I recently have been thinking about martial arts (and jiu-jitsu), and why I love them so much. I have never wanted to be a martial artist, or thought about having a black belt in jiu-jitsu, but I am in love with the art. I also love yoga, but not in the fitness way, instead, in the way it used to be, where you found someone to learn with who had mastered it.
I have been thinking about why I love both martial arts and yoga so much, compared to other forms of physical movement and expression. I did MMA and I did not love training for combat in the ring. So what makes those two different. Today, I realized it is because of mastery. Both martial arts (specifically jiu-jitsu for me) and yoga are designed to train you for mastery. You progress in skill of your mental mind, of your physical body, in your movement, and in your technique and you work towards mastery of fighting. You are trained to be a warrior at every level.
At the same time, you are working towards self-mastery, which means discipline and focus and the ability to master your own life. At its deepest levels, both yoga and martial arts training can cleanse and purify your system, and release you from trauma, bad behaviors, negative patterns of thought, and violent tendencies. It can make you quit addictions and seek a more moral path. There are stories I’ve read, where intense training just changed peoples lives and they gave up everything. They quit having cravings for material possessions, they did not care about achievement, or winning, they did not even care about fighting. They went beyond fighting.
There is a mastery of reality beyond the senses (an unseen reality) where you can see and know with your body, with your intuition, and with senses that go beyond the physical form. This can be referred to as recognizing, knowing, and reading “energetic patterns.” You begin sensing with your body, and you do not have to see reality to master it. You begin to know it even without thought.
Finally, there is spiritual mastery. This is mastery also of an unseen reality, but it goes even beyond energy. It goes beyond everything. It is mastery of a transcendent reality.
I don’t know of any other sports or types of physical training and expression that prioritize or privilege mastery. They may exist, but I have found nothing like martial arts and yoga, that enables training for mastery in its most complete form.
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Photo of 10th Planet Oceanside
