Two Points on Self-Hinderances

It’s been a very long time since I contributed to my blog. I wish I could use the excuse of laziness or the excuse of losing interest. But, that’s not the case as I see and experience things every day that I wish to write about. These experiences aren’t specifically tied to bridging the martial arts, but they may be tied to martial arts as a path of life regardless of discipline. I want to share my reaction to a wonderful Ted Talk I heard from a Shaolin Monk named Master Shi Heng Yi on the five hinderences of self-mastery. Rather than summarize and analyze the entire talk, you can find it here https://youtu.be/4-079YIasck, I want to speak about two points Master Yi articulates that I am personally exploring:

1 – Non-Identify: the practice of understanding that I am not the body that feels discompfort; I am not the mind that wanders from past analysis to future worry; I am not the emotion I feel. Rather, I witness these three aspects of myself and do not identify with just one.

2 – Uniqueness: my life, and everyone else’s lives, are too unique to be copies of our past selves or another’s self.

On the first point, I recognize the concept of living with a witness mind and disconnecting from the monkey mind. Hopping from one thing to another – worrying about the past or being focused on what could happen next – rather than staying in the present moment, degrades one’s ability to be his or her true self within the moment. Living in the reptilian mind of solely surviving and acting on survival instincts stifles the individual from thriving because he or she is continually just surviving.

On the second, I am grateful that I have the ability to understand how unique my life is despite my perspective that my life is fairly common. Often, we live in an environment where things we accomplish seem to be commonplace because the domain in which we achieve such things requires these efforts. It is often said in many professional domains that executing the basics to perfection drives excellence. But, it is uncommon to even learn the basics of a particular domain, let alone perfecting those basics and consistently executing them. Most domains are worthy of being completely uncommon.

Understanding a witness mind while also observing the completeness of the present is extremely paramount to growth. Both personal and professional growth rely on the ability to disassociate from the issue to seek true solutions. This is true in cases of extreme conflict, complex problem solving, and deep emotional reactions.

Doing common things in uncommon situations, executing ordinary tasks in extraordinary situations is how heroes are created. While not everyone will rescue someone from a burning building, jump out of a plane into enemy territory, or create the cure for cancer, everyone’s efforts are unique to his or her own life. These efforts are worthy of being regarded as completely unique. There is not one individual on this planet that thinks and feels exactly like another. Realizing the uniqueness of oneself unlocks limitless potential to find purpose. Perusing a purpose in life is heroic.

Let me know your thoughts! This was a great opportunity to reflect during such uncertain times. It allowed me to disassociate from the current issues and focus on living completely and presently in the moment.

Bridging the Gap,

Jeff

COVID-19 Survival

The pandemic restrictions that began in March of 2020 and continue, in varying degrees, to today, have decimated small businesses across the United States. Whatever your political affiliation, or your personal opinion on the state of affairs this pandemic brought to our county, the destruction of small businesses everywhere is a resounding and terrible fact. I have been fortunate enough to not feel the financial impact of these times due to my current career – though I have most definitely felt the mental and emotional impacts of the many stay-at-home orders and travel restrictions. However, I have also witnessed, first hand, the terrible effects the pandemic has had on a certain local school that, by all accounts, is still doing very well in the region.

Over the course of nine months there were closures of martial arts and fitness studios, transfers to virtual training, phased reopenings to in-person training, more closures, and no true understanding of what the future holds. In my peak through the keyhole of the martial arts industry, I have witnessed so many martial artists and school owners come together to support one another. There have been some ingenious advances in how to reach one’s students despite the circumstance. And, in the case of this one particular school, the adaptation – sometimes on a daily and even hourly basis – is astonishing and certainly not sustainable over a strategic time period. The common theme, even with schools that have permanently shut their doors, is that of survival.

Unfortunately, survival is not enough to last longer than a necessary endurance. Unfortunately, survival will not win out. And, as this world increasingly grows even more complex, the need for martial arts schools to endure is extremely necessary. What I believe will endure, more than shifting with the times and government decrees, is a model that can meet all operating requirements. I understand some organizations have developed an operating model that works for them. But, what is it that makes such models successful?

I don’t have true answers that can be relied upon because I don’t own my school. The school this article is inspired by has many answers, but I want to help bring more to their kit bag. Maybe, in doing so, I can help bridge the gap between many more schools’ problems and their solutions. Instead of arguing about sport versus traditional, where does one art derive from apart from the other, and which art is better than the other, maybe we can bridge the gap between each other by rising the waters so we all can rise together.

My question, or more precisely, my request is to share your successes. Share your failures. And, share the models that have made you successful in these trying times. Hopefully we can help change an industry for the long run.

Bridging the gap,

Jeff

Century Martial Arts Supershow Virtual Summit 2020 Day 1 Recap

Last year I had a great time attending the Century Martial Arts Supershow in Las Vegas, NV. I loved it so much, I wrote a post about it here and it spawned a ton of new ideas. One of these was to do a “happy hour” daily live recap of each day with interviews of martial arts school owners and other attendees. However, with all of our COVID-19 restrictions, Century had to turn their Supershow into a Virtual Summit. In my estimation, they’re doing an amazing job! Here’s my daily recap with Lake Zurich Family Martial Arts Chief Instructor, Kera Radke!

https://www.lzfma.com/

I hope you enjoy this! We’ll be doing a live recap on my YouTube channel tonight! Stay tuned!

Jeff

Injury Training Methods – Lessons Learned

I have been reading through my journal entries and realized that I have been more injured over the last three years, since 2017, than I have been in my entire life.  I have suffered from hip, back, knee, ankle, and shoulder injuries over these years and can’t believe how I didn’t realize my journal entries during these times read almost exactly alike!  With injuries comes a reduction, or abstention, from training.  The question is, how do we recover from an injury while not losing the progress we’ve gained!

So, right off the bat, I will tell you that I definitely don’t have the answer to avoiding losing those “gains, bro!”  However, I think I can tell you my top five things to NOT DO when you’re injured.

1. DON’T LET THE INJURY IMMOBILIZE YOUR MIND.  Injuries anywhere on your body can immobilize that part of you.  They can negatively affect the progress you’ve made, or the plans you have, because your body requires the time to heal.  Injuries hurt.  Sometimes, that hurt can seep into our very consciousness and run rampant in our minds.  This immobilizes our thinking to focus on the injury.  Don’t let that happen!  Using mindfulness breathing techniques, ignoring the pain, or focusing on the positive can clear that mental immobilization and allow you to shift your mindset.  Focus on what you can accomplish while injured.  Focus on doing something new you never had time for.  Get into a positive space and you’ll never be mentally immobile.

2. DON’T STOP MOVING.  Your mind may need positive mental focus to keep mobile, but your body needs physical movement to stay mobile.  Yes, some injuries don’t allow you to move a great deal.  If your knee is swollen and you can’t put weight on your leg, move your upper body and arms.  If your shoulder is injured, move your legs.  If your entire body is in a cast, how many finger lifts or lip curls can you accomplish in a minute?!  The point is, always find a way to move around the injury.

3. DON’T RUSH TO FAILURE.  So, you’re moving in a positive mental space and you’re getting your lip curls in, but you feel like you can do more.  Stop!  Think about where you are and where you want to be.  Take things in a slow, deliberate, process with the recommendations from your health provider.  The last thing you want to do is go too far, too fast, and make matters worse.  Stop, check yourself, and consult someone that doesn’t live in your head.  Don’t rush it!

4. DON’T BECOME A VICTIM.  I have spent countless hours staring at my “insert injured part here” and thinking, “this is going to ruin my progress…this is making me worse…I’ll never achieve [goal] now.”  This is a victim mentality.  Don’t be a victim to your injury.  Take the time to go through numbers 1-3.  Consolidate your gains, reorganize your priorities, and get after it!  A positive, fight through, mental attitude will always win out.

5. DON’T AVOID ASKING FOR HELP.  This is a problem for me.  I think I can do it all.  But, I can’t.  And, chances are, neither can you.  Ask for help.  Help with your sock.  Help with your food.  Help with carrying your laptop.  Help with applying that stupid cream to your back.  Help with avoiding injuring yourself further by working from home.  The people in your circle care about you.  Don’t ever be afraid to ask for help.

This list isn’t all inclusive.  I have messed up many more things.  However, everything that I have messed up while injured has primarily fallen into these categories.  The overarching theme to avoiding these mistakes is, the injury will be a temporary problem that has many solutions along the way to recovery.  Recovery well and get back on the mat!

Jeff

Taekwon-Do Purists

My martial arts journey began with lessons from my neighbor, in the basement of my house, in the art of Pukulan Pentjak Silat Tongkat.  Mr. Valdez and Guru Peihl were gracious enough to allow my brother and me to train in our basement until the weather got nice enough to train in Mr. Valdez’s garage next door.  I can’t tell you how elated I was to finally be learning a real martial art!  My brother and I had been fans of every piece of 80s and 90s martial arts movie and TV lore and this was our chance to finally do martial arts for real!

Like many things, this training did not last.  While learning the art of Tongkat, I noticed so many differences between my art and the art of Taekwon-Do that my friends were learning at the local recreation center.  Granted, I noticed that my understanding of technique application and fighting was well above theirs, I couldn’t help but long for the version of martial arts I saw in movies and read in magazines.  So, as any smart 12-year-old would do, I decided to quit learning Tongkat and start a “real” martial art.

While we can explore the obvious missteps of my uninformed decision at a later date, I want to focus on the world that opened up to me when I joined this Taekwon-Do organization.  Specifically, I would like to address how I learned a “pure” form of Taekwon-Do with this organization.  And, how that mindset has given me a predjudice I’ve carried for most of my life.

The organization I joined had a master instructor and founder that was hand-picked by General Choi.  As my organization’s legend has it, this master instructor was a Chung Do Kwan student in South Korea and was specifically selected from his original school to be a disciple of The General.  There is an old video floating around the internet of a group of Taekwon-Do black belts giving a demonstration in front of a South Korean government building.  My organization’s founder is in that video, missing a hand, and looking as impressive as any champion martial artist today.

That’s the pedigree I come from.  My instructors, his direct students, are no less impressive.  And, during my time as a very young man training in this organization, I was told nothing less than this is the truest and purest form of Taekwon-Do.  Who could argue with that?!  Not only was I developing absolute razor-sharp technique, I was developing confidence, fitness, self-esteem, and honing tools that still bring me success today.  But I was also developing a bias and prejudice that is also still with me today.

After I graduated high school, earned my black belt, and went off to college, my world exploded.  Obviously, my world exploded in all other facets outside of martial arts, but my martial arts world expanded beyond my believe.  I learned of other amazing Taekwon-Do organizations – that also called themselves the best and purest form of Taekwon-Do.  I learned of other systems of martial arts that claimed a purity and pedigree equal-to, or greater than, my own!  How was this possible?! 

It’s taken years and years of travel, training, study, and personal growth to realize that the illusion of pure martial arts is just that, an illusion.  Curriculums for teaching and training in martial arts, no matter the style, are developed and are constantly evolving with each generation of student and teacher.  Taekwon-Do is not “pure” as it is an interpretation and combination of multiple Japanese and Okinawan Karate styles while mixed with Korean cultural arts.  Japanese Karate is not “pure” as it is an interpretation and combination of Okinawan Karate, Okinawan Te, and Japanese cultural arts.  Okinawan Karate is not “pure” as it is an interpretation and combination of multiple Chinese arts.  We can do this root analysis many times over, for most every art today.

I have seen, and have even been a part of, social media posts and interactions that tout “pure” martial arts, Taekwon-Do pedigrees, and have ultimately just served to bring down others in the arts.  Whenever I see the phrase, “my grandmaster said…,” I immediately turn my brain off as I know that individual will not be saying anything that brings value to a conversation.  In fact, it follows the logical fallacy of appealing to an authority.  While I have absolutely been guilty of the same, I have also made it my mission to break down those barriers and build bridges – Dalis – between the purists of the martial arts world.

We find ourselves in a unique and wonderful world of information, inclusivity, and understanding.  While it is absolutely the right answer to be proud of your art, your pedigree, and what you believe, it is also the right answer to be open minded and tear down those prejudices in martial arts.  Thank you, my readers, for joining in working to build bridges – to make dalis – in our martial arts world.

Yours in Martial Arts,

Jeff

Farewell 2019! Hello New Decade!

2019 capped off a decade that, for me, was the most significant and tragic decade of my life.  I remember 1999 through 2009.  It was a decade of learning, growing, triumphs, crushing goals, becoming who I have always wanted to be, and fighting in a war I wanted to be a part of.  The end of that decade brought a second marriage, my first born, and getting stationed back in the state I grew up in.  To say that decade meant a lot to me and was so significant to who I wanted to be is an understatement.  Despite a few failures, significant as they were, I knew love, triumph, daring, wonder, and success that I had only dreamt of.  Good thing, too, because I was in for the most devastating and tragic decades I had ever thought possible.

This article is not about dragging my readers through the crushing blows of my last decade.  It isn’t about my crawl from the bottom of the barrel – bouncing two or three times off the bottom – to my hands and knees crawl to a part of the barrel I can rest at.  Will I ever see the top of that barrel again?  Will I ever get to the open day light that the opening of that barrel offers?  Absolutely not!  Why?  Not because I’m so pessimist that I think all life is a tragedy.  Not because I feel like Sisyphus pushing the rock up the mountain only to have it roll back down, making me start again.  Hell no!  Sisyphus is an idiot and doesn’t see the entire landscape!

The truth is, for me, as Neo-esque as I may sound, there is no barrel.  There is no rock.  In fact, there is no hill.  Life doesn’t mimic any of these poor representations of life that were born from weak minded and short-sighted people.  No, life is the Illyad and the Odyssey.  Life is land navigation across continents with only a compass and protractor.  Life cannot be summed up in three acts on Broadway.  It’s forever and always.  Even when you pass away, your legacy lives on.  The questions I see are: how good are you at navigating, and, how do you want your legacy to live on?

That’s a lot.  I get that this blog isn’t about these overarching questions of life.  But, what did Mike Tyson say, get punched in the face and realize you didn’t plan right?  Something like that.  Anyway, this last decade both sucked and was awesome at the same time.  I am not going to punctuate every significant event that happened in my decade.  We don’t have time for that.  #tl/dr.  But what we do have time for is understanding what this decade brought to me, and, ultimately, you.

This blog is brought to you by a decade, nay, lifetime, of learning.  We’ll explore so much more than bridging the gap between Taekwon-Do, Tae Kwon Do, Taekwondo, and any other variant you may subscribe to.  We’re gonna get super bridge-y.  In fact, this blog is going to bridge the gap between all martial arts.  Which, in my greatest hope, is a vehicle to bridge the gap between people…all people.  Oh!  And we’re gonna have video!  Yup!  You’re gonna get to see my smilin’ mug in vlogs, tutorials, some awesome Doboks/Gis I got for Christmas, and even some Dali Tribe stuff that I am trying to put together!!

Yes, friends, this decade will bridge the gap between us all.  I am just so happy to be the person putting the piles up and the arches together.  We’ll see you at the UTA Weekend with the Masters, Century Martial Arts Supershow, an Isshinryu Blackbelt grading, and many other surprises!  We may even do them recorded…or live!!  Buckle your seatbelts for an amazing 2020 and a decade of building Dalis and Caers. 

Yours in Martial Arts,

Jeff

Theories of Power are the Fingerprints to your Art

Photo by Samarth Singhai on Pexels.com

Here’s a controversial subject: what makes your art truer than another version?  I’m not talking about the difference between arts.  If we decided to go down that road, I wouldn’t be able to write about anything else for years.  And, if we decided to write about the similarities between arts, the Dali, then we’d be here even longer!  BUT!  I want to write, and I want comments, so I’m going to talk about the fingerprints of your art that define how you move…your theory of power.

What are theories of power?  In martial arts, the idea of power in one’s techniques is paramount to the effectiveness, combined with efficiency, of execution.  It’s about how hard you can hit coupled with the least amount of effort it takes to hit.  This is a physics problem that is solved by individuals with absolutely no physics, kinesiology, and biomechanical movement degrees.  But, they seem to get it right within their own arts while demonstrating effectiveness.  How?  How do many different arts generate the same, or similar, amount of power?  Let’s explore the different theories.

The ITF Sine Wave:

I think one of the most controversial and unproven theories of power is the ITF Sine Wave developed by the founder of ITF Taekwon-Do, Major General Choi Hong Hi.  Here’s his book explanation, coupled with his seminar:

Book explanation:

Image result for sine wave itf
https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS827US835&sxsrf=ACYBGNQYSurfJb-r6veG5i1CtIme3gnxyw:1575233539990&q=sine+wave+itf&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwidgNucqpXmAhXR7Z4KHctGDxIQsAR6BAgJEAE&biw=1347&bih=691&dpr=2#imgrc=9eGH3gc8XTopOM:

Video explanation:

The idea of the sine wave, as stated in these two examples, is to generate power by utilizing the body’s mass, in a natural movement, and harness it into a single technique.  Every technique in ITF Taekwon-Do can utilize this theory of power to generate power.

Karate Theory of Power:

“Research by the Japan Karate Association and other organizations indicates that during a karate punch, the greatest speed is attained just before the arm reaches maximum extension. This is the point at which contact with the opponent should be made.  The remaining motion of the punch should be follow-through. Not coincidentally, making contact just before maximum extension is the proper way to practice punching on the makiwara. It is also the way a good boxer punches — he aims for the back of the head and just lets the opponent’s chin get in the way” (https://blackbeltmag.com/arts/japanese-arts/how-to-hit-harder-the-key-to-developing-maximum-power-in-karate-taekwondo-and-other-martial-arts).  I included the entire website due to no mention of the actual author or year the article was published.  As the reader may see, the difference is the use of speed and mass versus the use of gravity and mass.

Many arts generate such speed through the use of hip rotation, generating from the hip and core of the individual and resonating out to the end of the technique.  The sine wave, however, does not utilize hip rotation for the generation of power.  However, the use of gravity is meant to replace the use of hip rotation/torque.  This type of movement provides power while eliminating torqueing movement and hip power generation.

These two theories are not only effective but are the most prevalent in martial arts.  I have never been a part of a martial arts conversation that didn’t include these theories of power discussions while failing to come to a conclusion.  What is your theory of power conclusion?

Taekwon,

Jeff

Are National and International Martial Arts Organizations Still Relevant?

Photo by Snapwire on Pexels.com

If you’re a martial artist that has been training for as long as I have, especially longer, you most likely have been a member of a national or international martial arts organization.  As I look back on my martial arts career, I have been a part of several different martial arts organizations of various sizes ranging from regional to international.  My gup and dan certificates, organization subscription identification cards, and more t-shirts than I care to admit are relics that tell my martial arts story to date.  

As I traveled across the world for my day job, I sought out dojangs and dojos affiliated with organizations that had national or international credibility.  However, I grew up in the martial arts as a member of a regional organization in the Rocky Mountains.  Despite that organization being founded by a former ITF master that trained with General Choi during Taekwon-Do’s infancy, my first organization did not have any official ties or affiliations to a national or international governing body.  Consequently, the head instructor of that organization wasn’t able to advance past a certain dan rank because there was no grandmaster to authorize such a grading.  It wasn’t until I was in college, training with an ITF affiliated organization, that the master instructor of my original organization reached out to an international level organization to be associated with.

My master instructor’s reasons for expanding the organization’s horizons and affiliating with an international level governing body was to bring more legitimacy to our rank certificates – the international body offers kukkiwon certificates as well as their own international level certificates, allow for greater dan advancement, and expand the horizons of the organization past the original curriculum.  However, one of the main criteria for choosing an international organization to be a part of was that it couldn’t interfere, or change, my original organization’s curriculum, techniques, or theories of power.  There are several independent international organizations that accommodate these types of criteria for local and regional schools.  Despite wanting to bring more legitimacy and an ability to test beyond certain “mid-level” dan ranks, my original organization didn’t want to conform to a different way of doing things.  And, frankly, wanting to keep the techniques and theories of power the same while seeking higher rank legitimacy across a regional organization isn’t wrong at all.  However, what’s the point?

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One of the anomalies I’ve experienced in my martial arts journey is training with an organization that does not affiliate with a national or international body.  Many times, these organizations execute techniques and forms of a national or international organization, with a variance in execution or theory of power.  Sometimes these organizations combine multiple forms (tul, kata, hyung, poomse, etc.) from other arts, while maintaining a certain theory of power, into a curriculum of their own.  The main bridge tying these types of organizations together is that they are successful despite not being affiliated with a national or international organization.

This anomaly is becoming more and more prevalent in the martial arts market.  I attended the 2019 Century Martial Arts Supershow and, not only had a major paradigm shift in my own thinking, but found that many schools do not seek national or international organization recognition and legitimacy (see this article).  The schools that didn’t seek such status were thriving with their own programs and curriculums.  What, then, does a larger governing body provide?

Having a very steeped personal experience over the past 15 years in national and international organization seeking, I can say that my main motivation was to be recognized and train anywhere I was stationed.  However, even in South Korea – the homeland of Taekwon-Do, I did not find an ITF school near many of my Army posts.  Most Army posts have WT (WTF) schools around them.  **There’s a political reason for this that I choose not to go into now, or ever, because of bias I am trying to eliminate with this site**.  So, the next best thing in my mind was to find good, traditional, and hard-working schools that aligned with my work ethic and fed into my need for “old school” training.  I found those places.  Some were nationally and internationally affiliated and some were not.  However, all of the schools I trained with met my “old school,” hard training requirements.

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I have a long professional history with working for extremely large organizations such as the US Army.  I find the opportunity for growth, the ability to excel, and a certain comfort in being part of large organizations.  I also see the opportunity for untold success through striking out on your own and making your own way.  The very martial arts we practice were developed by individuals that, in the words of Frank Sinatra, did it their way.  They just happened to do it well enough to meet the needs of a great number of people.  Large companies share the same model in their history.  Hence, my original question: are national and international martial arts organizations still relevant?

My conclusion is this: no matter the size of the organization, if it meets your needs and the needs of others, you’ll be successful.  Like art, be yourself, allow room for growth, express yourself, and you’ll create amazing things.  I believe it’s all about what you are looking for as a student, and what you’re looking to build as an instructor.  If, as a student, you seek a place to train and be recognized for your previous training – much like I have in my years of travel and training – then being affiliated with national and international organizations is a good option.  If you feel you want to meet that type of need for your students, affiliating with such organization gives them that.  However, if you seek good training, are willing to set aside past status gained, and want to get after it, maybe you just need to let your technique speak for itself.  I have certainly trained with unaffiliated organizations that told me to wear my black belt after training with me for a couple of sessions.  And, if you want to bring that type of value and quality training to your students while remaining unaffiliated and striking out on your own, with your own merit and ideas driving you, then that’s your passion and path and you should pursue it with reckless abandon.

And, please remember, with everything, we are all connected, and have more in common, than we believe.