Lawrence Tan
Toni Josephson

The Most Important Person In The Room

This week, I’m asking my students, “who is the most important person in the room?”  You may find the answer surprising.  I don’t know.  Let’s see.

I’m frustrated by something that I often encounter in teaching practical martial arts.   People want to learn how to fight, and to do that they study and practice a series of moves.  They work hard to get super fit.  They work hard to perfect their movement.  They can show you the best shape and the finest position, and hold it, unwavering.  They can do those moves in perfect synchronisation with their training partners.  The can break bricks.  They are strong.  Their patterns inspire spontaneous applause.  They really do look the part.

So what’s to be frustrated about?  Well, what they’re learning is to master themselves.  No small thing, that.  Some might say that’s the very essence of martial arts.  Indeed.  I would like to refine that point a little.  The essence, I would say, is to master yourself in the context of others.  There is merit in practicing movement and position, and of course that will in due course be of great benefit to your well being just on its own.  But if you want to learn to defend yourself, if you want to learn the martial in martial art, you need to learn how to move in relation to someone else.  Your moves and reactions must be not yours alone, but by way of a complex dance with the other person.  A dance in which you are leader or follower, but ultimately a dance in which, as you progress, will not need to be choreographed in advance.  To succeed, you need to think about them, not you.

For me, thinking not of yourself but of those around you is essential not just to heightening your awareness and honing your skills, it is also about overcoming ego.  We fail in martial arts when our ego takes hold, when we think of making ourselves look good instead of understanding and overcoming our opponent.  When we think that we must be most important, when we want to do things to show how good we are or how we are better than others, we are too wrapped up in ourselves to learn, and too focused on ourselves to understand how to overcome an opponent – which requires us, as I’ve said, to focus on them, not us.

Our emphasis in traditional martial arts on humility and helping others is, ultimately, not just good for the soul, it’s essential in allowing us to become complete martial artists.  You want to succeed?  Don’t just go through the motions of being humble, of being thoughtful.  It’s not just something we do to get a black belt.  It’s something which must be fully part of us for us.  When we focus on others, when we think of them first, only then are we on the way.

So who’s the most important person in the room?  The other person.

Neil Hall

http://www.lctkdwellbeing.com/

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The festival of lights, Diwali, will be celebrated over the next five days in India and other parts of the world. Stories, meanings and festivities vary by region and culture. It is an auspicious time – each day representing a different aspect of the holiday. It is a celebration of victory in its triumph of good over evil, freedom, of endings & new beginnings; welcoming prosperity and well being. Harvest is celebrated and the new lunar year is ushered in. Lamps and candles are lit.

The illumination is significant. Light is a comfort to man, but it also dispels the darkness of ignorance and fear. Lighting a lamp represents knowledge. It is also the light of community and compassion — light is a shared experience. Light is a symbol of our human experience and its evolution from survival to illumination. Ultimately, the festival symbolizes awareness of the inner light. Wordsworth said, “his high endeavors are an inward light that makes the path before him always bright.” For the Evolving Martial Artist, the true goal lies beyond the battlefield or the ring…we fight for the light. May we all find our way.

Happy Diwali to all of our friends celebrating.

Toni Josephson