GrandMaster Art Mason's Martial Musing

When you first start to study a martial art you are taught the basics of punching, kicking and blocking. Now in reality there is no blocking, blocks are just strikes. You will train and practice this for years and years until you perfect these moments. Many practitioners think that the perfection of these movements makes them masters, and to some degree this is true, but there is still so very much more to learn.

If we take a look at competition the martial artist will focus on what it is they wish to accomplish in the ring. They practice and drill the techniques they wish to use.  To be a world class competitor you must train hard and get your body into fantastic shape.  This cannot be kept up indefinitely and from a self defense aspect the focus is in the wrong place. As the fighter ages he or she become less and less affective. This is not what the arts intend.

The truth is that the longer you practice, and the older you get the more affective the art should become. This means that it must take a different direction where physical fitness is no longer the focus. A direction where understanding the human body and how it works become paramount.  The focus goes to the attacker.

When a person is first learning to defend themselves they are again taught the basics. Punch, kick and block. The focus moves to defense against grabs, pushes and punches in what is often called a 1 step situation. These are learning tools, not reality. Some of the reality systems will then proceed to practice ‘live’ attacks, often first spinning the defender to take them off their game and forcing adrenaline to flow.  This practice has it’s benefits but once again misses the target. The older the practitioner the less affective this will be.  It relies purely on strength, stamina and timing. Understanding of movement is simply not there.

The true path to advancement is in the study of the opponent and how he moves. Movement is universal and therefore can be understood and mastered. The masters of old, men like Morihei Ueshiba and Gichin Funakoshi were masters of understanding movement, the opponent and how it was to be applied. Once the basics are mastered the martial artist must move on to learning to understand the natural laws of movement and the laws of the opponent. Only then will his or her art become timeless and ageless.  Sport is a great learning tool, but it is not the path, only a fork in the road along the way.

The martial arts is a lifelong path, on in which the learning never stops.

Bruce Lee almost single handedly revolutionized the martial arts around the world and brought it to the forefront in North America. I can remember as a kid going to see Fists of Fury (The Big Boss) at a local theater. I was mesmerized! This movie was quickly followed by The Chinese Connection (Fist of Fury). Finally Enter The Dragon found it’s way to North America, but it was too late. Bruce Lee was gone.

Bruce Lee was an amazing man. He only formally studied the martial arts in Hong Kong for 5 years. He studies Wing Chun under the legendary Yip Man. He stopped to move to the USA to claim his citizenship.

Much legend and folklore surround the life of Lee. The movie Dragon was a good example. The movie was interesting, but not at all factual. Bruce Lee was not well liked when he came to the USA, especially by the martial art community. He was chastised for teaching whites and blacks, giving away ancient secrets to non Chinese. Bruce did not care. Bruce Lee is still a force in the martial arts 38 years after his death.

I think one of the greatest contributions Bruce made to the arts itself in his short life was the idea that tradition need to be changed. In the 70′s, 80′s and 90′s competition between schools for students was fierce. Bruce believed in working with other martial artists, studying their art and incorporating what worked and eliminating what did not. Today the barriers are falling and local schools are working together toward a greater good.

I often wonder what he would be like today at age 70. But that question will never be answered. I thank his wife Linda and daughter Shannon for keeping the memories alive. If you have never seen his movies definitely check them out. Below is a link to one of the only English interview done with him by CBC.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=somo_-oW3N0

In class adult students will often here me refer to “Natural Laws” and their use in self defense and martial art training. What are natural laws? Natural Laws are ways in the body of the attacker will respond or react in a given situation. The reaction or response must be for all people and in each given situation to be considered a Natural Law.

I have seen instructors who will teach various reactions to strikes and kicks. As an example they will state that a punch to this location will cause this to happen. Most times these are simply only a prediction and not Natural Laws. An example a strike to the solar plexus does not always cause the attacker to bend forward. (Someone on PCPs will not have this reaction)

The pressure point study of Kyusho Jitsu is very close to being Natural Law as it works with body energy and flow however the results will vary from person to person.  The effect rate is well over 80% but to be considered Natural Law we need to reach 100%.

All the applications I teach about Natural Laws are based in Octagon movement, with added application of Kyusho Jitsu Techniques.  What is an example of a Natural Law? Well one that does not require video to support the teaching is that all attackers will attack center line as long they are true attackers. (Attacking out of anger or fear). Understanding Natural Laws also means we must step up the job of the Uki. It is much more difficult to be a good Uki in Natural Law study than at any other time.

Natural Law is truly advanced martial art study. For those who are not students of mine take a look at your training and see how much could be classified as Natural Law or adjusted to be so.

When you watch one of the great masters of old you can sense the calm in their every movement. It is a thing of beauty to behold. Has this calmness gone from today’s martial artist or is it just hidden beyond our line of site.

Training today in many martial arts has become more and more physical, and less and less spiritual. Today we train hard, stressing our bodies to unimagined levels of fitness. Yet we often neglect the mind and spirit. True martial arts is not only physical, it is also a conquest of the mind.  The body is first honed with training and repetition to develop skills that will respond within a seconds notice.  What we forget is we are using our mind to train the body, therefore we cannot neglect training the mind also.

When we train the mind, we are also honing our physical skills because they are all connected. We are not robots receiving pre programmed information. The mind must respond to the external circumstances and put our bodies in motion.  The best result will come from a centered and calm mind.

The training of the mind does not come from a focus target, nor does it come from hard physical practice.  The mind is trained by the Spirit that is who we really are.  Meditation is the only way to calm the mind, and truly prepare it to deal with the physical body and itself. The most important element that must be overcome for the martial artist is that of the ego. Overcome is really not the correct term either, transcend is much more accurate. When the ego is not in balance the martial artist depends on physical conditioning, age and speed. If the ego is in balance these factors do not matter. Technique becomes only movement with the outcome not being a consideration.

The next time you train try doing a 20 minute breathing meditation first. The difference in your abilities will be a pleasant surprise for you.

Recently I had someone call interested in a Self Defense class for a small group of women.  I was happy to do the class for them, especially since it is always a challenge to get women or men interested in self protection.  The lady who organized the event for her friends was hoping for 10-15, but as I would more expect we only had 4 attend.  However 4 is far better than no one.

We do these types of events as a public service. I believe it is important to arm people with the knowledge that can protect them. Someone cannot really learn very much in a 90 minute self defense class, but they can learn to become aware of their surroundings and adopt some basis rules to keep safe.

I applaud these ladies for taking the time to learn a few things that might help them in their lives. It takes courage to walk into a martial arts school, feeling defenseless, hoping to get something out of it. In the New Year I am planning on holding a similar event for our parents. Turnout for these are usually pretty good as a relationship has already been established.

My thanks to the students and Black Belts who came out to help in this workshop. Your tireless efforts at helping others learn to be safe is very much appreciated.

This screen capture illustration is squres within squares. The tiny square or box in the center represents someone new to martial arts training. In this case we will say a Yellow Belt. The blue square will represent the 1st Dan Black Belt and the gray square a 2nd Dan Black Belt. These squares represent the knowledge of the techniques at each level.

The white square with the red around it shows inside what the Yellow Belts understands about his or her training. At this point most motivational specialist will tell you that you need to think outside the box.  This can be very true, but thinking outside the box means taking what you know and understand and using it differently. That is not what we are talking about today.

If we look at the red square around the white square of the yellow belt, this area represents what the Yellow Belt does not know or understand, but can still see. He or she cannot see to the white outside the gray area, that is too far away in the learning cycle.  The red area represents this Yellow Belts ignorance, or what they currently do not know.

The 1st Dan’s blue box is much larger. He or she has started to accumulate a lot of techniques and knowledge.  The grey area to 2nd Dan represents the 1st Dan’s ignorance. Notice it is much, much larger than that or the Yellow Belt.  When the 1st Dan looks at this and understands how much they do not know, then they become open and humble enough to grow and realize more of the art they have dedicated themselves too.  The same then applies to the 2nd Dan, then the 3rd Dan and onward.

At 7th Dan my box of knowledge of the art is very large, but the area outside is much larger. I am fully aware of just how much more there is to learn and understand in the martial arts. I have the true joy of being ignorant of many things, but I am also willing to eliminate resistance (ego) and learn more.

Socrates once said ” Wisdom is understanding you know nothing.”

Martial Arts training has changed over the years, or should I say evolved. When I first started in the martial arts children were a rare site. Most schools dedicated themselves to adults and part time teaching. Training was often brutal with many, many injuries. Personally I learned to do flying side kicks by having a bamboo pole swung at my legs. Training was not only physically brutal but often mentally torturous as well. Self esteem was ripped away and then rebuilt during the molding process.

Children started to show up right after the premier of the 1st Karate Kid movie.  Most quit within a short time because instructors really didn’t know what to do with them.  The face of the arts was changing.

The style of teaching in those days comes from the military influence of the instructors. This was the way they were taught, mostly because this was what they expected in their training. Survival of the fittest.  The number of people who made Black Belt were in the single digits as a percentage of the whole.  Many people quit martial arts before they saw the benefits and with a bad taste in their mouths. Were the martial artists better in those days? No, they were however very different.

In my view the instructors of old did the best they could, but in many ways a disservice was provided. Many people who could not ‘cut it’ dropped out, never realizing their potential. This is a loss for the industry as a whole.  Today the face of the arts and it’s teaching is vastly different. There are still some martial artist resisting these changes which is their right. Hopefully they are not threatened by it.  Black Belt has become a symbol of excellence in our society along with the virtues of it’s practitioners.

Change can be hard on people but we all need to embrace the evolution. Without change their is stagnation and death. The martial arts are alive and well.

Last night I was happy. I had a class that was well attended by my Black Belts. With this in mind I gave them something to think about. The first thing before we began to move was to discuss the current trend in the martial arts for reality training. I have been watching and have participated in some of these trainings over the last few years. My presence has been mostly as an observer however.

The physical aspects of different martial arts technique have very similar veins running in them. There are only so many ways to strike, kick, and manipulate or throw an attacker.  The reality based systems work on simple techniques which can be easily learned and muscle memory created ( approximately 3000 repetitions).

As I have watched some of the masters of these system works I have to wonder what is going on in a physiological sense. What is their blood pressure and heart rate doing during training. How much stress is being created in the body as they train and fight for a reality we all hope will never happen. They are meeting aggression with aggression.

We then set our to do our training. Our self defense training requires a live attack and response. There are certainly restrictions placed on the attacker, but this is only for the purpose of training in the 3 ways of attack (Push Grab Punch). In this case we were punching. I told the students to imagine doing this at a testing, this will help to increase the anxiety level a small amount. I told them to carefully watch and judge how they did. Success or failure and how often.

Next we sat in a meditation on breath for several minutes. A breathing to calm the mind. We resumed the training. With the calmer mind the students were faster and much more successful in their movement.  Now one of the things I teach in self defense is to disconnect from the attacker on a mental level. You cannot take the attack personally and become emotionally involved with it. We train physically based on rules. If you apply rules to the situation and not to the attacker you will be successful. Remember the pilot who landed his plane in the Hudson River? He did this by remaining calm in the face of death and following the rules that he was taught. No different here.

The improvement in movement was at east two fold. I demonstrated some movement for them. I asked my attacker (Uki)  what it was that he was seeing. He told me he was focused (as in real life) on the object of his attack, in this case my head. I asked the students what I was looking at. Most replied ‘the attackers eyes’. Next was the question what the ‘observers’ were watching.  Several answers, the correct answer was my feet. Students tend to focus on the instructors hands. When they do they miss a lot.

What was my (defenders) focus on? Nothing and everything. Seeing without looking. This is sometimescalled soft vision. When everything is see almost like periferal vision.  From here my  movement only comes when attack is started. There are no coutesty warnings or Kia’s. Full out attack. The movement of no mind is effortless, it just happens.

My students began to work on it. It takes time because the harder you try the poorer the results.

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!

I had a discussion with one of my Black Belts last night about doing the basics. He was commenting on how tired he gets practicing what he refers to as beginners stuff.  His response is certainly not unusual but he lacks understanding mostly because of his age. Our talk inspired me.

At this point I decided that the class that night should really focus on the basics or foundation of the art. The adult Black Belts in attendance were shocked at how much there really was to learn.  First I have to add that there are no advanced techniques. Movement is movement, striking is striking, locks and throws are locks and throws.  There is only advanced thinking which results in advanced movement.

When a beginner starts with the basics he or she will learn to step, strike with the hands, do some kicks.  To the beginning mind these are all separate things. This is of course normal in the learning process. As the student progresses they learn to step and punch or kick. They develop flow between the 2 halves of the body. Power and coordination develop as they approach and pass the Black Belt mark. From here if the ego is under control and it must be, they are ready to progress with the basics  into advanced and master level thinking, and seamless movement.

The beginning of this stage is when the Black Belt learns to move the entire body as a whole, not as separate parts of the whole. As this happens the need for power and timing disappear making the art ageless and timeless.  This comes from conquering the mind and the body.  All you do is move and the attacker creates the openings and then moves right into them.  The founder of Aikido Morihei Ueshiba was a perfect example of such ability and movement.

Much to the suprise of the Black Belt student all this comes from the basics they get so bored practicing. Advanced martial arts practice, whether a hard art or soft is the study of the self. As Bruce Lee loved to say, “All knowledge is Self Knowledge”