Quantum Leap

A true martial artist never ceases to be a student. There is so much knowledge out there that one can never truly master it all.  I have studied, more accurately dabbled, in many different arts but my life has been devoted to only one. The deeper I delve into my style I realize just how many layers there are to the style. One lifetime is not enough to master it all.

This past year I have been concentrating on passing on more advanced knowledge to my black belts. I am hoping to spark a quantum leap in the style’s development. What fascinates and frustrates me is that I have had the knowledge I possess right now for a lot longer than I had realized. I had the knowledge, I just did not understand it.  Maturity and experience were missing when I was at my physical peak. My ego was too busy being fed by my physical prowess that I did not pay attention to exactly what was going on. I lacked the insight to properly apply what my body knew. Five knee surgeries later and now the understanding arrives? I am beyond my physical prime and I feel I have lost an opportunity that was in front of me for over thirty years.

I realize that the opportunity is not completely lost. As an instructor with experience, if I can pass my understanding on to someone in their physical prime, a quantum leap can still be made. I suspect my instructors did their best to get me to see more when I was younger but I obviously did not have what it took to listen mindfully at that time. Bruce Lee and Morihei Ueshiba are two examples in the recent past who took their instructors’ knowledge and made quantum leaps that defined them as two of history’s greatest martial artists. One does not have to wait for maturity, one just needs to learn to listen with intent.

“Information is not knowledge.” - Albert Einstein (1970 - 1955)