A Humbling Experience

A Humbling Experience: I came to America to train with martial arts legend Stephen Hayes to find enlightenment. I was expecting to learn the mystical teaching of the ninja and to go home empowered. Enlightenment, however, comes in many forms and not all of them very easy to go through. Those of you who know me well with know that I am a very experienced martial artist and that I have Black belts in multiple styles and am both a Regional fencing champion and four times UK National Martial Arts Association champion (Kuk Sool Won). So I came to America thinking I had a very firm base to build on.
I was wrong.
In a recent session with Master Hayes I found myself completely unable to do anything. Every action I made defeated me. Compared to the art he is teaching here my previous combat methods seem childish. For more details on this interchange are going to have to buy my book when it comes out 🙂
To be honest it’s quite of nasty fall. I have a tendency to boast and build my past successes up. Its a hard dent to the pride when you can’t live up to your own hype!
The interesting thing I learning in that in Ninjitsu through the Five elements of Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, and Void you learn a lot about yourself. How you cope under pressure in the dojo tends to be very much how you deal with stressful situations in life.
More on this later.