Fighting Russians…

For thousands of years, survival was linked to our ability to kill
and destroy. Today and in the future, survival will depend on our
capacity to live in peace with other men and with nature. Modern man
needs to reprogram his mind. He needs to channel in another direction
the energy used in war and in the killing of other men and animals.
We think capoeira can make a contribution to this process.

— Nestor Capoeira

Russians can make really good fighters. I should know–since I spent a whole summer fighting them in the streets of St. Petersburg and Moscow. Only–we weren’t really fighting, because our combat looked more like a dance. This, of course, is the beauty of capoeira–an Afro Brazilian martial art which teaches the mind, body and spirit how to dance with an adversary as a friend–how to move beyond the destructive conventions of combat to instead create a spontaneous and flowing dialogue of curiosity and joy.

In capoeira, a capoeirista is believed to be more masterful if he shows how he could inflict violence–but instead withholds the strike. Withholding violence in capoeira is a sign of power, not weakness. To me, life is always more beautiful when we dance with difference, instead of trying to fighting it. So today, when I’m listening to talk about Putin’s plan, and seeing images of the Kremlin in the news, I’ll be reminiscing about the time I didn’t cower in the Kremlin–but instead chose to cartwheel through it…

After all, in its life philosophy capoeira is love, celebration, and also joy. — Joao Pequeno