In martial arts we talk about using our training to help us achieve our “true potential”. That certainly sounds good but what does it mean?

Well first off, I think we have to get in touch with our own beliefs and priorities. For me this this started out with identifying what things in my life had real value and meaning versus what thought and activities served no real purpose. Then tossing out most of those non essential activities and replacing them with ones that served me better.

Perhaps some of those things we do, are just to please others. Generally, speaking I think little good ever comes from doing something strictly to please someone else. Eventually don’t we learn to resent or dislike it? Maybe even ultimately rebel against it? Best to find some common ground - some give and take rather than completely setting ourselves aside just to make someone else happy. 

Having said that, once one has a firm grasp of what truly makes them happy (and unhappy) they can start to evaluate what things they are doing that is congruent with their own goals and beliefs. Just as an example, over the past 6 months to a year I have gotten back in touch with the fact that I enjoy writing. Yet, because it is not my profession, it never really ocurred to me I had anything of value to share or that I had the talent to do it. But recently, I have started to think differently about that. Perhaps I do. Perhaps we all do. I recalled how much I enjoyed telling and writing stories. People seemed to enjoy those stories and my mom always used to say I should do something with “that”. Whatever “that” is.

You see, I don’t think if not for the time I have spent meditating, practicing and taking the time to sit and enjoy nature if I would have found that piece of me again. But I am glad I rediscovered it and recently I have decided to pursue something that I have always wanted to try my hand at which is writing a book.  Why not? What have I got to lose? I even strongly suspect, that this is part of the journey I am suppose to taking. That this decision and the act of doing it is part of my “reaching my true potential.”  I guess over the next months or years I will find this out.

Some may automatically assume I will measure my success or failure in this writing venture based on whether or not I get the book published. Then if I do, the next “test” will be how many copies it sells. But I already know that this is not where I will get the value from the process.

Just one step toward reaching that “true potential”. But then again, that is all we can do. Take one step at a time and enjoy the ride along the way. Never forgetting that it is “the enjoyment of the ride”, with all of its ups and downs, that is the whole point.

Martial Arts Retreat

Well it has been too long since I last posted and am feeling guilty but guilt is such a wasted emotion I will quickly move on to tell you more about my retreat.

It was about 40 degrees out when we gathered together at 6:30 a.m. sharp to go sit in the woods and do some awareness meditation. It was our job to locate where we sat the prior day and settle in for a good hour of connecting with nature. What does this have to do with kung fu training you may ask?

Good question. The answer is quite a lot actually and on several levels at least from my own perspective. First off, by sitting quietly alone in the woods you start to reconnect with nature. The rhythms, the sounds, the animals slowly emerging and the changing of the light. I love to observe the trees and always find so many analogies to them with people.  Some so tall and strong, others with broken branches yet still surviving. Some are dead and yet still manage to stand up and be counted as if they are still alive when inside they are  really dead. Some people are like that don’t you think? Standing there really only a shell yet outwardly they appear to be amongst the living? Ok, I’m off on a tangent just a bit…

Anyway, by sitting out there and experiencing the elements, primarily the cold in this case, you begin to realize how powerful nature really is. The cold can kill you. No, I’m not claiming my life was in any danger but you do start realize and appreciate nature’s potential. It can kill you with cold and keep you warm with the sun. Let me tell you how good that sun felt when it finally came out and I stepped out into a clearing an hour later. I just drank in the warmth of the sun and the feeling it had on my face. Now, do you think that would have felt the same to me if I had just stepped out of a heated cabin? No way.

You see you realize how you really cut yourself off from all of this when you spend too much of your time indoors. It makes us soft doesn’t it? Discomfort, dealing with it and truly experiencing it makes us feel not only more alive but it toughens us up. Yes, it’s cold and yes, I’m dealing with it.

You start to see how this might relate to martial arts classes can’t you? When you are on the floor toughing it out - you are feeling something. You are getting past that feeling (hopefully) of “this is too difficult. I can’t, I can’t”.  You see, martial arts is just a microcosm of the real world. What you experience in the dojang is really analogous to what goes on in the real world.  The dojang is supposed to be a “place of enlightenment”.  This is your opportunity to work on yourself.  So that when you step outside into the world you are better prepared to deal with challenges. In this case, my “dojang” or “dojo” as some call it, was nature and while sitting there I got just a bit more enlightened and connected to my world. 

By sitting there, paying attention to every sight, sound, smell, feeling and even taste you stop tuning out the world and start plugging into it. By actively trying to use all my senses, I could see how helpful this might be in a self defense situation.  If I rely not just on what I see or hear but all my senses don’t I increase my changes of noticing something is “wrong” before it happens?

My teacher has said that when they interview victims of crime, they often say they “sensed” something was wrong but ignored the feeling.  Awareness training helps you develop the ability to not only detect things that might otherwise go unnoticed but also PAY ATTENTION to them. If you “feel something just isn’t right,” go the other way. Whatever you were going to do just isn’t that important.  Pay attention to your surroundings and listen to your gut, not your brain, if something doesn’t seem right.  You see the first rule of self defense training is awareness. Get yourself out before you find yourself in a bad situation.

Well, I hope you got something useful out of this post. I’d love to hear from others about their own experiences either sitting in nature or when they encountered a self defense situation or attack where it was preceding by a feeling of foreboding.