Listening to What I Already Heard
Even though I have been following Iain Abernethy for many years, it was my friend and great martial artist and physical therapist David Wallace who made me aware of this fundamentally important teaching of Mr. Abernethy’s. It was during this fascinating conversation with him that he mentioned that the meaning of ‘life protection’ for martial arts has many dimensions. “For him his training has to be both life preserving and life enhancing,” said David Wallace referring to his quote.
We hear ‘life protection’ and we think of street fights and self-defense. But protecting life is also enhancing life. If your Martial Arts training leads you to ruining your body, that’s not protecting life. If later in your life your joints hurt and you can barely walk, that’s not ‘life protection.’
Martial arts should protect your life too by enhancing it daily. They should be protecting and helping with your good health. They should enable your ease of movement and your ability to feel less disconnected between body and mind.
But is it Useful?
We like to pretend martial arts are practical here and now. The most obvious sense way is to fight if someone attacks us. But the reality is that most of us that will never have to use physical combat to protect our lives.. There are some professions and environments in which this still matters. And that’s not to be trivialized. But for most of us, the most important benefit we are going to get from our martial arts, after the fact that they make us happy, is our body-mind health.
Males (mostly) get fascinated by the brutal practices of Martial Arts. When I was young, I too, was more drawn to that aspect of the Martial Arts. But as I age (I am almost 50 now, and time has gone by so fast!) I am so thankful that life took me to a gentle practice that preserves and enhances our bodies, instead of wrecking them. Even though it was born in the context of life and death survival. And the same is true for our emotional and psychological balance. If our training isn’t helping us cope with our daily lives’ challenges, we are missing of the most beautiful aspects of this amazing practice.
Martial Arts are for Healing
Steve Smith is a Martial Artist that I admire beyond words. One of Mr. Smith’s excellent Teachers was Master Fook Yeung. Steve Smith has said several times that Master Fook Yeung taught that ‘Gung Fu is for healing.‘ If you want to know more about this you can listen to these interviews here and here. Mr. Smith trained extensively with the great Jesse Glover, too. Jesse Glover is well known for being Bruce Lee’s first Gung Fu student in Seattle. And was without a doubt a giant among Martial Artists in his own right.
Competition
Now, I do not mean to imply that our training shouldn’t be intense. It definitely should be. But ‘intense’ can mean many things to different people. To younger martial artists that wish to compete, I advise them to do so wholeheartedly. Competition can set an ‘objective’ standard of ‘success’ that many martial arts practices often lack. And it can be a very healthy thing to do in one’s journey. It is also good to have the experience of training really hard, without going too extreme. Training like this hardens our minds and our psyches to withstand the grief of life. Life is hard, we unavoidably discover. We find that intense training that pushes us can give us a well needed nudge of strength later on in life when we need it. I have a good friend named Zac Messinger who is a JiuJutsu practitioner, as well as a Muay Thai student. He often talks to me about the value of very intense training. Training like this uncovers dishonesty and self-deceit, which should be considered the main enemies of sincere martial artists. However much we actually progress in our Martial Arts Journey, let it be real, tested against non-cooperative resistance.
Arts should grow with you
Therefore, as one ages, the martial arts training must evolve and transform, instead of going away. I am proud to often say to my friends that I picked an Art (though I often feels the Art picked me) that will allow me to keep training as I age more and more, and that I will be able to do even as an old man with limited mobility and having lost most if not all of my athleticism (which I never had much of anyway 🙂 ).
I read once that in ancient China the way Gung Fu was taught included an organic evolution as the student matured. More physically demanding at first with the focus on the development of attributes. Gentler later on in life, with the focus on the application of body mechanics and even meditation practices. Gung Fu is everything, it’s all this put together and more. We owe it to our spouses and families, from a sense of love as well as sacred responsibility, to preserve ourselves so we can live long and in decent physical and mental health to be able to support and help our loved ones. As I age, I do not want to see my Wife having to be concerned that my Martial Arts has ruined my knees and I can’t walk, for example. In fact, it should be the opposite. The practice should rid us, in as much as it may be possible, of pains and anything that prevents us from living life fully. Our ancestors gave us a holistic training that enhances our lives, and whose aim is to allow us to enjoy life and devote ourselves more fully to the support of those around us! My friend Les Conn has often showed me these aspects of ancient Chinese Martial Arts. The ancients not only knew ‘how to fight,’ but more importantly they knew how to heal, and they advised physical and mental practices that would strengthen the bodies and minds of the students so they could live a good and healthy long life!
Look no further than…
My very own Teacher, George Lee, is my main inspiration in this endeavor. He’s been training most of his life, and Teaching for a big part of that life. However, that has not only not prevented, but it has enhanced his ability to be a healthy married man with children, in good health and able to love and support his family. His Gung Fu has indeed made him able to fight and defend himself, as well as able to point others in the Journey of self-development. And he is very serious about realistic training. That is in fact what made me feel I had ‘found home’ when I met him and he graciously offered to guide me. That his training included so much training ‘against the random’ instead of choreographed practice (which has its place in training, too, however, but in its right measure), and with a very aggressive and serious forward attitude. Yet, we know the limits of what we must do to preserve our bodies and to ensure they are being strengthened instead of weakened. Healed instead of injured. And his Gung Fu practice has above all made him a better person in the role he embodies in life. And in life, we don’t live for the love of someone else, where is the Joy after all?
To know more about this and other Martial Arts and Life topics, you can view my Vlog and Podcast as well as these Martial Journal-related articles: Martial Arts: Getting in Shape While Destroying Your Body by Louie Martin and The Weirdness and Joy of Returning to Training After an Injury by Melanie Gibson!
Francis can be contacted at francis.cordon@gmail.com, he is also an active Martial Arts YouTube Vlogger as well as the co-host of the Martial Arts Podcast ‘A Thousand Exits.’
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Enjoyed reading your article as I am also approaching 50 and looking to preserve and enhance my body while also being able to fight and defend myself.
Thank you so much for your comment!