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Martial Arts is About Expressing Emotions, By John Graden
A few years back, I interviewed motivational guru Anthony Robbins. I was an invited guest at his fire walk in Orlando, Fla., where I joined over 1,600 attendees in a stroll across hot coals. In preparing us for the experience, Tony said there were two key techniques. First, repeat aloud the mantra "cool moss" as you walked across the coals. Then he spent about two hours discussing the ability to control your mental state through physical actions. The message was that motion leads to emotion. As a demonstration, he broke two boards with a skip sidekick. He then encouraged everyone to create his or her own "power move." This power move, combined with uttering the mantra "cool moss," would help us create a powerful state that would allow us to do virtually anything, including walking across the hot coals.
It was interesting to watch this diverse group of men and women - mostly from sales professions and other occupations where motivational courses are part-and-parcel of the program. They were screaming and contorting their faces. Many were trying to do a martial arts type move.
Once he had the room in an appropriate state of frenzy, he led us all outside to ten rows of coals. At the front of each row were two of his volunteers. When it was your turn to cross the coals, each "Robbinite" would look you in the eyes to determine if you were "in the proper state" ensuring that you would shuffle instead of sizzle.
This is where it got interesting for me. I've never been one to get worked up about things like this. When I kickboxed, I didn't get nervous. I never thought jumping around working myself into a frenzy did anything but show my opponent my insecurity about the fight. Rather, I would walk over to my opponent's corner, smile, shake his hand and wish him the best. That's not to say I wasn't focused, intense and ready to crush his face. I was. I just didn't need to punch the lockers before the fight to get ready.
I was next in line to cross the coals. The "Robbinite" looked me in the eyes and didn't see the level of frenzy she expected. She determined I was not ready to cross. She insisted I show her my "power move" so I could get in the appropriate state. I started to laugh, but quickly realized she would pull me from the line if I didn't fling a chop and snarl. In my life, I have skydived, bungee jumped (scariest of all) and fought in world title matches. I definitely wanted to add walking across hot coals to my bragging rights, so I threw a quick combination and off I went.
The walk was warm, but no problem. A minute or so later, as I was talking with friends, I noticed a super-heated pebble lodged between my toes. It was too late to "cool moss" that sensation away. Ouch! That was Friday night. On Saturday and Sunday, Tony continued working with the group to help them, "Turn Fear into Power." On Monday, I returned to interview him for my TV show.
As a demonstration of how his method accelerated the time it takes to learn something, he had earned his black belt in eight months with Jhoon Rhee. He was very enthused about the martial arts and seemed to enjoy the hour or so we spent talking. In the interview, he made a point that was significant. He said that the martial arts is about expressing emotions. The only other person I ever heard say that was Bruce Lee in his Lost Interview (a must have, by the way). Bruce said, "Ultimately, martial art means honestly expressing yourself."
When I first heard them from Tony and then later Bruce, I thought not only had I never heard of such an idea, but it also flew in the face of what I have observed through the years in the arts. To me, martial arts had been about conformity and repeating the past. What gave me or anyone else the right to create something new?
While we all trumpet the confidence-building benefits of martial arts, it seems the expression of yourself as a confident human being is only truly appreciated by our colleagues to the degree it conforms to the accepted way as defined by the past. As I can attest first hand, to express your feelings, opinions and ideas honestly is not always met with high regard.
Still, all of the progress we have made in the martial arts is a direct result of those who were confident enough to express themselves honestly. Bruce Lee, Joe Lewis, Jhoon Rhee, Gichin Funaskoshi, Mas Oyama and others paved a way for us to enjoy a professional lifestyle as a martial artist. Indeed, they blazed the trail for the ground- breaking efforts of today's leaders like Ernie Reyes, Sr. and Billy Blanks. Think of the evolution from the first public karate demonstration in 1918 in Okinawa by Funakoshi to today's complex performances by Ernie and his incredible team. Would Tae-Bo have ever come about if Jhoon Rhee didn't put forms to music in the mid-70s? Who knows?
Truthfully, our lifestyle as martial arts professionals would not be possible if it weren't for those confident enough to express themselves honestly. Progress is not only good, but it's critical to the survival of the arts. Sure, no one will ever agree on every aspect of the arts, regardless of the source and its truth. However, if the martial arts is truly about self-confidence, then encouraging its participants to question, express feelings and suggest ideas needs to be encouraged instead of discouraged.
We don't need to walk across hot coals to understand that the goal of martial arts is to become totally self-dependent. That means, as John Bradshaw teaches, we progress towards becoming a human "being." This is defined as someone who feels they have the right to feel, to desire, to question and to simply "be" as opposed to a human "doing".
A human "doing" is simply playing a role - conforming to what he or she feels will please his or her system. This is repression instead of expression. Certainly, martial arts is not about "dishonestly repressing yourself." However, the arts can only really be about confidence to the degree that we encourage people to pioneer, progress and create new ideas, approaches and methods.