Professor Arthur Scott of Dominican University in California explains in his blog page that “Apache training emphasized the importance of mastering their bodies to pain. Pain was considered “good medicine” for if one can master it a Practitioner can thus keep his mind smooth and steady in combat. Youngsters would often burn sage on their bodies to practice self-control!”
I had the opportunity to train in the Mescalero Apache knife fighting tradition for several years. I remember many a time that I was pinched, poked, hit, and slapped by my Apache Instructor. Lord save me if I said “ouch”. These minor injuries served the same purpose as the burning sage. He used to tell me that I needed to learn to ignore pain. I could not allow myself to show my enemy that I was hurt. I couldn’t make “victim sounds”.
Pain and adversity were a way of life for the Apache. Something they accepted and never complained or winced about. In combat the Apaches held the extreme poker face, never giving a “tell” that the enemy could gain confidence from, or otherwise exploit. A lesson that we would all be wise to learn.
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