In Search of the Warrior Spirit: Teaching Awareness Disciplines to the Green Berets - Softcover

Strozzi-Heckler, Richard

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9781556434259: In Search of the Warrior Spirit: Teaching Awareness Disciplines to the Green Berets

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1556434251 ISBN 13: 9781556434259

Publisher: North Atlantic Books, 2003

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Expanded Third Edition with Marine Martial Art Update.

In a top-secret U.S. military experiment, Richard Heckler was invited to teach Eastern awareness disciplines ranging from Aikido to meditation to a group of 25 Green Berets. This account chronicles his experiences in the training program and his attempts to revive traditional warriorship in a technological society. His book provides insight into the nature of war, the meaning of masculinity, and the need for moral values in the military. This new edition includes Heckler's response to 9/11, his connections to the Pentagon and U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, and his reflections on the movie Black Hawk Down, which depicts the deaths of two of his trainees. "The new Marine Corps martial art...is focused as much on the soul as it is on soldiering..."
—The Wall Street Journal

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From the Publisher:

The East Bay Express (March 26, 2003) interviewed Richard Strozzi-Heckler about the revised edition of his breakthrough experience teaching Aikido to the Green Berets. With the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Heckler knows that this book is more relevant than ever before:

"From the youngest infantryman to the most senior officers, I have yet to meet someone who was personally excited or eager about going to war," Strozzi-Heckler says. "At the leadership level, there are still a significant number of senior officers who were in Vietnam, and they are very careful about committing our armed forces to a conflict in which the country is divided. They work for their civilian bosses and do what our elected officials tell them to do -- after first arguing against the use of military operations. It has been clear to me and those who have interacted with leaders at this level that they are the last ones to want to implement their violent and destructive profession. Ever wonder why you've never seen the chiefs of staff of the services in front of CNN making the case for a war in Iraq? That's one of the reasons."

About the Author:

Richard Strozzi-Heckler is President of the Strozzi Institute. He has a sixth-degree black belt in aikido and a doctorate in psychology. Dr. Strozzi-Heckler has taught the principles of embodied leadership and mastery to businesses, the government, the military, non-profits, health care professionals, and educators for the last thirty years. He is the author of The Anatomy of Change and the editor of Aikido and the New Warrior, Being Human at Work: Bringing Somatic Intelligence into Your Professional Life, and Holding the Center.

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