Podcast
Ancient Secrets Revealed by Michael Mamas
Hosted by MichaelJi · EN
Dr Michael Mamas is a profound thinker with unique perspectives on many of the issues so important to us all. His thoughts make refreshing common sense, yet are deeply compelling. Is he a scientist, a spiritualist, a pragmatist or an idealist? Decide for yourself.
11episodes
Episodes
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Sumo
Jan 1900:49:47Tap to summarizeSupport the show
Transcribe →Letting the Earth Move Through You
Jan 1100:27:02Tap to summarizeInternal 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
Transcribe →The Coherent Field Feel
Jan 400:24:37Tap to summarizeLive 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
Transcribe →Opening and Closing the Gate
Dec 2800:35:35Tap to summarizewhy 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
Transcribe →The Ancient Internal Art of Transformation
Dec 2200:22:57Tap to summarizeParasympathetic 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
Transcribe →From Strength to Structure
Dec 1400:18:38Tap to summarizeThis episode traces the discoveries that gradually led to the book—not through theory, but through lived physiology.Support the show
Transcribe →Fathoming Infinity
Dec 700:21:56Tap to summarizeThe Wisdom Paradox: Open-Minded Discernment The Physiology of AwarenessSupport the show
Transcribe →Discretion is the Better Part of Valor
Nov 3000:10:31Tap to summarizeLet 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
Transcribe →The Architecture of Strength
Nov 2300:20:34Tap to summarizeLet steady precision — not force — carry you.Support the show
Transcribe →Relative Worlds Key toward Perfection
Nov 1600:29:05Tap to summarizeHow to get out of your own way: Mind and BodySupport the show
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