I will no longer be posting on this blog. For latest articles on this topic please go to http://bit.ly/147T4py. Soon you will be able to download a free copy of the Psyche and Martial Arts book from http://ceu.academia.edu/IuliusCezarMacarie.

What have Martial Arts got to do with the Psyche?

 

(Image from own collection of Birgit Zagler’s works)

This post has been published on my new blog A Journey of Self-realisation. Apologies for cross posting.

I met someone who is a young practitioner of Taekwondo and as I was saying to her that I published a book on Self-realisation through martial arts she immediately asked me 'what does martial arts have to do with psychology?' I answered to her that I reviewed a range of evidence coming from short and longitudinal studies, which show that for the past 30-40 years various researchers have been studying the psychological/therapeutic benefits on the practitioners of martial arts. They found various effects from reducing aggressiveness in adults and school pupils, increased emotional stability, increase of self-confidence and self-esteem. Whilst these aspects are very interesting and useful to know or good motivations for anyone inspired to practice traditional martial arts to gain such benefits I am more interested in the relationship between the Self-development through martial arts. Self-development or Self-realisation, from an Analytical Psychology perspective, being a process which nurtures the development or journey of personal Self-realisation. This journey is a quest for the meaningful and wholeness. Carl G. Jung described this journey as 'a never ending journey towards wholeness of the Self'. Psychologically, there are a serious of transformations that we need to engage with; like overcoming the opposites within one's psyche (e.g. sensuality versus spirituality) or finding a balance between the opposites within one's mind to bring calm and peace. More broadly though, imagine that whilst we're striving for various goals during our lives the more we aim towards the meaningful ones, such as inner calm or equanimity, being concerned with others' well-being and peace the more meaningful the journey it becomes.

Martial arts, I think, provides the support and challenge for the practitioner who dares to tread into the the depth of her/his character. With continuous Self-introspection and corrections from the Sensei (and my Sensei pointed this to me recently) the practitioner engages in an ongoing questioning, which eventually brings some answers. In the Shotokan Karate Magazine, issue 109, Mike Clarke Sensei has written an article called Difficult Research. He says, that often he advises his students '...the reasons you have for training will dictate the kind of training you will put yourself through'. More often than not it proves a difficult path not taken by many. I see it as an exploration which starts without knowing what you're going to find, maybe a twinkling star or more likely a coarse piece of coal that will take years of hard work and perspiration. Karate and Aikido in my experience, have given me several opportunities to work at my own Self-development, but in the beginning this was not obvious to me. Even now, nothing comes in flashes of inspiration. Currently, I continuously watch out for protuberances in my ego to take 'them out'.

Mike Clarke Sensei wrote once that Karate reveals not builds one's character , and I agree with him. I think that Karate is for a Karate-ka what s/he makes of it. As our character develops our Karate reveals what it is it we are looking to find in it and the meaning we give to it at the time. For example, in my early years of Karate I was looking to find strength, to make me strong and powerful. I was looking to gain from Karate what I was missing. Later, I understood that beyond the strength I was looking for security and safety, which indicates my insecurity and searching for the opposite in Karate or Aikido, which I did at the time. Now, I see it as a continuous challenge and the area where I am most challenged in my Karate training (and at this moment in my development) seems to be often connected to my ego.  No doubt this will evolve as my training continues - and it will be interesting where it will take me. Being aware of this aspect is really important for any martial artist's Self-development. If we're able to keep the dialogue between the ego (and all we consciously aiming to achieve) and the Self (the very essence of our being) I think chances are we will develop and discover what we already are. In the Eastern thought, awakening or enlightenment are two concepts which Carl G. Jung researched and discovered in both his own exploration of the unconscious and that of his patients. He named it wholeness or Self-realisation (if you got so far click here to read an excerpt from the chapter I wrote on this concept).

I think that for those martial artists inclined to look beyond the obvious there is so much more that martial arts offers to its practitioners then it is often perceived. The martial arts' spiritual and psychological dimensions engage the martial artists' psyche in a continuous metamorphoses as long as s/he has the willingness, passion, dedication, patience, discipline and concentration to engage in this kind of journey of Self-discovery. There may be as many ways to express the infinity of challenges martial arts offers as there are martial artists who care to find those challenges in their own training. I came across this quote which serves as a blurp for the Martial Arts Dictionary written and published in French by Louis Frédéric in 1988 (I have the Romanian edition, 1993). In the preface of this dictionary Michel Random opens the first paragraph with the following lines, which I translated from Romanian.

“The Martial Arts are a Universe in itself, passionate,
And which the man could not discover in all its complexity
Not even if s/he would be given more lives in a row.
It is obvious and at the same time secretive and hidden to the naked eye.
Full, at each of its steps and levels,
Of surprising meanings that take us afar in our thoughts
Beyond the art of war and even that of battle,
As if engaging us on an adventure in which
The man would aim to discover the source of the energy’s essence.”

Michel Random. Preface in Martial Arts Dictionary by Louis Frédéric. Editura Enciclopedica. Bucuresti, 1993.

Original text:
'Artele martiale sint un univers in sine,
pasionat,
pe care omul
nu l-ar putea descoperi
in toata complexitatea lui
nici daca i-ar fi dat
sa traiasca mai multe vieti in sir.
O lume evidenta
si totodata tainica,
ascunsa vederii.
Plina, la fiecare din treptele si nevelurile ei,
se intelesuri surprinzatoare, ce ne duc cu gindul departe, dincolo de mestesugul razboiului
si chiar de cel al bataliei,
anagajindu-ne parca
intr-o avenutra
in care omul ar urmari
sa descopere
esenta originara a energiei."