I came to know Michelle Manu by listening to her on an episode of Shannon Lee’s podcast, Be Water, My Friend. Right away, I was deeply struck by her story, by the discipline she masters – Lua – and by her extraordinary determination, which has led her to achieve today’s accomplishments.
It would be a lie to say I didn’t recognize myself in her: in her tenacity and in her fight against the sexist mentality, a challenge I have also faced in the world of martial arts.
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about our journeys is precisely this: we are two women, in opposite corners of the world, who, each time we were told ‘I’m sorry, this isn’t for you,’ drew on all our inner resources to overcome those unfounded ‘no’s.
For her, this rejection was the beginning of her path in Lua; for me, it was the courage to continue in karate, even after discovering I was pregnant.
Our femininity has been wounded, but from that wound we have given life to great projects.
Today, as I write this introduction, I can’t help but reflect on how events that initially seem negative can actually become the driving force for new opportunities. It’s up to us to recognize and seize them.
For me, one of these opportunities was the interview with a woman whose story helped me through one of the darkest moments in my martial arts journey.
To you, dear reader, I entrust her words and her deep thoughts, with the hope that they may be as helpful to you as they were to me.
And because I firmly believe in the ancient saying ‘to translate means to betray,’ here it is the original version of our interview, to fully appreciate the philosophy of Michelle Manu and Lua.
1. How did your lua journey begin, and how has lua influenced your personal and professional growth?
I started martial arts 40 years ago this year. As an expert practitioner and teacher of Lua, I can honestly say that I would not be who I am without the decades of Lua training. Lua provided me with physical and mental challenges. Because of this, my training forced me to evolve and helped me to master myself in every way. It has helped me to read situations properly and respond (or not respond) in healthier ways. It has eradicated fear of anyone or anything. I just do not live in fear anymore. I feel prepared to protect myself, physically and energetically. It has carved a less fearful path in my career of law, my teachings, and in every area of my existence. I am also able to be neutral, be willing to evaluate, and come to acceptance much quicker.
Life can be likened to a martial arts or self-protection technique. If someone throws something at you, do you just stay in the path of force? Or do you get out of the way? Do you get out of the way and deflect it? Do you get out of the way, deflect it with matched force? Do you counter? If yes, before force reaches you or after? Do you finish it? This is life. Life is Lua.
Each of our paths, and our evolution, are so unique. The principles of Lua, physical and metaphysical, are in everything – from the way I walk, the way I hold my fork or drive my car, my awareness, how I read energy in my surroundings, and how I can protect myself, not just physically but also spiritually.
“Movement is a medicine for creating change in a person’s physical, emotional, and mental states.” – Carol Welch
2. How being a woman influenced your approach to lua?
I am probably supposed to say something empowering here, and maybe it will be. The truth is that I was stripped of my gender during training. There were no exceptions made for me as the only woman in the nuclear group. In fact, my teacher made it especially difficult for me and tried to get me to quit the first eight years of training.
Because of his overt insistence that I quit; the opposite actually occurred. Of course, there were times where I wanted to quit, but now I see these were very important checkpoints for me to re-establish my intention. I stayed with great determination and steadily advanced. Just as I do now as a teacher.
During my sequestered training in 2010, my teacher said that women weren’t allowed to train. While he felt it was unfair, that this was the Hawaiian Kingdom Law. This is “Just how it was.” I didn’t understand because his own mother, who was royalty (Ali’i from Kaua’i Island) was trained in Lua. He spoke of how his mother was a better Lua practitioner than his father, who was also a Lua practitioner.
I had questions and didn’t have answers. All I knew was that I was made a certain way. I tried to be normal, tried to lessen aspects of me that were unacceptable in the current society. I continued to pour myself into my training and began to accept the way I’ve been made, what is inherent to me, accept the abnormal amount of full contact I could sustain and thrive in, and the irrefutable feeling in my ‘uhane (spirit) that women didn’t train in Lua got to be incorrect. This eventually led me to the truth. The answers came and continue to reveal themselves.
When I learned of verified historical accounts and records of women who were trained in Lua, I felt more myself than ever. There wasn’t something wrong with me after all. Our Hawaiian warrior foremothers did exist. Today, I feel I am a modern representation of my Lua foremothers more than 200 years after Lua was banned from public display. This is a tremendous honor, privilege, and responsibility – one I do not take lightly. It does come with regular check-ins, both physical and metaphysical, especially when I feel burned out or am challenged for teaching Lua as a woman.
I liken it to something Queen Mary (Queen Mother) said to Queen Elizabeth II when King George died. Queen Mother tells Queen Elizabeth II that she “must also mourn Elizabeth Mountbatten and must put her personal feelings aside for duty. That the two Elizabeths will frequently be in conflict with one another. But the fact is, the crown must win. Must always win.” (The Crown, S1:E3)
This deeply resonated with me. While I am not a queen, I am the only woman Kumu Lua in the world at my level at this time in existence. That Michelle Manu (the woman) and Kumu Manu (the teacher) may be in conflict with one another, but my kuleana (responsibility) must win. Must always win.
3. Many women stop training during pregnancy and they stop training after birth. What do you think is the cause?
This could be for many reasons during pregnancy. One might be having a physically challenging day or trimester because of pregnancy-related medical conditions. After one fully recovers from delivery, it is very important to keep moving and training as one is able.
I believe women stop because life changes significantly when we give birth. Not just a severe lack of sleep, our household operations, living to care for our new little one, but primarily because all this tips the scales of hormones that are trying to regulate back to no longer creating life. But, if women could understand that movement and alone time is much needed medicine, I believe women would not give up their training. Our training is the purest self-love. This makes us better mothers and partners.
4. What it means in your opinion to be a warrior?
“A warrior with a cause is the most dangerous soldier of all.” – Michael Scott
To me a warrior is someone who asks ‘why?’. It is a woman that doesn’t just take orders, subjugating her individual thinking process to adhere to a command hierarchy. She utilizes her powerful choice. A warrior is autonomous, flexible, adaptable yet can work well within a like-minded group for a common purpose.
I feel one is excused from any consequences for one’s actions when one is following orders versus when one is making the decision to engage and knows there will be consequences for her decision. To me, Warrior is synonymous with Protector. Women are vicious protectors of what is in their care, and they will relentless protect what they love. When they choose to engage, they will die protecting what they love.
In my master’s thesis work, my research revealed twelve pages of ancient women warriors from around the world. All these ancient women warriors were not just physically proficient in physical combat and weaponry, they were also metaphysical seers. All of them were mystical and had one foot in the physical realm and one in the non-physical realm. Like most all women today if we embrace, develop, and use our inherent capabilities and gifts, both physically and metaphysically.
5. What are 7 tips would you give to women who practice martial arts?
- Relentlessly believe and trust in yourself. This is non-negotiable. It must be unwavering.
- Regular recovery is just as important as your training time.
- Craft your workouts for advancement in balance, speed, tracking, strategy, strength, and control of power. Work regularly on the floor or up against a wall. Erratic timing and power.
- Timely hydrate with quality water and enough of it.
- Fuel properly. Eat the right food at the right time. Quality food and quality supplements.
- Lift weights or engage in regular resistance training.
- Switch it up. Do things differently – different stretches, alternate workouts, try new recipes.
6. Do you think martial arts can contribute to a change in the perception of women in society? If yes, in what way?
How far we have come from what we once were in society. Let us discuss Scáthach, a Scottish warrior queen, warrior, master teacher, weapons maker, seer, and priestess around 200 B.C. It is said that Scáthach was the only one during her time that was the warrior trainer of men. No one defied her leadership.
Fast forward to today where women are not prepared. Martial arts are good for self-development, but the self-defense or survival combat aspect of martial arts is essential. All females, starting at a young age, should get used to being touched and touching others back when necessary. We deserve to have the tools to be able to protect ourselves and increase our chances of survival. Especially when it is most likely to occur.
- In Italy, 120 women were murdered (femicide) in Italy in 2023.
- In Italy, 6,300 women reported sexual violence in 2022.
- In Italy and U.S., 1 in 3 women experience physical or sexual violence by their partner or ex-partner.
- In the U.S., 81% of women reported some form of sexual harassment and/or assault in the U.S. This is what is reported. We know the actual number is higher.
- In the U.S., 442,754 women reported sexual violence in 2022.
- In the U.S., a woman is raped every two minutes.
- In the U.S., 1 in 3 young women, ages 11-17, have experienced an attempted or completed rape.
When women change themselves, women change the world. When women take their rightful place, the world has no choice but to have to adjust to it. We need to reawaken to this truth. It is needed now more than ever. May we embrace this power and stand as tall as Scáthach in our lives, even when challenged. May we, also, stand in this duty to ourselves with health, discipline, balance, and power. Scáthach owned her authority. May we learn of, embrace, develop, and own our authority to fulfill our divine purpose of our lives.
7. Martial arts philosophy is often centered around concepts of balance and harmony. How do these principles apply to your daily life, both as a martial artist and as a woman?
“Martial arts are a spiritual challenge, not a physical one.” – Ronny Yu
Balance and harmony within us are essential if our surroundings are imbalanced and are unharmonious. We cannot choose otherwise, or it will eventually destroy us. This would be the Feminine energy of introspection, planning and strategy, rest, connection to oneself and one’s intuitive (metaphysical) self. This is who the Protector is when she is not protecting.
But at a certain point, our Masculine energy of action needs to be used for our own balance. We are not just Feminine (intuitive/metaphysical) or Masculine (intellect/physical). We are both. We cannot only inhale (feminine) or exhale (masculine). We must do both. It is all energy, and we are the deciders of how this energy will be used. When we do this, we find balance and harmony even when our surroundings are not.
My training was all action. We were not allowed to speak and there was no time to think. We had to move and immediately react, or else. This is why I am so proficient in my movements. It is all stored in my body. I teach my students differently. They are not soldiers; they are warriors with a sense of urgency and responsibility. We do not train to encounter a respectful martial artist on the street. We train to encounter a criminal with no conscience.
These principles are a part of my being. There is no separation. If a situation occurs, I am responsible for my choice. I need to honor the pause and consult with my intuition first then my intellect. This doesn’t apply if we are faced with a life-threatening situation. In this instance, we must move into immediate action energy and not freeze. We must rely on what is stored in our body through our training. The Feminine is a luxury. The Masculine is a necessity in this physical plain. They both ensure our survival.
8. What is the most important message you want to spread to women who are considering a martial arts path?
We awaken, embrace, and use our power when we commit to our development.
Martial arts studies provide discipline, physical conditioning, knowledge of the anatomyfor effectiveness, mental persistence, and spiritual strength. It readies one’s entire being to recognize and embrace universal energy.
Spirituality in external martial arts seems paradoxical. How can training in violent activity possibly lead to higher states of awareness and spirituality? According to Western society, it is impossible. Yet history is rich with examples of highly evolved spiritual beings who were also fierce warriors. Like I said, my research revealed that every one of the ancient women warriors I discovered were also spiritual and highly in-tune with the Unseen.
“If you think you can survive a violent event without violence, you are already dead.”
– Michelle Manu
9. What was your most important challenge as a female martial artist?
There are internal and external challenges, and they are all important to pay attention to. Everything is a message to us. Externally we may seek the validation of others, or we are challenged and dismissed by others we may seek support or approval from. Internally, we as women, have a defect. The defect is that we have this non-stop critical and condemning voice that is telling us we are not good enough. I call this the Internal Predator. She must be silenced, caged, and eventually killed. We cannot advance when we are so hard on ourselves.
My biggest challenge during my training was not being accepted. I was not wanted yet I was not kicked out. My fellow Lua brothers said I was a distraction to their training, and they wanted me gone. This only made my resolve to not quit that much more absolute.
My biggest challenge today is still acceptance. Culturally no one has seen a representation of a woman warrior, not to mention a woman teacher of Lua. A large part of the Hawaiian culture today believes that only men were warriors in ancient times. I stand in my rightful place and unapologetically represent as honorably as I am able.
10. Tell us about the Violence against Women’s Act.
The Violence Against Women’s Act, also known as VAWA, just celebrated its 30th anniversary. VAWA is critical legislation that focuses on preventing and addressing violence against women and to provide justice and support for survivors.
The law has transformed the U.S.’s response to gender-based violence. VAWA:
- Provides new funds to address violence and survivor support
- Provides housing needs of survivors of sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking
- Addresses online harassment and abuse
- Engages the private sector to combat sexual assault
- Provides federal funds to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers
Every woman and girl should have the right to live free from fear, harassment, abuse and violence.
Here is a clip from a live VAWA morning news piece I had the honor of participating in. Click here to see the clip
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