Breathe

Breathing...I don't think about it usually. Breathing just happens for me and I've taken it for granted. Recently, situations in both my life and in martial arts training, have shown me how important breathing can be to help your challenges and the stress that accompanies them.

I trained with Keith Florian this week in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Keith is a great technician and strategist for ground fighting. But, my lesson this past week with Keith transended just the physical movements of the discipline.

When we were rolling, Keith would put me in defensive positions that I felt uncomfortable in. He would "pressure" me physically using his weight. I, in response, would hold my breath and try to muscle out of the situation. The pressure I felt from Keith made things extremely uncomfortable for me, and I found myself compensating for this by not breathing. This, in turn, would lead to additional stress.

I've had similar experiences in my daily life, where the stress of a particular situation would cause me to hold my breath and tighten up. The feeling of tightening up and lack of breath felt the same in both situations.

Keith recognized my problem. He told me that everytime I feel pressure, I should focus on my breathing and work my way out of the problem. He then gave me homework. Keith stated, that everytime I feel pressure in my day-to-day challenges, I ahould breathe. Keith said, "This way, the next time we train together, you will have been practicing your martial art without me there."

By controlling my breath, I control myself.

A Separate Peace

Yesterday, Joe and I trained with Jake at Sityodtong in Somerville. As we headed home, instead of feeling the usual adrenaline rush that accompanies my post-workout, I felt a peacefulness, a serenity, that was, at first, hard to pinpoint.

Then, sometime during the afternoon, I realized just what I was feeling. Earlier that morning, I had poured over a makeshift shrine on a ledge above a set of wall mats. The Sityodtong family had paid tribute to Eric Armington, one of their own, who had tragically lost his life two weeks before in a motorcycle accident on Route 93.

Eric's shrine included of a pair of his gloves, his Mong Kon, medals, a framed photograph from the gym's gallery, incense...and a bottle of red Gatorade, artfully placed in the middle of his Twins.

I did not know Eric, but the heartfelt sentiments and carefully chosen items that comprised his tribute made me think...about the person he was and how the age-old traditions of the art we practice only become more meaningful when we interject them with our own contemporary lives.

Kru Mark has obviously gone to great lengths in his gym to embody the Muay Thai culture and the artifacts that adorn the walls only serve to strengthen that awareness. After seeing posterboard collages of snapshots of Eric and his family and friends taped to filing cabinets, I thought about the vulnerability one can experience in being charged with maintaining martial art traditions while also being contemporarily human. We respect and do our best to adhere to the culture of the art we practice, but how beautiful, and wonderfully mortal, to integrate those traditions...with a bottle of red Gatorade.

Stacia

Kenny Florian and Social Consciousness

Today, Kenny Florian came to the Bartlett School for Community Partnership in Lowell, Massachusetts. I am finishing my practicum there and when I mentioned to Joe that Kenny would make a huge impact on the kids there, he called Kenny and Kenny graciously agreed. The kids at this school face what often appear to be insurmountable obstacles on a daily basis.

This morning, they heard from Kenny that there are no such things as obstacles, only "small hurdles." Small hurdles in this school community include saying no to drugs, to alcohol, to joining gangs, to dropping out of school. Today, even the kids who are seemingly jaded and "checked out" hooted and cheered after Kenny had finished his speech. He talked about making the right choices, of staying out of street fights-"only cowards fight in the street,"-the importance of never giving up, and of staying in school.

Today, Kenny Florian gave 200 at-risk kids a day they will never forget. And it's something we should all keep in mind when we're asked to make a difference.

Stacia

Ninety-nine failures

Tatsugami Roshi said, "A tiger catches a mouse with his whole strength." The tiger catches the mouse with the same intensity the way he catches a bigger animal. The tiger totally focuses on whatever action he is taking. He doesn't worry about the size of his "problem." The tiger does not think that because he didn't catch something the last time,he won't catch something the next.

Sometimes we all have difficulty practicing our respective arts. Dogen Zenji once proclaimed, "Hitting the mark is the result of ninety-nine failures." Failures are only a part of the process of success. "It's the last arrow that hits the mark, but only after ninety-nine failures." Failures are acceptable, and even valuable, as long as you keep them in perspective and know that they are a means to achieving your goal. The only real failure is not to shoot the one hundredth arrow.

Each time you practice, do your best. Be tiger-like in your effort. Physically and spiritually, you will benefit.

"You Travel in Good Company..."

Recently, I entered into a conversation with Stacia about the commercialism of martial arts versus the fundamental integrity of practicing them. Kanei Uechi once said that no one under the age of seventeen should be taught karate. Perhaps he said this for the following reasons:

1) Physically, the bodies of young children are not mature enough to properly execute and withstand the rigorous training that the martial arts demands.
2) Children do not understand the philosophical concepts that are embedded in these ancient practices.

She mused about the fact that just about every strip mall we had passed had a karate or tae-kwon-do studio inside. What would motivate the discerning patron of martial arts to enroll his or her child in a strip mall dojo? How can you tell whether or not the instruction that would be received was of quality or was based in authentic principles?

What often gets sold by these strip mall senseis is the ideal of YOUR child benfitting from confidence and mind and body awareness. What actually happens, though, could be the polar opposite. Just as you choose your doctor, your dentist, or your mechanic, you must choose your martial arts instructor with the same well-informed criteria that you would apply to other practitioners.

Beware of the snake-oil peddlers. You get what you pay for.

BTW...This photo is of Joe Graziano, Dave Cedrone, and myself at a recent demo where we performed Jifa and Sanchin Kata. You won't find these forms being taught in your average strip mall dojo. Unfortunately, less and less people are being schooled in the ancient rituals.

Put your mind in your practice

To be skillful in martial arts requires time and effort. You have to first learn the techniques properly to be able to do them efficiently. Learning body mechanics takes patience. It takes practice to perfect the movements.

To be effective in martial arts you have to create a focused, bellicose mindset with the physical practice.

Having great mechanics and practicing martial arts without having a focused combative mindset is like doing a dance. You might execute the movements flawlessly. You might have perfect form. But, you are not practicing martial arts.

Just because someone does a Kata does not mean they are practicing martial arts. When you do the movements of a Kata without the proper combative mindset, it is like a Ferrari without gasoline to make it move. The car won't move without gasoline. It might look great, but it is useless in actually getting you somewhere. Practicing your Kata like this won't take you anywhere in your development of martial arts. It is a waste of time.

What is important?

What are you looking for?

My friend Kenny Florian won his UFC fight last night. I've been very lucky to have trained with Kenny, as well as with many good martial artists over the years. I was really excited for Kenny. He's worked incredibly hard to achieve his current status.

There's a lot of controversy when it comes to the combat arts. Questions are often asked: "Is this style is better than that style?" "Is this type of training better than that type of training?" The word "better" means nothing.

I've enclosed a link to my friend and teacher Tim Cartmell's website on an article he wrote on "Combat to Sport." Hopefully, it will help some folks understand more in terms of the context of why and what they are trying to achieve in their practice and study.

http://www.shenwu.com/Combat_To_Sport.htm

Whether you train in MMA or traditional arts, it all depends on what you're looking for in your training. The trick is not to try and fool yourself.