BASTET LOVES…Movement!

Our Kemetic ancestors valued movement in many forms. People would move about daily for leisure and for practical reasons. For instance, Kemetic people would naturally move during activities such as gardening, fishing and visiting the market. While some rode in carts and chariots on their travels, many others would walk almost everywhere; getting some exercise throughout the day. Additionally, there were sports such as ball sports, fishing, swimming, rowing, sailing, aerobics, Sema Tawi (Kemetic Yoga), gymnastics as well as training exercises such as Tahtib, what some may call the original martial arts dating back at least 5,000 years.

Tahtib, the physical stick fighting training, was widely used in ancient Kemet. Still shown on the temple walls in Egypt, these exercises prepared students in a form that upheld tenets such as balance, coordination, discretion and fairness. Many students who participated in Tahtib would learn for many years in their life. Like many teachings in ancient Kemet, Tahtib was not just a physical exercise, it had spiritual and metaphorical components, which taught students how to navigate life as well as combat.

As with everything that Bastet loves, movement is a part of the holistically healthy lifestyle of ancient Kemet and represented ones status in society as well as in health.