The Path of the Protector by Bill Wofford
When I studied martial arts a few years back, the teachings were shared through a framework built around the elements of earth, water, fire, and air. We started with earth, focusing on stability, balance, and standing our ground. After demonstrating basic competence, we donned blue belts and turned our attention to water, learning to move in smooth, fluid ways, to dodge incoming attacks, disrupt our adversaries' balance, and flow into what comes next. Fire and air training followed, but for today, I want to focus on earth and water.
Why these? If asked which element I most closely relate to, I tend to say mud, only half joking. After all, it's roughly equal parts earth and water. Born a Taurus, I'm supposed to be sturdy and patient. Raised near the ocean, I just love the waves. Yes, I love me some fire (have you met my partner?), and I've been known to visit the astral realms from time to time. But I always return to ground. And from there, to flow.
I like to bring these qualities—a blend of stability and flow—into my yoga offerings. Stability without fluidity can become rigidity. Flow without grounding can leave us adrift. Together, they help us meet life's challenges with steadiness, adaptability, and purpose.
These qualities also resonate with the warrior themes I've been exploring lately, inspired in part by re-reading the Bhagavad Gita and listening to Ram Dass's Paths to God.
No, I'm not itching for a fight. I'm not interested in aggression for its own sake, violence-maxxing or displays of dominance and bravado. I'm more interested in what my martial arts teachers at the Quest Center in Chapel Hill called the Path of the Protector: cultivating the strength, awareness, and discernment to act in service of loved ones and the greater good when challenges or threats arise.
Perhaps the most famous warrior in the teachings of yoga is Arjuna, an archer and prince whose conversation with Krishna, a manifestation of the divine in human form, forms the heart of the Bhagavad Gita. Standing on a battlefield, Arjuna is overcome with doubt about what he is being called to do. Krishna's teachings invite him—and us—to consider the nature of duty, the importance of acting with clarity and integrity, and the possibility of engaging fully in the world without becoming attached to the outcome.
There is plenty to contemplate here, whether or not we ever find ourselves on a literal battlefield.
At our Sacred Sunday session this week at Chatham Mills Studio, 11 am, we'll explore some of these qualities through movement, breathwork, and meditation. Grounding ourselves in the steadiness of earth, finding the adaptability of water, and cultivating the kind of warrior energy that serves something greater than ourselves.
