Self Mastery through Five Mountain Integration

Lesson three provides a philosophical background in the disciplines of the warrior leader through the 5 mountain model. Developing a lifelong focus on Self Mastery and Service. These two principles lead to a host of other sub-disciplines which, when habituated, form powerful foundations for ethical behavior. We also look at the five mountains of Unbeatable Mind and how these will play a role in developing as a “whole person” as opposed to the typical unbalanced person. The key takeaway message is that warrior leaders do not leave any openings; rather they seek to master themselves through daily training and practice – leading to powerful thoughts and actions. Only then can we ensure that our actions are not out of selfishness and ego, but rather out of service to our families, teams, communities, and humanity at large.

First Mountain: Physical Development

Lesson five begins our deep dive into the five mountains themselves.  In the physical mountain, we demystify stress and fear, giving you the knowledge and tools to manage stress and eradicate irrational fear.  Courage largely comes from mastering this mountain.  It is impossible to be courageous if you are fearful, stressed out, unbalanced, unfit or broken.  So we must develop our physical bodies as appropriate for our structure, gender, and age.  Regardless of where you are with those three, you have the right, and opportunity, to be as fit and strong as possible, for you.

We get into a high-level philosophy for how to approach physical training… i.e. functionally and simply.  We ask that you start with some movement program that inspires you… such as Yoga, SEALFIT, CrossFit, Chi Gong, Tai Chi, a martial art or natural movement program like MovNat.  Learn to balance, evolve and control your body so it can be used effectively as part of your whole “body-mind.”  The classic course lesson includes the original SEALFIT physical training guide if you are inspired to go there, and we include SEALFIT Bootcamp with this program, an excellent place to start.  Also, I ask you to look at your nutrition and introduce some simple guidelines to dial in your fueling, such as paleo, ketosis, and fasting, for optimal balance and performance.  

Second Mountain: Mental Development

In Lesson six we dive into mental development.  My goal in lesson six is to have you understand the scope of what we mean by “mind,” and to begin training your whole mind

We show how complex the brain and mind are… and that we can change the brain, as well as develop our mind.  The two are obviously closely related but ARE NOT the same thing.  The whole mind is how you cognize, make meaning, experience the world, and know things.  The brain is an organ which serves as the main processor of the information the body-mind perceives.  At any rate, we want to optimize our brain’s performance and improve healthy neuropathways while adding new pathways for new thinking.  That is called neuroplasticity.  But we don’t stop there.  Using the UM tools of mindful movement, embodiment, breath control, witnessing, concentration, visualization and insight meditation we will learn to connect with other “brains” in our body – specifically the heart and gut.

Third Mountain: Emotional Development

Lesson seven gets into the emotional world, where most people don’t go.  We introduced Background of Obviousness, which the “shadow” is an aspect of.  BOO is subconscious beliefs and a unique way we see the world that drives our behavior.  We are not consciously being aware of why we do what we do. These beliefs can be so subtle and unknown to us, but clearly obvious to an observer who does not share them or is from another culture.  BOO originates from one’s race and cultural or epigenetic vies toward other races, gender identity and roles, work and family patterns (blue and white collar, educator, military, family, etc.), and language.

In the lesson, we also look at emotional awareness, control at an individual level, as well as in our relationship with others. Then we get into how to do “Shadow Work” which is best done with an emotional coach (aka therapist).  Shadow work will come naturally as a result of your growing self-awareness, but this is hard work and nuanced.  You learned how you can transmute unhealthy emotional energy and reactions into healthy emotional energy and responses.  Finally, we learn the process of recapitulating past negative events to develop great emotional awareness and eradicate any regrets in life we may have been holding onto.  Ultimately emotional growth in this mountain is necessary for you to clear up your past negativity and continue your growth.

Fourth Mountain: Intuitional Development

Lesson eight takes us on a walk into the world of intuition and awareness.  We look at my personal experience and research projects into intuition, such as Trojan Horse and Stargate.  Intuition development leads to heightened outer and inner awareness, will help you avoid danger and find an opportunity before others, the same way that Navy SEALs stay on the edge and out of danger.  We look at how we can tap into the gut’s instincts, hearts intuition and brain’s insight to experience “holistic intuition,” and even transnational and epigenetic intuition. 

We also look at the biology of intuition showing how brain waves, different states of mind and faith play a role.  For practice, we learn to use our “Mind Gym” for cultivating intuition through deep, structured visualization drills.

Fifth Mountain: Kokoro Integration

Lesson nine is one of my favorite topics.  Kokoro is heart and mind integrated into action.  Another way to say it is the whole mind in action.  Also, Self Mastery in Service.  And… a “Warrior’s Spirit.”  It is cool to have one word that summarizes our ultimate objective with Unbeatable Mind… master ourselves leads to the integration of all five mountains.  When we integrate, we view the world from the fifth plateau (we will review that in the next topic).  As fifth plateau leaders, we align with our Vision, Ethos and One thing Mission, and serve the world boldly.  Kokoro integration is all of this… it is where we bring our development of the first four mountains into laser focus and execute.

To achieve this worthy aim we develop disciplines and habits of excellence.  You learn to get unstuck from what is holding you back from your awesome potential and performance.  You learn that comfort kills, and to dare greatly, staying in the fight to stand your ground and accomplish your mission.  Finally, since we can’t go it alone, we learn to connect deeply through heartfelt “Kokoro communications” to develop our team alongside ourselves.  Kokoro integration is not a destination, but an experience on your journey.  You must challenge yourself to “20x things” again and again.  Through this process, our self-mastery and personal power grow through an upward spiral of success, awareness, and momentum.