Introduction

The work before you is the result of both my research as a graduate student in Psychodynamics of Human Development and of Karate-do. My formal introduction to the Martial Arts (MAs) training started during my military service in my former home, Romania. For the most part of the sixteen years that have passed since I have been consistent in my training and study of Karate-do. Although, there have been times when life events have swayed me away from training. In the past eight years however, my training and research into the methods of Karate-do have run side by side with my studies and work in the field of Psychology. It is perhaps inevitable that I started to make links between these two journeys.

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The focus of this book is on the role MAs play in the martial artists' self-development and the process Carl Gustav Jung referred to as Individuation or metaphorically as a journey of Self-realisation towards wholeness. Throughout the book, the reader will find terms such as wholeness, Self-realisation, self-transformation, and personal realization or development of personality, the path to self-development, the middle path, and the way of the warrior. Such terms could be seen to have various meanings. This is not the case here; they are metaphors for Individuation, the term originally used by Jung and fundamentally connected to Self’s quest for meaning and transformation. So, to limit confusion I will use the word Individuation only when I cite Jung‟s own words. Thereafter, I use Self-realisation.
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This book is divided in three main parts. The first focuses on MAs or the Way of the Warrior, and examines the psychological/therapeutic and spiritual aspects of MAs, ... The second part focuses on Jung's vision of Self-realisation and specifically psyche's aspects involved in this process. ... The final part presents the martial artists' profiles who graciously agreed to participate in this study and the meanings they make of their experiences as martial artists.
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