GrandMaster Art Mason's Martial Musing

When someone reaches their goal of Black Belt what really changes? They have spent the last 4 to 5 years of their lives working towards this goal, then it is suddenly here and gone. What happens next depends on the individual martial artists.

If the person is a self motivated goal oriented person, they are well prepared at Black Belt with their new short and long term goals.  I was always set, looking to the future for new ranks and new learning experiences.  Not everyone is.

For some after hitting Black Belt something happens. I call this Black Belt Syndrome, it is like a let down or depression. The new Black Belt feels no different, and often feel unworthy of their new rank. The results are seen by a good teacher immediately. The students attendance will suffer, often coming to class as much as 70% less, or they will outright quit after the goal is reached.

So how does someone overcome this problem.  They do this by living life on purpose. Most people will go through life day by day not really thinking about the direction they are headed. Without this kind of focus, achievement, when and if it comes, is often empty. When we look toward the goals of the future, paying attention to them, updating and changing them to adapt to our changing needs, we then get to enjoy the journey to these goals. We also tend to reach these goals also.

Repetition is a fact in the martial arts, there is no way around this truth if we want to learn and be proficient in our art.  However without a clear goal for our future the constant day in and day out training takes its toll.  Soon we are looking for reason not to train. The reasons are never hard to find.

Black Belt should be the begining of a new journey in the martial arts. But only if our minds are  prepared for it. If not, it is then often the end of the journey.  A person told me once that she never set goals or dreamed of a better life because it would never happen anyway.  Because of the way she thinks she is correct. This is however very sad because life is a journey, but if we never venture out of our confort zone, we will not experience it.

Martial Arts people are some of the most generous people I know. That is why I am doing this blog post. Please read this article below and follow the links provided. It is your chance to make a difference.

Hello Everyone,

If you look to the right of this article you will find a donation button to help a good friend of mine in Romania with medical expenses. I met this lady about 6 months ago and she helped me to travel to her country to introduce the art of Kyusho Jitsu to martial artists there.

Approximately one week ago from the date of this article she took ill with a serious liver condition. Her life is currently in danger, however the situation is improving. I arranged on Wednesday of this week for a helicopter airlift to Bucharest to save her life. Without this she had no chance for survival. However the problems still exist. The medical system in Romania is very poor and very expense. The economy in the country is in ruins.

Currently I am fund raising and taking donation to help the family with these expenses. Any and all donations are welcome and ALL the money is sent directly to the family. If you would like to help please use the donation button to the right of this article. All donors will have their name added to a card for Miky which Master Art will personally deliver to her when he returns by request of her family as soon as she regains consciousness.

Thank you for your generosity in this matter! Please see UPDATES below.

Sunday July 18th 2010 As of this writing Miky is in stable, but serious condition in Bucharest. She is currently on a machine which is cleaning her blood since her liver is all but shut down. This is LIVER DIALYSIS which will help to regenerate the liver. The cost of this procedure is 3500 euro which is NOT covered by insurances. Please follow the link provided for more information.

To donate to this cause please follow this LINK.

Also note 100% of all Kyusho DVD and eBook sales will go to this cause.

Master Art Mason

We are always looking for a higher purpose in life. Often this search will cause much stress and anxiety, and will also cause us to travel the globe searching for what is missing.

Martial art study is a path. As  Bruce Lee put it, it is a path of self discovery. All knowledge is self knowledge. This study will reveal to you what the higher purpose is.

Teaching and sharing the art I have trained in is a very rewarding experience.  By doing this I am being of service to others.  Despite the fact that I change for my services, I am still being of service. I do this by giving unexpected value for the fees changed.

You are also providing service to your fellow man. Whether you are working in a factory, are a doctor or nurse in a hospital, or a sales person you are providing service to others.  Your service is not lessed because it is being compensated, but instead enhanced for the same reason. The better service you provide the better you feel about yourself and your actions.

Remember that the highest purpose in live is to provide service to others.  Provide these services mindfully, then you will reap the rewards of what you have sown.

Over the last few years I have written a lot on happiness. If you scroll down through the blog you will find dozens and dozens of articles. Today I want to look at the role of our ego and happiness. The ego is an important part of us. But if the ego is left unchecked it leads to much misery. Being a martial arts teacher I deal with people’s egos on a day to day basis. The funny thing is that the people who think they have their ego under control are often the ones who do not.

One of the way I test to see the state of someone’s ego is if this person is TEACHABLE. How do they react to correction of techniques or the understanding that nothing is fixed in stone and always changes. You can see it in someone eyes when the ego is out of control. The role of a true martial arts teacher is to guide the student on a certain path, letting them make mistakes and discover things within themselves. At first the student is bottle fed, helping them with each and every techniques, trying to create a strong foundation. If the student is teachable they progress quickly. If there ego is not in check it takes much longer. As the student progresses the interaction becomes different. The student will spend more time in self discover and learning that NOTHING is black and white. Bottle feeding time is over, the student must stand on their own and take their first steps.

The egotist can do none of this. They battle constantly for who is right and who is wrong and that “I” am not progressing because the “teacher” is not doing their job. Soon the student because of their resistive nature moves on to other things, looking for a type of fulfillment they will never find. The question to ask yourself is “am I teachable?” Or am I more interested in giving an opinion?

You can find self discovery and joy in anything you do. When the ego is under control, and it is a function of the mind, then there is peace and joy.

There is a lot of criticism in the martial arts world about commercial schools. Some will say that we are selling out by commercializing the arts. Obviously I don’t agree with these people, but today I am going to use this reference to talk about the journey to black belt.

Back when the martial arts made its way across the oceans it was an ‘only the strong survive’ club.  One of the reasons for this attitude was because it was the military who were largely responsible for it coming here.  The arts were taught in a very military style, because that is what people wanted and expected.

When I started in the arts this was the situations and instruction style that existed.  I learned to do jumping and flying kicks by jumping over chairs and tables. Failure meant PAIN. Correction of technique was often done with a bamboo stick.  Verbal abuse and being degraded were common. Personally, at the time I had no issues with this.

After 16 years of this training, I was having doubts about it’s effectiveness.  Of the hundreds and hundreds of people who had joined this school, only 2 or 3 of us still remained. The model was obviously flawed.

Today I view martial arts as a journey of personal development.  I believed that the day I started, the difference today is I know and understand that the WAY cannot be pointed to by the teacher with a bamboo stick.  Hard work and dedication will get a person to Black Belt, along with an understanding of the meaning and purpose of doing so. Martial Arts is a journey of SELF, not a competition with someone else.

The real benefits of martial arts training come by doing it a long time.

Yes I really did leave the word ‘defense’ out on purpose from the title. The term ‘self defense’ always conjurers up an image of a fight or attack situation, where training in the martial arts goes much further.

I have news for you. You are attacked each and every day. This attack is done against you directly and it is done thought your 5 senses. With the bombardment of our senses it is little wonder we can function at all. We have become creatures of deleting information. The problem is we often delete the wrong things.

Have you ever felt overwhelmed? Have you felt that your life is not longer on track, or perhaps that something is missing? If you have you are certainly not alone. People feel this day in and day out until they discover something. “The Art of Self “

Now I can hear what some people will say, this being ‘selfish’. If you are thinking that very good because it is! We have nothing else but ourselves. Also, you cannot give what you do not have, so everyone needs to work on themselves FIRST.

Everyday I sit in quiet reflection at my dojo for 15-30 minutes. Some will call this mediation, others reflection, the title doesn’t matter. What matters is that I am alone with me. Here I get to understand me. But this is only the start because then I go out on the floor and teach several hours of classes each day. I also do this for me, and when I do the students are the ones that benefit, much more than I do. When this happens I am in the moment, not somewhere else.

Martial Arts training is a great tool for self discovery because it is all about YOU. You are on the floor training and no one can really help you. A good teacher can be a guide but that is all. You learn to conquor your body and your mind. Add this to some mediation or reflection time and you have the basis for a path to a happier life! Not bad for a few hours per week!

If you are a student of the arts, any art, get yourself back to regular training. You know you felt better when you did. If you are not a martial artists find something you love to do and do it!

Sing like no one is listening, dance like no one is watching. Connect with yourself and enjoy our physical reality!

The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don’t know anything about.

The above is a warning, if you are not an open minded person you may not wish to read this post.  Today I am going to talk about how emotions, your emotions will play into a self defense role or situation. First there is a Cycle of Destruction for emotions, just like there is for elements (acupuncture). This knowledge will help you in a real world situation.

So what is the cycle? Happiness destroys Anger, Anger destroys Grief, Grief destroys Happiness.  These are the 3 main emotions, all others fall in between these groups. What are emotions? They are chemical responds within the body to external stimulus and factors.

So here is an example of a breakdown. When someone is truly attacking you, whether it is robbery or assault, they are angry.  You if are in anger or fear (lesser than anger) your blows will have little or no affect on the attacker. Whoever is the stronger and faster will win.  What you need to do, which is not easy, is to become happy, then your strikes will have greater affect. Guaranteed. The problem? It does take a great amount of self control to turn emotions on and off at will. It can however be done.

Another example is a rappist. He is a HAPPY psychotic.  Your response would be one of grief.  Like any other element of martial arts training, you must practice and concurr yourself. After all, that is what the arts are about.

The eternal questions in martial arts.  How long till I can defend myself? Which art is best?

These questions have been asked since people starting martial art training.  Today we have instructors making guarantees of effectiveness, when the truth is that their will never be a guarantee of success.  The ability to defend yourself lies within you, not in the martial art you are taking.

There are many martial arts instructors selling quick fix programs.  Now so that I don’t get any hate mail this week I am not going to say who. Are their programs effective? Yes they are, but not any more effective than anyone else’s.  The truth is there are no quick fixes.

So what is the difference between these programs? Mostly points of view. Now personally I don’t consider these quick fix programs to be martial arts, because they are focused on the combat aspects only.  If you look at the definition of the work ‘art’ this become obvious.

• the products of human creativity; works of art collectively; “an art exhibition”; “a fine collection of art”
• the creation of beautiful or significant things; “art does not need to be innovative to be good”; “I was never any good at art”; “he said that architecture is the art of wasting space beautifully”
• a superior skill that you can learn by study and practice and observation; “the art of conversation”; “it’s quite an art”
• artwork: photographs or other visual representations in a printed publication; “the publisher was responsible for all the artwork in the book”

Combat systems don’t really fall into this category and are not any more effective. So why do these systems produce such great results? Because they attract people who already have what it takes inside to defend themselves, were as martial arts like the one I teach works to develop this attribute in someone. Take as an example shooting a gun, you could be the best shot in the word, but unable to pull the trigger if you need to.  Combat systems by definition don’t address this, but martial arts does.

So, what does this mean? All martial art and combat system are of great value. The effectiveness lies totally in the student.

Why do we love to hang on the past? So often when I meet or talk to people the injury and hurt from their past will come up. Like a cut on the body that we just keep digging at until it opens and bleeds again. What is it about us that makes us want to do this again and again. Don’t you think it is time we all moved on?

Letting go of the attachments to the past is what is required. Then at a higher level we need to let go of all attachments. Why? Because none of these serve us.

The year 2012 is fast coming. We hear a lot of talk about December 21st 2012. Some people say it is the end of the world, which is cool since the world has not ended since 2000 (remember all the hype).  What do I think is happening in 2012? It has already begun, people are beginning to think better. Are you on this leading edge?

There is an old Buddhist tale about the Buddha being approached by a person in the streets. The man asks the Buddha, “are you the messiah?” The Buddha replies “no I am not”. The man then asks “are you a healer?”, the Buddha again replies “no I am not”.  The man asks this time “are you a teacher?”, the Buddha once again replies, “no I am not”. Finally out of frustration the man asks, “well then what are you?!?” The Buddha replies “I am awake.”

Are you waking up? Are you working towards being ‘happy’ and understanding the world you have created around you?

How do you get started? Let go……period. It is time to let go of the hurt of the past, the opinions of other people, your need for the unimportant. Just let go…..but how you ask?

First you must internalize the fact that everything in your life is a result of your thinking to this date. We are what we think about most. If you are not happy with this scenario then you need to think differently. Remember when you were a kid and would pretend to be someone else? Now I am not suggesting you imagine you are superman, but seeing yourself in a different light and focusing in on this, all the time will make the transformation happen if you put enough into it. If you want to be successful, act successful.  This will help reprogram the sun conscious mind.

Also part of letting go is to realize that nothing, including ourselves is permanent. Everything changes and evolves. With this said, why them do we insist on becoming attached to things that are not forever? There is nothing wrong with enjoyment, but attachment is terrible for your self esteem, and stress levels. I just makes you unhappy and jealous!

Now here are two true stories to show you what I mean by attachment.  Many years ago I had a friend with a beautiful white Camero. This was his pride, to the point of obsession. One day we were out driving, and he was following me to a house. This person lived on a dirt road. When driving my friend was keeping a little to close. A stone came off one of my back tires and chipped the front of the car. The chip was the size of maybe a small fingernail. He ended the friendship and sold the car. He was devastated! He also always wondered why his life seemed to be so stressful and going nowhere. He almost broke up with his girlfriend when see suggested he was overreaching.

Here is another example. I borrowed my Dad’s car to go to the mall one night. At the mall I was in a minor accident.  I was worried about how angry my father was going to be with me. He was only worried about me being injured. As he said, there is nothing that can happen to a car that cannot be fixed or replaced.

My dad even though he really loved his car also, was not attached to it.  Attachment and letting go, go hand in hand. Can you think of something you are attached to? Material or human, let go, and then you can find the joy in the object or person in reference. How? Remember that nothing is forever. Letting go allows you to fully enjoy the physical experiences life has to offer.

Calm your mind and see things as they really are.

Since the Internets rise to popularity in the late 90′ there is now a proliferation of martial art federations and associations.  Many will state the same objective, no politics.

Back in 2000 I was asked to become the International President of The World Budo Alliance, a federation founder by Kyoshi Dave Degrouchie of Bathhurst NB.  The organization was new at the time, but after about a year was in dozens of countries across the globe, with literally hundreds of members. All thanks to the NET.

We had a grading board comprised of world class martial artists, and did promotions for many individuals who were orphaned by the political system within the arts.  It was fun for a while, but eventually politics crept in, and things changed. I stepped down as President, and eventually Dave shut down the alliance.

So were did the politics come in? Fighting over RANK, who should get it, who should not etc, etc. Now I was not on the grading board, so at least I did not have to listen to it.

I think we all need a refresher and what rank is and what it is not. First it is personal achievement. My rank has nothing to do with anyone elses.  It is also often a teaching credential.  There are no set in stone markers between styles and sometime not even within the style itself.  At one time there were no dans, only black belt.

What is the truth? Your students rank you.  If they did not feel you were a great martial artist and instructor they would move on to someone else.