The importance of focused breathing in the practice of Dikitisa Ngolo cannot be over emphasized. Focused intent that guides inhalation and exhalation, will have an invigorating and energizing effect on the body-mind. It is necessary to emphasize the importance of these principles, due to the damage sustained by the muntu (human being) during centuries of psychological and physiological abuse.
There is no benefit in scurrying around the issue of the damaging effects of “foreign presence” upon the African psyche. The Chinese people for example have used the healing benefits of qigong to address damages to the body-mind. The same applies to African people with regard to the practice of Dikitisa Ngolo , a treasure from the cultural , ancestral force of Africa.
This ancestral teaching informs us that to be unwell is to “have lost or to be in the process of losing one’s ngolo , a decrease of “self-healing power”…Fu Kiau, 1980. Also, “A sickness can be caused by waves or radiations sent or emitted by a strange body within a given environment”…Fu Kiau, 1980. To this can be added…any series of ideas that conflict with one’s cultural values can have a debilitating effect upon the body-mind. This includes traditional elements such as language, manners of interaction, etc., that have been purposely destroyed over centuries through foreign dominance and influence.
We are further taught through this methodology, that illness (dis-ease) becomes evident in the muntu when ngolo is insufficient to produce healing radiations (minienie), to abate stress and tension within the body-mind. This stress becomes evident through such behavior and actions of the muntu that are self-destructive and non-productive. Therefore, practices such as dikitisa ngolo can be effective in correcting such conditions through the awakening of consciousness, that has been damaged through the loss of traditional cultural values.
In Entering the energy body part one, holding and focusing upon one point is mentioned. In the practice of dikitisa ngolo this one point is known as the didi (core). “When an individual acts at a certain distance outside the didi, he/she then loses not only his/her essence, but his/her balance (kinenga) as well”…Fu Kiau, 1986. Living outside of one’s core will cause a loss of the bio-genetic force (self-healing power), inherited from the community of ancestors with whom one is connected by blood and tradition, which carries a message of vitality and healing.
This self-healing power (package of energy) is an entity in it self! It is an energy received genetically from one’s parents (the reason so many displaced blacks have endured the onslaught of racial aggression), at conception. However, we find that this power varies from one muntu to another, and if it is found that one has received a lesser degree of bio-genetic force (ngolo) through their parents, this condition may be corrected through the practice of dikitisa ngolo. The degree of bio-genetic force inherited through the ancestral-line through one’s parents , depends upon the health, and life style of the parents. Therefore, in order to transfer good health (sufficient ngolo) to the offspring, habits that would endanger the well-being of the offspring must be abandoned. This is not only a physiological concern but psychological as well.
An understanding of the psychological aspect of martial discipline has been neglected in the practice of many systems, especially in the West. Today, most human beings live in a state of heightened anxiety. Living in anxiety causes thoughts based upon mental images that produce automatic reactions in the body. We find the human being trapped in seemingly endless cycles of fight, flight and freeze which are based upon triggers as fear, need, desire. Many of the conflicts threatening society today are rooted in unresolved fears that trigger hatred and aggression between human beings, races and nations.
These fears and aggressive tendencies become more pronounced when the mind is not engaged in the common activities that most human beings engage in. One will find that when standing in posture, one cannot run away from the content of the mind that arises from the subconscious. These images cause psychological pains that compound the physical pain of standing in stillness, so that most who attempt to hold posture abandon the practice after a few disconcerting moments. These factors, and the initial boredom of the practice, cause many to abandon the challenge. Without a doubt, this is the most difficult form of internal martial discipline, but if one is able to withstand the challenge of one’s own body-mind, the rewards are profoundly liberating!
Stay tuned for part four.
Awakened Warrior 