First Blog Post

What is a Martial Artist? Or better yet, what is an artist?

I see it as this: an art is a practice, something that you do everyday. Rain or shine, you show up to put the time in.

Now, that seems simple enough, "do the thing, gain the power" as Emerson said; lately I have been starting to understand what that actually means. The power is not in the thing that is being done but in how it is done. The work is not in just showing up and passively mimicking the form, you have to become the form itself and give it permission to move you.

It is easy to learn how to throw a cross properly; start with your hands up, pivot on your rear foot, fire it straight from your cheek, turn your shoulder over, and sink your weight, anyone can do that. The true freedom within technique is that it points to something the everybody already has, which is the potential for conscious participation now often referred to as the flow state. The mind can be a prison and I have learned that it may be set free by letting go and submitting to the process. In a fight, what has been trained will be echoed in real time. This is why art is such a valuable and revered thing, it speaks to something that we all have been gifted with, a sacred moment in which to forget yourself. Art gives us space, breath and an empty moment. This process is never ending, whether you are a scientist, an athlete, a chef or a parent. The process is the purpose and the purpose is life. Fighting is something I do because it is the only way I am able to approach this task, every single day in way that is honest to my own nature. It is a beautiful paradox and it silences the compulsion to think my way through life. It is peace.