Testimonials

I became an Army medic in 2017. I went on to work both in the military and as a civilian in an ER, an ambulance, a warehouse, a mobile Covid testing site, and a coal refinery as an EMT.

Prior to 2017 I trained under Samuel Loncar. This training included martial arts, breathing, goal building, resume writing, job interview coaching, and academic tutelage in philosophy, history and religion.

What this training gave me is what the Army calls resilience. In basic training I faced fears and injuries, but most of all my own character vices of cowardice, feeling sorry for myself. I’d remind myself to breathe. Breathing is the most basic function our bodies perform, without it we are not said to be living on our own. I learned to breathe training with Samuel.

In the ER I faced death, despair, impossible problems, and days with no good options and no respite. My body and mind fell back on the training, often. I’d remember to breathe, remember where I came from, why I’m here, remember to be compassionate. Sometimes I’d be in physical danger. Fights sometimes break out in the hospital, and they’re often avoidable. Being calm, remembering to breathe would keep tensions and tempers low. But sometimes someone would snap, and then again breathing, staying loose, remembering how to fall, how to be hit, remembering my body, my position, and breathing would keep me safe.

So what was this training exactly?

It was a full semester lecture and seminar course on the history of philosophy.

It was 6:30 am outdoor martial arts training in January.

It was slow sparring to train timing and breathing in a living room.

It was nights past 10pm discussing what it meant to be human.

It’s hard to pinpoint what the training was, unless I say what it really was: training the mind, body and soul in unison to discover myself and in so doing learn what it means to be human - who I am.

This training has gone everywhere with me ever since, and it will always be part of me.