Sport in peace work

People need to be prepared and encouraged to question their inner feelings and change attitudes. Doing so liberates them from a sense of helplessness.

In a fragmented world marked by fear, peacebuilding requires practice and training. Asian martial arts such as Qigong, Tai-Chi or Aikido, are most useful in this context. They permit the persistent, fear-free repetition of exercise that is needed to foster the kind of personal growth that leads to the awareness of painful patterns and habits and resolve them in new patterns of action and thought.

Peacebuilding also requires protection of individuals by the community as well as security in it. There is a chance of linking physical sensations and emotions to conscious thought in groups guided in a competent manner. The result can be behavioural change in the sense of stronger personal coordination and self-confidence.