Originally the word "health" meant "whole" or "undivided.” However, today the word "health" has come to mean something quite different. Today, it is more likely to mean free from illness or able to pursue your daily activities.

Shambhala Black Belt Life-Skills bring us back to the original meaning of the word "health" by recognizing the interconnectedness of the mind, the body and the spirit. Shambhala Black Belt Life-Skills unify and strengthen the bond between the mind and the body, resulting in a powerful spirit that becomes your guiding Life-force.

The Life-Skill of SELF-LOYALTY strengthens your ability to be true to your Self. SELF-LOYALTY is synonymous with the saying "To thine own self be true." It is knowing that you can count on yourself, knowing you will not "cop-out" on your relationship with your Self. Without SELF-LOYALTY you sell out. You abandon your relationship with your Self to secure relationships with others. Without SELF-LOYALTY you never know whose side your on.

Shambhala Black Belts do not abandon themselves and their own consciously determined perceptions, values and behavior to get external approval. They stand firm with their self-determined beliefs even at the risk of not being popular. They do not crusade or attempt to convert others to their own value systems, nor are they closed to the opinions of others. To the contrary, Shambhala Black Belts can afford to be open minded because they know they will not allow social or familial pressures to sway them from their own continually reevaluated beliefs and their Self-Loyalty.
Shambhala Black Belts are dedicated to Self-Loyalty because they know that they cannot have quality relationships with others if they continually abandon themselves. Even when faced with social bribery and the guilt manipulation of loved ones, Shambhala Black Belts know they must maintain the Integrity of their relationships with their Selves. They know that relationships secured through Self-abandonment are not relationships of quality.

If I promise my faithfulness to you
And you promise yours to me,
Then from that day on
Neither of us will know
Why it is, with each other we choose to be.

-Shambhala Master-