It was in 2006 when I learned how to dodge spears. My brother, cousin, and myself were led to the backyard of my grandfather’s house by our two teachers carrying a bundle of hau spears.
“Today, you are going to learn how to dodge spears,” one of my teachers said.
During ancient times, Hawaiian warriors were known for their skills in not only spear throwing but also spear dodging. There are tales from the past about Kamehameha having a dozen spears thrown at him at once and was able to dodge several and catch the rest. It may be a bit exaggerated but there is no doubt that it was skill he was good at.
His teacher, Kekūhaupiʻo, learned about dodging spears at a young age by his father. With spears made of hau, he and his father stood across from each other in a field. The father instructed Kekūhaupiʻo to throw the spears at him and taught Kekūhaupiʻo how to ward and dodge the thrust of a spear. By observing the method his father used in dodging, warding, and catching the spears, Kekūhaupiʻo began to understand the skill.
In the book, Kamehameha and his Warrior Kekūhaupiʻo, author Stephen L. Desha writes:
The first was to dodge cleverly, the second was to ward off a thrust with the spear in his own hand, and the third was the keenness of sight to seize the enemyʻs spear when it was hurled. Most important of all was the knowledge of how, with the spear taken from the enemy, to strike back at the one who had attempted to take his life
In ancient Hawaii, Kaliʻi, spear throwing ceremony, was used during a time to symbolize a warrior’s acceptance or worthiness to enter a new land and to show his prowess of being a warrior.
I stood underneath the coconut trees as my brother held several spears in his hand. When instructed to hurl one at me, he threw a spear and I jumped out of the way as if it were a car.
“No, no,” my teacher said, “the bigger movements you make the more at risk you are for another spear to hit you.”
It made sense, although I dodged one it was obvious that my brother had several other in his hands. Then my teacher explained something that has stayed with me to this day, “You stay on your path and ward the spear off of its own path. You don’t change your path. Staying on your path takes courage.”
He instructed my brother to throw a spear at him. As the spear came towards his chest, he parried the stick with his hand, taking the spear off of its course, and advanced forward.
How to Dodge a Spear, Literally
I’ll take you through a few steps on how you can start dodging spears. As I learned and practiced more about dodging spears, it became more of a game to how many can you have thrown at you, how much can you catch, and how could you go about advancing on the attack.
Step 1. Make your own spears out of hau tree branches. 3-6 six spears will do. If you don’t have access to hau trees, any sturdy long sticks longer than five feet will do.
Step 2. This is practice, not stupidity. Make the tip of the spear blunt. We put cushioning on the tip and duct taped it. Warning, although the tip is cushioned it still feels like a rock when it hits you.
Step 3. Find an open space where you and a partner have a enough room to throw spears and move. Probably not the best at a crowded park.
Step 4. Stand at least 20 paces a part from one another. One of you will have no spears and the other will have all spears.
Step 5. As you wait for the spear, stand with your feet shoulder width apart and light on your feet. When you are ready, cue your partner to throw a spear.
Step 6. Watch the spear from the release. At the release, you will be able to dictate where the spear is going. As the spear comes closer to you, either step to the side or rotate your body out of the path of the spear, or parry the spear off its course at you. Remember, small movements lead to faster recovery and quicker advance.
When you get skilled at dodging one spear at a time. Have your partner hold 2-3 spears and throw them at will. As you become more skilled, you’ll be able to advanced toward your partner and maybe even learn to catch spears during the process.
How to Dodge a Spear in Life
Many problems, obstacles, and negative people get hurled at us throughout life that can get us off our path or stop us dead in our tracks.
When it comes to living a healthier life, we are constantly confronted with behaviors that can be detrimental to our health. You can give into chronic drinking, drugs, eating unhealthy, become angry and frustrated, or even sad and depressed. We all have our own problems on different levels but to an extent they are all the same, our approach and outcomes are different.
If there’s a person in your life that is constantly negative or bringing you down and sucking the life out of you like a blood sucking mosquito, then that person is a constant spear that is stopping you dead in your tracks. You have to learn to let go in order to advance forward.
Illnesses, low self esteem, anger, frustration, loss of identity, depression, hate, and others are all spears that are thrown at us in life. Sometimes we are able to ward them away and sometimes we get struck with them and takes time for us to heal.
Step 1. Take a step out of yourself and look at your life. Take note of all the negativity and look at the goals you have.
Step 2. The practice of reflection and introspection is necessary, not a waste of time.
Step 3. Find a space where you can call your power room, or maybe it’s somewhere in nature like the beach or mountains where you can go to recharge your batter.
Step 4. Get a piece of paper and tri-fold it. On one side write down your goals, in the middle, write down the reasons that may be holding you back from achieving those goals: people, behaviors, habits, low self esteem, lack of knowledge and experience, etc. And the last column are the things you can do to create change.
Step 5. Look over the all that you wrote down on the worksheet. You already know your goals and when you are honest with yourself, you know your problems or what is holding you back. What you need focus is on what you can do to create change.
Step 6. Now that you know what you can do to create change, whenever a spear from the middle column comes flying at you, you have to be courageous and KŪ to stay on your path and ward off the spear. As mentioned by my teacher, big movement take a longer time to recover, smaller movements create a faster time to advance.
Start Practicing
Life is a practice. Just like martial arts, sports, and weightlifting, life is a practice. Each day, we repeat movements, and behaviors and habits, which affect the way we interact with others and ourselves. Through repetition we become better at things. It can be getting back at doing bad things or getting bad at doing good.
When you eat junk food, drink alcohol, sit on your butt all day, and act pissed off at the world, those are things you practice and become very good at.
But what if you switched it and instead of focusing on the things that are holding you back from achieving your goals and aspirations, what if you started to focus and practice on the good things you really want to be good at?
Remember, small changes. Don’t try to focus on all the things you want to change. It won’t work. Instead, practice on one change and make a conscious effort to be aware of the spears that are thrown at you. It’s okay if you make a mistake because some habits and behaviors are harder to change than others.
Practice is what made you create the negativity in your life. Now it takes time to practice the good, in order to bring the good to be KŪ.
