2011 February | Personal Defense Martial Arts

The Soul/Body connection in Martial Arts

People have many reasons for learning martial arts. Some students study to learn to defend themselves, others use it as a form of getting in shape or just as a way of meeting people. When it comes to children most parents sign their kids up to teach discipline. If you were to listen in on a children’s call in my Dojo you would hear me and other senseis telling the students the importance of discipline in school work, family chores as well as their Jiu Jitsu training. We also teach respect for parents, teachers and those in authority as well as the sensei’s.

Increasingly students are motivated by a desire for inner fulfillment, a spiritual component that is missing from their lives. People can feel an inner disconnect they feel segmented and they want to feel unified “at one” with themselves. Martial arts in uniquely suited to this quest because it acknowledges and promotes this idea. When we train we talk about being relaxed tension stops the flow of physical energy slows down both mental and physical actions. In our training we seek to be in a place where there is a flow. It is not thinking and doing there is only doing. The student’s goal is to become one with the the moment and one with himself. To embrace life as it presents itself to him at this particular time and place. You can see the same phenomenon in sports. You will hear people say they are “in the zone”. They will describe it as just without thinking they are doing everything right. There is just a kind of flow. There is a unification of will and execution, of mind and body, of soul and body. In our training we develop this ability through Ki breathing and repetition. Ki breathing is similar to relaxation techniques, we seek to concentrate on our mind controlling our breathing thereby linking mind and body. This unification increases speed and effectiveness in the execution of techniques in training and also real life situations. A side benefit of this is a feeling of inner peace. Why is this so?

This is because we were created to be unified. People are made up of two aspects, a spiritual(soul,spirit) and the physical(body). the Bible states that when GOD created man He made man’s body out of the dust of the ground and then breathed into to him the breath of life and man became a “living soul”. You can see that initially there is a unification in God’s creation of man. That is why there is a sense of fulfillment when this unification is reached. The danger of this however is that it can become a religion. this is a danger because in searching for this fulfillment and finding some of it in this unification we miss the ultimate fulfillment which is unification with God Himself. We where made to know and glorify God anything less than that will leave us unfulfilled. So the big question is: How do I become one with God? The Bible states the only way to God is through Jesus Christ ( St. John 14:6) Jesus says;”I am the way, the truth, the life no one comes to the Father but through Me” When Jesus came to earth he lived a perfect life and then was crucified and rose again to pay the price for our sin. When a person acknowledges he is a sinner (as we all truly are), turns to God submits to the Lordship of Christ and trusts in His death on the cross to pay for his sin he receives eternal life and a loving intimate relationship with God. So my instruction to all those who seek fulfillment though martial arts is don’t stop there true fulfillment can only come though Jesus Christ.

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