"Get Over Yourself" And Other Thai Pad Lessons.

When I started training at MKG back in the summer of 2000, I was starting up something that I put off for close to 10 years.

  I always loved martial arts as a kid and studied very traditional TaeKwonDo back in 1980 for about 1.5 yrs. and I loved it! I had it in the back of my mind go back into martial arts but I was way too caught up in other sports.

  At age 30, I decided to finally take that first step and at least try it out. I stumbled on to MKG by accident. I had no idea what these mixture of arts were or that you could train martial arts to rock music wearing T-shirts and shorts!

  But I fell in love with it pretty instantaneously.

  Not only could see that this training was helping me with some psychological and behavioral issues I was dealing with at the time (I’ll get into some more of this in another article), but I was also seeing physical improvements like dropping a shirt and waist size!

What I wasn’t really aware of until farther into my training, were the hidden lessons that were waiting for me, ready to reveal some of the “egoic” traps within my psyche.


  Here’s one example…

  I was hitting Thai pads in class and my training partner was, for better or worse, a guy who could sometimes illicit quite a bit of aggression in me. Which is a nice way of saying this guy really pissed me off.

  So while working our knees in a conditioning drill, I was really trying to let him have it. I was driving those knees into the pads with all the power and rage as I could muster. My partner could handle it, but I wanted him to be uncomfortable and…let’s say I was working some things out.

  Now, at the time of starting at MKG martial arts, I was coming into it with some significant injuries, one being a very unstable left knee, which, while trying to destroy a set of Thai pads, completely buckled and I fell to the ground.

  My partner didn’t know I had knee issues so he couldn’t help himself but to laugh at what seemed like a goofy mishap on my part, which made it all the worse.

  I lost my cool.
  
  I walked off the floor and into the back where I began to throw my gloves and equipment into my locker and then stormed out of the dojo.

Basically, I threw a tantrum.
 
My self created identity as a “badass” was exposed. I was weak. At least that’s how my ego processed it.

I was trying to exert myself physically, with the wrong intention, but the reality of physical limitations threw a big monkey wrench into the perception I had of myself.
 
But that wasn’t the real lesson.

Guro Andy Wilson is a man of few words. He doesn’t come off as an imposing figure and he can seem a bit awkward and shy (especially back then), but in reality he is extremely bright, insightful, and wise.

  When I returned to training, we sat down and went more into how my partner was irritating me and that it’s such a bummer that my knee is jacked, etc.
  
  But what he said was very straightforward and to the point;
 
“You have no right to bring the class down because of your problem.”

Holy crap he’s right!

I was being a big selfish baby, a spoiled brat!

This is not about me!

The movement of the training, the art that we are blessed to have been gifted to us by people who sacrificed so much, in some cases, their lives, is much bigger than our personal problems, our physical limitations, or who we “think” we are.

  In fact, that’s a big reason we train; to put those personal issues past us and in perspective and to concentrate on what we are doing in the moment.

  How could I forget that very moment I realized I wanted to be a part of the Inosanto lineage and dedicate my time to this art was when I was training JKD in Los Angeles and was partnered up with a guy in a wheelchair who had cerebral palsy?
(*The man’s name is Sifu Clay Johnson if you want to look him up.)


  Here I am bringing down the rest of the class because I’m feeling sorry for myself and my damaged knee. What would Sifu Clay have to say?

  I am so very grateful to Sifu Andy Wilson for that lesson…one of many that have surfaced through training martial arts.

  I try very hard to remember this in my day to day life as well as on the mats. So many in the martial arts community have reminded me, through their determination and selflessness, to…well basically, “get over yourself!”