The Gift of Failure for Christmas

Mushin University™ Self-Knowledge the Ultimate Knowledge

Most everything I have done in my life has blossomed from my passion for the martial arts. Although most of the time it seems to have sprung from a dung hill. Yet, I have noticed that martial arts have helped not only myself, but others to grow in three very distinct areas which are: Physically, mentally, and emotionally. The funny thing is that most of all these changes come filtered through strength, endurance and flexibility training that begins most of our martial art study. The martial arts changes our vision of how we see ourselves and the world. 

I studied martial arts on my own from FBI manuals as a kid and then from my first teacher who studied Kempo-jutsu in occupied Japan. It was a non-commercial type of instruction; on a one-on-one basis. I was to be his apprentice in magic but I had a strong interest in martial arts too so he showed me both. While pressure from churches my family attended, made it near impossible to study either magic or martial arts as both things were evil, in their sight. Many people from these groups even went so far as to tell me that my Asian friends and teachers were also evil. Still, I did manage to attend commercial schools now and again. These were mainly melting pot styles and/or Hapkido and Tae Kwon Do schools which at the time were called Korean Karate. 

Although I mainly worked in private situations, either from work or with basement/garage type schools and this happened from the late 60's to the late 80's. I had moved several times in my youth and continued to do so after I was married. This enabled me to train with many styles and mixed Americanized systems. The concepts of Jeet Kune Do (JKD) was a big influence on most of my teachers and myself. 

From my teen years out, I found that these teachings worked on the street. I learned this in single and multiple attacker confrontations as well as ambush situations throughout my life. I worked for doctors, lawyers, butchers and bakers to name a few jobs, I also worked in security and law enforcement. Because of some of my work, my background and upbringing I never trusted people and especially organizations. I always have held people off because of my experiences and I tell you this just to give you an idea of how hard it was for me to join my teacher’s organization. 

As it was, he hated the politics of martial arts and he had set up a primarily law enforcement type of family organization that covered an area of a few states. This set up worked well until he retired. My teacher was big into scenario based training, and he taught that everything was situational. It seems to me that the pedigree of the martial arts isn't as important as the value of the instruction. My first few instructors had given me confidence, awareness, along with a basis of hard training in grappling, strikes and throws but nothing in the way of concepts. It was merely a list of fitness goals and techniques required to go from rank to rank. That was where JKD came in and this changed things dramatically for me. 

Still, I knew something was missing that they were not willing to tell me or didn't know. This was where my greatest benefit in the martial arts was derived from an instructor that I met years into my development. While he didn't have a great pedigree in the arts he knew his stuff and most importantly he had experience in the field with non-cooperative individuals. So, even if others thought of him as a fake with a Soke title (which simply meant head of the federation to us), I didn't mind. He opened my eyes to study and encouraged me to train with other top ranked people. I was surprised when speaking with Joe Lewis that he knew the group that my teacher had come up through. My sensei had left his old group after he had achieved a 7th dan in karate, and a similar rank in jujutsu and a 4th in a Tomiki off shoot that had been specialized for LEO's, (law enforcement officers). 

At the time I joined his federation most of the leaders of the federation were LEO's. My sensei (Tom Manson), was in charge of three fifths of the districts in Ohio. He wrote the states sexual assault handbook along with another officer (master instructor in our federation). Plus, he taught armed and unarmed tactics to parole and probation officers, state troopers, county deputies, as well as municipal police departments. The tactics include pepper spray, shooting, hand-to-hand defense, rappelling, etc. and he was a gun armourer (certified by Glock, S&W and Colt), for the state. He also taught special classes that Federal Marshals, and the Langley type guys attended and I had the privilege to work with him. 

What drew me to his classes was that the men in his organization were on par with many of the greats that I had trained under. I was used to working with the likes of Joe Lewis, Bill Wallace, Michael DePasquale both Sr. and Jr. (Sr. was considered the father of American Ju-jitsu) and he had received the only lifetime achievement award from Black Belt Magazine before his passing in 2006. My sensei introduced me to men like John Saylor, Mark Shuey, and Tony Annesi to name a few, all of whom were inspirations. Tony Annesi's writings in particular had been a huge influence on me from my youth. 

More recently James Williams has opened my eyes to how the principles and teaching of the sword can future refine and polish our skills. This being that there are no good ways to trade blows with giant sized razor blades. The sword teaches us the importance of surviving conflict with modern applications in real world situations. From this we learn the spirit and mind of a warrior. 

Martial arts has been a gift to me as it gave me the confidence to stand up for others without having to go into a rage. It also helped me become self-deprecating to defuse situations or break down social barriers. Martial arts has inspired me to tackle areas where I had failed at before and it has helped me endure pain from injuries and try to work around them. Martial arts has taught me that failure is the biggest part of the gift of improvement.