Dr. Hakeem Ali-Bocas Alexander writes himself as a warrior

Hakeem Ali-Bocas Alexander doesn't celebrate or acknowledge birthdays or holidays. He gives gifts anyway. A friend who is also a writer has received so many books from him that, as he put it, "I pretty much by this time donated a small library to her."

"That's my way of showing her that I love her," he said. Alexander holds a degree in clinical hypnosis from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute and a bachelor's, master's and doctorate in metaphysical sciences from the University of Metaphysical Sciences, and he is an ordained minister of Wisdom of the Heart Church, which is connected to the university. He teaches martial arts, yoga and Pilates, works as a personal fitness trainer and writes science fiction and fantasy.

That impulse, care expressed as direct action, runs through both his coaching and his fiction. His protagonists are usually, he said, "multiversal variations of myself." He portrays them as "not necessarily heroic, but very capable, very confident and very competent, even if they might be cruel or unusual."

A swordsman across time

One of them is Kuroda, from his "Cut of the Carriage Wheel" series. Kuroda trains in ancient Japan with Miyamoto Musashi, who teaches him his two-sword style. While the two are walking, Kuroda hears a woman scream, breaks off and goes to her rescue, confronting three armed men and killing all three in her defense. The two soon become lovers, and because the series mixes fantasy and science fiction, with time travel and multiple dimensions, she follows him across time and space.

Alexander doesn't hold himself apart from the character. "If the situation and the circumstances were identical, I'd probably act in the same way that Kuroda would," he said. "I don't see myself putting limitations on myself simply because I'm living in a so-called real world rather than a fantasy world." If he is capable of something and it is for the right and good or serves his ultimate purposes, "whether they be delusional or not," he said, there isn't much he won't do. He added that he isn't "an outright violent person or someone who goes looking for trouble," but he also won't allow himself to be bullied or controlled, "especially if it's unjust."

I don't see myself putting limitations on myself simply because I'm living in a so-called real world rather than a fantasy world.

Hakeem Ali-Bocas Alexander

Strength and love

For Alexander, the line between protection and violence comes down to love. He traces the idea to a visit with a friend from Japan, Noriko Kobayashi, who invited him to her home for tea and brought out a book in her living room. A story in it included a saying he still remembers: "Strength without love is violence, but love without strength is useless."

He reads it as a play on the familiar line that it is better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in a war. "A warrior in a garden can choose to not be violent," he said, not because they are incapable of it but because they choose not to be. Strength without love, in his reading, can mean going around being criminally violent; love without strength means having a family "but you're not strong enough to protect them." What he took from the story: "Violence can be a gift when you have the strength to protect those that you love."

Violence can be a gift when you have the strength to protect those that you love.

Hakeem Ali-Bocas Alexander

Kuroda carries both halves of that saying. Alexander describes him as a benevolent figure who is nonetheless "extremely capable of extreme violence" and also calculated, putting a lot of effort into keeping himself under control. Inside, Kuroda feels chaos and turmoil. He is emotional, Alexander said, though not in an immature, childlike way; he feels deeply for people and has a hard time not wanting to embrace them and be their friend. "He's not a people pleaser, but he likes to please people," Alexander said. When Kuroda needs to hold himself back, "he simply remains quiet and meditates," or he goes to train.

Off the page, Alexander calls himself "a gift giver and a protector and a caretaker." He treats people he cares about almost as if they were his dependents, a "masculine, manly protector, provider type of stance," he said, that might seem old school to a lot of people but is the role he feels comfortable in. "Whatever I can do in my power, if it's feed, clothe, house, protect, nurture, that's just all part of the bundle of my existence."

In his coaching, that means thinking quickly and coming to a decision when someone needs immediate help. When it isn't an emergency, it means showing through his actions "that they are cared for, that they are adored, that they are loved."

Giving through teaching

Teaching extends that giving to people he may not know personally. He gets a kind of high, he said, from leading classes in yoga, Pilates, boxing, kickboxing, capoeira, strength training and calisthenics, because he can show people how to feel and look better and then watch them progress. "It's also a gift giving," he said.

Kenz, a friend who trains with him, couldn't do certain things when he started. His stamina and flexibility have since increased, and Alexander said Kenz is always celebrating it: "Wow, I couldn't do this before. Now look at me." Now he touches his palms to the floor.