Issue 107

November 2013

How the ways of the ancient warrior can set you on the path to being a winner.

Consciousness, intention, awareness and focus – these all play a huge role in martial arts competition. And yet little is taught about them or even known about them within today’s MMA community. However, if you study the old texts and read about ancient martial arts heroes, it’s all they seem to talk about. So why do they appear to have been discarded?

Well, we must remember that mixed martial arts as we know it is a still a relatively new sport, with the first UFC event being held 20 years ago. If you compare the MMA champions of the ‘90s with the champions of today you can see a huge difference in the level of skill as well as differences in styles. That’s because this sport is evolving, and will continue to evolve for a long time. 

Back in the day, when battles were decided with fisticuffs and hand-held weapons, martial skills were developed and taught with one idea in mind: kill or be killed. Efficiency was paramount, and the knowledge of how to fight was passed down and refined through generations over hundreds and even thousands of years.

It seems logical that the MMA of today will eventually come full circle and start to merge with the ways of old. Of course, the main aim nowadays is not to kill your opponent, but there is still much to be learned from how the warriors of the past prepared both their body and mind for battle.

People are quick to write off some of the ‘traditional’ training methods because they can’t see how they can be put to practical use in today’s modern world; and it’s no wonder because so much of the good stuff has been lost since the introduction of gunpowder and the propensity to settle arguments with a bullet. Plus, the purity and efficiency of many of these martial arts have been obscured by flowery movements.

In this article we will be looking at how internalizing your strengths and weaknesses, and fears and hopes, can set you off on the path to becoming a better fighter and a more rounded human being; and hopefully you’ll come to understand what the old masters, such as Bruce Lee, were talking about when advising their students to “be like water.” 

Over the years, many of the legendary martial artists have advocated the introduction of Zen meditation into training regimes, and it’s unlikely it’s just a coincidence that a large proportion of them – apart from Bruce, of course – have gone on to live long and healthy lives, while also excelling in a variety of the other arts, such as calligraphy, philosophy and medicine. And to expand your mental horizons can only be a positive thing.

In fact, there is much cross over in today’s society, as many fields are starting to realize and gain interest in the workings of the mind, from quantum physics to sports science. People are beginning to realize the significance of positive and negative thought-patterns, and the ways our emotions have an effect on our performance. 

It seems, the main training tool currently overlooked by most MMA fighters is indeed meditation. Meditation is the best way to develop awareness. Think of yourself as a sphere. By increasing your awareness you increase the size of your sphere, which will also expand your connection to your surroundings. 

Just picture this familiar scene in the old movies: a master quietly sitting cross-legged in a peaceful setting while awaiting the arrival of a young student so they can be taught in the ways of nature. There is a reason why this scene is an integral part of any classic martial arts film, and that’s because meditation brings so many benefits that are crucial to reaching greater heights as a martial artist, and are necessary to advance one’s abilities once basic movements and skills have been acquired.

More and more of the top fighters today are using meditation as a tool, and some like to publicly talk about this side of their training. Anderson Silva is well known for using Steven Seagal as one of his teachers, and although many write this off as some kind of publicity stunt, it’s this open-mindedness and desire to continue learning that made Anderson the champion he was. Seagal is a high-level aikido practitioner, and aikido falls under the ‘internal style’ banner, because of its deep philosophical roots that transcend technique.

And then there is Jon ‘Bones’ Jones, one of MMA’s current best pound-for-pound champs, who regularly talks about using the ‘Law of Attraction’ to help him achieve his success. Again, we are talking about the workings of the mind: first we must become aware of our thought-patterns and then tailor them to bring ourselves fully in alignment with our goals. 

So, we can see how the current cream of the crop in mixed martial arts are using internal methods to help them, and perhaps it’s about time this information was made readily available to all.

What makes internal styles known as such is determined by the principles on which they are based. For example, one of these is never using force against force, or yang against yang. Basically, if you think of yin as soft and yang as hard, then the main aim in the internal styles is to yield (yin) to the opponent’s force until their force is spent – unlike in Muay Thai where there is a lot of attrition involved in exchanging blow for blow. 

As their yang turns to yin, you accordingly allow your yin to change to yang, and now you are attacking them when they are most vulnerable. This is an efficient way to duel, which means using less energy; and who doesn’t want that? But if you’re still a little unsure about the concept of yin and yang, and the need to find a balance with everything you do in life, then just take a look at the diagram and explanatory notes.

The annotated image depicts the dualistic nature of reality, and demonstrates many important concepts that become extremely useful for martial arts when properly understood. Everything contains the seed of its opposite. When taken to its extreme, anything will turn into its opposite.

An easy way to see this demonstrated is in our climatic seasons. The peak of summer’s heat is followed by the beginning of winter’s cold. Another example is of day being immediately followed by night, and so on. Life is a fractal, which means we can see the same universal patterns/principles recurring no matter how large or small a scale we study. The trick is being able to spot them.

The diagram also depicts how everything is a part of a cycle. Within these cycles one can observe phases/seasons, which are a result of the difference in balances between yin and yang. As we become more aware of the seasonal nature of life, then we can start to harmonize with, rather than resist, the changes. ‘Going with the flow’ is a common saying which reflects this idea, and is an excellent tool to free us from suffering in everyday life. 

Suffering is caused by a resistance to what is, and reflects an inability to let go of our expectations and fixed ideas. The reason champions like Jones and Georges St Pierre are so successful is because of their ability to keep learning. For this to happen, we have to be able to remain open-minded. It is much harder to receive something new if we are not open to receiving it. This way of being can be trained, like all things can be, and the internal styles have tried and tested methods for doing so. 

The methods that teach us to be more comfortable with change involve the training of the nervous system, which is a totally foreign concept to most people. Being able to feel changes that are taking place in our nervous system, and working to strengthen and open it up, brings many martial advantages. 

Health benefits aside, a trained nervous system will allow us to access and remain ‘in the zone’ for competition. With this improved ability to react naturally and calmly to change, we can begin to enter the state of fighting ‘in the moment’ that all the greats talk about. 

We can remain fully present while engaged in combat, rather than finding our mind wandering off and being distracted. These ‘gaps’ in consciousness are what led to most defeats at the upper echelon of competition, rather than it being the case of one fighter far-outweighing the opponent in terms of skill or endurance.

YIN AND YANG

The yin/yang diagram often used as the symbol for tai chi chuan – the most popular of the internal styles. Tai chi chuan can be translated as ‘grand ultimate fist.’