Ancient Secrets Revealed by Michael Mamas

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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:WhenSupport the show

 Live not to reach the rare. Live so that the rare can reach you.I am on a partial sabbatical until springtimeDhanur 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 Instantlyhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97JCkmEflxcStructure, 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.Support the show

why this is valuable for everyone if they exercise or notbeing merging knowing and doingRoot → Align → Open → DriveDhanurveda: the Spanda phasescalm means organizeddr shen no such thing as chakraslearning how to move.sumo [horse stance] then motion under weight is the true test.. can not fake itgeometry in motion under weight… multiple moves too soon put focus on externaldr wang on youtube.. question if it is even real?long routines can be external training with minimal internal focuscultivating CNS. fascia, muscle integration.  proper exercise is not about the muscle but indirectlyCNS gives permission, Fascia [silk web] regulates the flow, muscle follows.Dhanurveda: power arising when geometry is recognized as safelife in the physical is the art of archerysilk reeling web… fasciafascia snags… not muscle knotsreading.. i remember Mantak Chia books showed spiralsmicrocosmic orbit as overlaydiscover it… do not overlay ithara “location"… pressure… place where fascia planes meetall movement come through the hara—center of fascia planesdan tien… first chakrathe doors are not the roomdoors are just valuable gateways but forgotten once in the roomat age 75 realizing i needed another 20 years to finish Mt Somastarted 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]. Support the show

 Parasympathetic ReorganizationI 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 / PhaseParasympathetic reorganizationAutonomic rebalancingNervous system unwindingProtective pattern releaseDefensive tone dissolutionBaseline resetSystem recalibrationWhat’s dissolvingResidual bracingChronic readinessGuardednessStored vigilanceLatent fight-or-flightStructural holding patternsWhat it feels likeEdginessIrritability without narrativeRawnessUnbuffered sensationReduced emotional insulationHeightened sensitivityWhat’s actually happeningPressure redistributionContinuity re-establishingLoad sharing improvingCNS trust updatingOld safety strategies retiringWhat replaces itQuiet coherenceStructural confidenceUnforced strengthBaseline steadinessDistributed supportImportant clarifiersNot emotional processingNot catharsisNot regressionNot instabilityNot something to induceAnchor 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.”Support the show

This episode traces the discoveries that gradually led to the book—not through theory, but through lived physiology.Support the show

The Wisdom Paradox: Open-Minded Discernment The Physiology of AwarenessSupport the show

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? Support the show

Let steady precision — not force — carry you.Support the show

How to get out of your own way: Mind and BodySupport the show

Progress Doesn’t Always Feel Like Progress While You’re In It …  crazy times… The Big Picture is really so simpleSupport the show

Getting in the zone: Sumo Deadlifts, Archery, Behavior and Beyond.  Dhanurveda.  What is a Vedic Pandit?… reallySupport the show

Overall Trend: Everything is Fine.  Changing times are always scary.  No worriesSupport the show

Spreading Out the Cards Face Up on the TableSupport the show

Mind/Emotions/Wisdom/Integration.Support the show

Projection, Perception, Gods, Immortals, and the enlightenedWhat do we actually ‘see’?  Also, we are now on the threshold. the future is unimaginable  witness it.  be a part of it from the ground floorSupport the show

Join in from the ground floorSupport the show

What in the World is Going On?!:  Vedic Perspective .Support the show

Everything maps onto everything else.  A ‘how to’ guide in dealing with life’s karmic waves.Support the show

Too many words can wrestle your mind to the ground, leaving Truth hidden within. One-liners inspire inner reflection and insight.Support the show

It’s not about facts. It’s about conceiving from within.How to truly learn from a Spiritual Master.Support the show

Jyotish [Astrology] is subtle, elusive. Lets take a closer lookSupport the show

Slow is smooth   Smooth is fastWho was Jesus.  Who built the pyramidsBiomes, Curses, etc.Support the show

Humanity’s BandwidthSupport the show

The World is not as We Have Been Lead to BelieveSupport the show

Aluminum ion batteries, economic boom, teslas laptops, safer world, flying cars,correlation with Mt Soma progressSupport the show

The sounder, the process of sounding, and the sound…Brahman Consciousness.  The Guru known and unknown.  When is a saint ever “a saint in his own home”?Support the show

It is not about new thoughts.  It is about a whole new way of thinking.  Existence emerges out of the field of infinite abstraction.Infinitely Abstract while Infinitely ConcreteSupport the show

Minds, Mandalas, and ManifestationA=Gni       Also how to use AI in your home nowSupport the show

The Big Picture of this World’s AffairsSupport the show

The new illiteracy is the inability to learn, unlearn, and relearnInfinitely rigid, yet infinitely flexible.Support the show

Pashya/See:  True non-attachment is experienced when relative existence is perceived to be the thin veil that it isSupport the show

Ancient Technology Research InstituteTwo Meanings of “Research”Two Meanings of “Dharma”Support the show

The Consciousness ContinuumThe Human Condition, Cross Realm Project, and the KEYSupport the show

Soma’s Kitchen Now Open 7 days a week!Support the show

“You’re a Winner”Start doing this to live Longer and HappierSoma’s Kitchen Now Open!Support the show

Mt Soma progress reportgroup coherence,, great team, hierarchy, also commentary on left handed tantraSupport the show

The Truth about Selflessness and Ego: A Deeper LookSupport the show

How It All Works in a NutshellSupport the show

Life in a Nutshell“I choose to live life deliberately”  Henry David ThoreauSupport the show

Ancient Secret:  How Things Really Work. The Sun is risingCommon Sense:  Sensing in to the underlying basis that is common to us all.Support the show

Brahman, Maya, Manifest creation, the unspoken unbelievable realitySupport the show

AGNI  ATRI Sanskrit and YouSupport the show

...and the Big Spoon PeopleSupport the show

your speech determines the rate of your evolutionSupport the show

The Eternal Underlying GroundswellSound vs MeaningSupport the show

Understanding is step one.  Then comes the artistrySupport the show

Stupidity pandemic: the most highly contagious disease?Support the show

Veda emerges with degrees of clarity throughout time: “God’s light shines through any darkness”: Support the show

“God’s light shines through any darkness”:  What that really meansthe power of paradigm identitySupport the show