Letter to the editor of Martial Arts Professional Magazine

I enjoyed the column and offer my perspective on it.

We can teach martial sport or martial science, but to teach martial arts, we must first acknowledge the origin of martial arts. Most practitioners agree that China, more specifically the Shaolin Temple in the Hunan Province, is the birthplace of martial arts. Bodidharma, the founder of martial arts, incorporated a physical discipline into a spiritual path. martial techniques and meditation as a path to higher states of awareness and understanding is the deepest purpose of martial arts. Like it or not, our practice has spiritual roots. Spiritual development is as much a part of martial arts as holding your breath is to going under water.

So the question is, why would we decide not to teach the real goal of martial arts? The answer is that teaching punches and kicks is less offensive. Customers come to us for self-defense and to get into shape. They workout and get in shape, as well as learn how to fight. When we play it safe, no one is offended, and we make money. The problem is that our customers never become students of the martial arts. A real student of the martial arts must see their practice as more than simply punches and kicks.

I found it interesting that in the same issue of Martial Arts Professional Billy Blanks was quoted as saying, “Jesus Christ was a perfect person and they crucified him. I’m a man born into sin. What do you think they’re going to do to me?” It seems that a “Christian” religious overtone is acceptable, but an eastern overtone is immediately questioned. The martial arts do not have “Christian” roots, but they do have spiritual roots.

I feel that it may be necessary to make a distinction between spiritual development and religion. My students work on spiritual development but they practice many different religions. They are encouraged to study what they believe, and then to follow that faith to the best of their ability. With over 400 students, the largest percentage of our students are Christian, but many are Muslims, Hindus, Jews, Buddhists, Taoists, and a handful of agnostics and atheists. Historically, we have seen great martial artists from many disciplines that all followed different religious beliefs. Bodidharma, Chang San- Feng, Ueshiba, Funakoshi, Kano-Judo. All of these great masters were believed to be in their prime in their later years of life. Usually, no athlete is in his or her physical prime after the age of sixty or more. However, each of these great masters clearly understood that the practice of martial arts is a mental and spiritual discipline as well as a physical discipline. Each master achieved greatness within their art, because they mastered their minds and their bodies. All of these great masters viewed the art as sacred, although they had different religious convictions.

When we teach the truth, there will be certain individuals that will be offended. People have quit our programs because we bow, meditate, and the most ridiculous, because we count in a foreign language. On the other hand, so many others have had their lives influenced and improved because I teach the deepest philosophical and spiritual aspects of the practice. Society is starving for a deeper reason to practice, and I believe that they want and deserve the truth.

Respectfully yours,
Sifu Robert Brown

Sifu Brown is the author of the Lessons in Mindfulness program and owner of two martial arts schools in southeast Michigan. For more information, go to the website, http://www.zenmartialarts.com

Letter to the editor of Martial Arts Professional Magazine

I enjoyed your article in the January issue “Superior Black Belts, Inferior Teacher.” I believe that many of us can identify with this example.

As martial artists, many of us once believed the goal was to develop great fighters. Tough tenacious individuals that could and would do anything for the art or their instructor. NAPMA has referred to these types of dojos as dungeon schools. They are generally dirty, and the instructors brag about how tough their student body is— all 40 of them. Many believe that the more students you have, the more you have sold out. It is this attitude and emphasis on students breaking boards and bricks, winning trophies, doing push-ups on their knuckles, and fighting full contact, that has given martial arts the kind of attendance that we have come to expect and accept in the west. There is, of course, significant value in these activities, but is this the primary image we want to project to the general public as martial artists? The highest percentage of the population that has ever practiced in the U.S. at any given time in history is a mere 1 to 1.5%.

I agree with Mr. Graden; the general public knows what we offer and have chosen not to attend. They would rather do aerobics, run or do almost anything else for exercise than participate in a traditional martial arts program. Maybe the problem is the perception of what we are offering and how we are offering it. From a business perspective, finding out what the market desires, and then providing just that, is the quickest way to fill our schools. As attractive as this sounds, would we really be teaching martial arts? The real danger is that our programs become so watered down, and we become so concerned with the market needs that we change and alter our program with each passing trend. We eventually lose any hint of what we once were.

I think the ACMA is a step in the right direction to help educate our industry in how to better serve all of our target markets. This is a good start; however, there is no easy fix. It is a constant never-ending battle to learn and grow as a professional in this industry. Most of us have spent ten times as much time and energy on developing our technical ability that our individual arts demand. Although this is crucial, good technical ability is just one piece of the puzzle. We need to spend time and energy on our ability to teach. This can be broken down to communicating and motivating our students. I think we are capable of finding more ways of inspiring our students than just giving them rank.

Rather than altering our programs to gain acceptance from the market we need to alter our image. Martial arts in the United States has been perceived as individuals who are mostly blue collar, tough, young, and militaristic. They fight at the drop of a hat and gain great ego gratification from being tough and macho. In recent years, dojos have become a great place to bring little Johnny or Judy for discipline, self-control, confidence, and developing their concentration. Martial arts can be a wonderful program for kids, but we have almost fallen into the realms of gymnastics, or T ball. “It is great for my kids, but I’m too old for that.”

We must change the public perception from one of fighting and self-defense to a path for living healthy and creating satisfying lives, which is the epitome of martial arts. If our society understood how profoundly their lives would be affected through the practice of martial arts, I don’t believe that we would have to chase the market, but rather the market would truly chase us.

Sifu Robert Brown is the author of the Lessons in Mindfulness program and owner of two martial arts schools in southeast Michigan. For more information go to http://www.zenmartialarts.com