- Allen Pittman

Physical Training Traditions promotes Physical Culture. By that I mean it promotes activities and studies oriented around and toward the health of the physical body. The philosophical basis is that a healthy body assists a healthy mind and those two are an asset to the spiritual life of the person. Even if we do not believe in the spirit then we could easily think “It's silly to try to have a healthy mind or psychology in a sick body!” This is quite possible though, as we sometimes see in the very old or handicapped.

But still, if there is to be direction in life it is best oriented toward health. Some Russian Orthodox Monks once told me that for them Health was “Obedience to God.” And that meant fasting at times or could even mean ignoring the body if one felt that “God willed it.” I can understand fasting for spiritual purification and the bringing up of ones psycho-complexes - it's a great tool for that; there's nothing like an empty stomach to put us all on equal terms and bring up our mental dialogue in all its insane forms!

I'm also not sure that God, who created the human body (if this is of your beliefs, of course), would want the body to be ignored! My own concept of God (he or she or neither or both) is as a nurturer or creative matrix for the human body, and includes the basic idea that health is a cornerstone of spirituality (or simply “wholeness”).

Of course, the term “health“ is relative to the conditions you find yourself in. For example, health for a quadriplegic includes not having four active limbs; for a blind person it means other things. And yet for a physical prodigy such as Magic Johnson or Vaselev Ninjinsky it includes being able to jump over 20 feet with a two step leap!

The history and world of Physical Culture is broad and deep, and includes things like Martial Arts, Dance, Weight training, Yoga, Herbal Medicine, and even Music (particularly old ethnic forms). All kinds of physical cultural forms can be worthwhile, perhaps even an essential aspect of education, assuming they are filtered and understood according to their culture and language and used by a human being who is aspiring to a balanced self; but there are also abusive and exploitative forms of all of these because there are abusive and exploitative people.

Though this may be true, all forms are not equivalent, since each one is defined by different historic and cultural conditions. The important thing is to find out why a thing was done, with what purpose in mind and in particular for whom. This 'defining of an art or technique' is essential as we can easily see by the ever-present floundering over why a weight was lifted a certain way or why a kata or movement form was done a certain way. These things can be easily looked into, evaluated and tested and sometimes improved or found to be exactly right for their intended purpose.

Physical Culture can be divided into two main groups, based on what purpose they serve: Survival and Amusement or recreation .Hunting and killing an animal for food because you need the metabolic warmth in cold weather is entirely different than getting with your drinking buddies and putting on your orange vests to sit in a tree and shoot a deer, for the sole purpose of a new trophy on the rack on your wall. Granted, both parties eat the food, but the necessity and social conditions around it are drastically different. And the attitude surrounding the event is very different too...

In other words, the Meaning is different. What for one party was a sacred necessity for another was a way of getting away from the house on the weekend. When it is a matter of life and death certain seriousness enters the life equation and with this sort of gravity, the situation becomes sacred. That is, it pertains to life or death and the choices surrounding that. Once away from this essential and existential aspect, the world of amusement and leisure time opens up. This allows the warm and fluffy of civilization to enter-which is wonderful in its own way-plumbing, staying warm, listening to good music, having an attractive place to live, etc.

But the “veneer of civilization” gets encrusted pretty quickly - before you know it you have furry dice hanging from your rear-view mirror and pink, plastic lawn flamingos! On top of this is the principle that - “as you get cozy - you get fickle” and with that, often-times, a bit more self righteous.

This can be seen with everything from Archery, which in its competitive form is so elaborate (too many balancing appendages on the bow) that it can not be used for hunting - the type that leads to Cooking - which in its most elaborate form reduces nutritional value for artistic presentation (tiny servings arranged like Zen gardens).

So when I speak of “Physical Culture,” I am talking about techniques of health for the physical body, taught from an essentially useful-but-sacred point of view.

Incidentally, I don't believe in practicing martial arts solely for health reasons. Afterall, you cannot be healthy if you cannot stay alive. Health is a form of Self-Defense and Self-Defense is a manifestation of good Health.

The division of the two is a ploy by salespeople and lawyers which tends to treat the essential needs of human beings for courage and self sufficiency as a secondary aspect!