for emotional and physical reactions. By understanding them more clearly, and having ways to transform and release them in healthy and appropriate ways, we no longer need to be afraid of looking them straight in the eye. By finding the messages and gifts in each emotion, you can also become increasingly emotionally literate and empowered in life. Knowing the hidden messages of emotions, instead of being at the mercy of them, is a key component to becoming a balanced, strong and healthy Luminous Warrior.

Relationship With Community (Elements of Water and Fire)

By focusing on your relationship with your community you begin to get glimpses of your unique role in the community and of how you can best be of service to those surrounding you. You will discover new ways to be of service, and step beyond the victim or rescuer syndrome.  We will revisit the triangle of disempowerment and observe ways in which violence and crime shows up in your community, and what unhealed community issues may be laying at the root cause of this manifestation. We will also take a look at how these community issues may be showing up in your personal life. Transforming your community by embodying awareness, avoidance, self care, compassion, non judgement, and peace are key to beginning to master the art of true self defense. By role modeling those aspects, one can make a profound impact on one’s community and neighborhood. We will address multiple attacker issues, collective violence, bullying, street harassment, and look at ways in which your personal transformation can bring about community transformation and healing. We recommend that you have been to a few Luminous Warrior Self Defense workshops prior to this one as we will focus on integrating what we have learned in prior workshops and apply it to more complex self defense scenarios. Please come with an awareness about what types of crimes tend to be prevalent in your specific community, and who is primarily targeted.

The Spirit (Element of Fire)

Using the spirit for self defense seems like an elusive topic to many. However, intuition is the ability to immediately comprehend, without the need for cognitive reasoning. In short, intuition saves time and keeps us safe. When we are in potentially dangerous situations, it is absolutely vital to be able to receive intuitive signals. Being able to tune into your intuition can be the difference between life and death, and there are ways to become more accurate and refined when interpreting the signals your intuitions sends you. In this workshops we will work with intuition, so you can learn to sense the energy and intention of someone around you and use that information to make immediate decisions. We will cover different attacker profiles, and have you “sense” each of those intentions so you can learn to distinguish anxiety from fear and imminent danger. We will also work on self defenses using limited sight or lighting so you have to rely on your senses for self defenses. In addition, we will practice self defenses with restricted limbs or in unusual environments so you learn to apply your intuition and self defense principles to effectively deal with unknown environments and situations. As in the previous workshop, we recommend that you have been to a few Luminous Warrior Self Defense workshops prior to this one as we will focus on integrating what we have learned and apply the lessons to more complex self defense scenarios.

Relationship With The World (Elements of Fire and Air)

In this workshop we will focus on collective violence such as mobs, or bigger issues such as hostile environments in foreign countries. We will cover self defense techniques that are effective even when you cannot use language as a communication vehicle or you may not be familiar with the environment or culture. We will cover ways in which to deescalate or escalate scenarios in order to stay safe. Travel safety will also be covered in this workshop as preparation and risk assessment are even more critical when navigating other places in the world. We will also discuss how ceremony can help bring peace and harmony to the world, and how you can create your own ceremonies that are meaningful, of integrity, and helpful for universal and collective healing.

Personal Power (Element of Ether and all Elements combined)

At this part of your journey you learn to walk as Luminous Warrior, choosing peace and compassion before engaging in any fight, yet knowing exactly when to fight, and being able to do so from a place of clarity, fierceness, and healing intention for all involved (rather than fear and anger for example). Having gained the tools throughout the previous workshops, this is the workshop where we bring it all together and integrate them in a way that works for you, your life and your relationships. It takes courage, alignment and constant awareness to walk your path with power, and it is easy to use power over other people or situations. The focus of this workshop is to express your power in your life and in service to others. Living your life as a unique expression of a Luminous Warrior and as an authentic role model is one of the goals of this workshop.