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Sensei Joseph Hurtsellers: Hi this Joe Hurtsellers from ohiomartialarts.com and welcome to my podcast. Most people think of martial arts as something that going to be really difficult and hard, and that they’re concerned if they’ll be able to do it. Well we’ve made our passion making martial arts techniques simple, enjoyable, and easy for the average person.

Most people know that there’s an internal mental part of the martial arts too, but so often those things that been made complicated, and difficult, and hard to understand. The purpose of this show is to take complex mental aspects of the martial arts and break them down so that they’re so simple and enjoyable that the average person can put them to use in everyday life. Welcome to Mindpower. I hope you enjoy.

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Sensei Joe Hurtsellers: There’s a very famous saying, it comes from the art of Iaido, where people will practice for their entire lifetimes try to perfect the cut of the sword, the perfect cut. And the saying is, is that the cleanest cut comes from the sword that is never drawn, and I really like that saying a lot. Now, on its most basic level, people will hear that, and it almost has a pacifist ring to it. It’s almost like it’s saying, “Be a pacifist, back down, don’t engage in a fight.” And that’s got value, and we certainly believe in that concept, but I think there’s a little bit of a deeper meaning to it.

What is it really is speaking to is not just not engaging in the fight, but, as we look at all martial art techniques, we look at them as different levels. Like level one would be, “I’m enraged. I’m infuriated. I’m so angry, and I decided no! I won’t fight.” Right, but a much higher level is to consider, Why was I angry in the first place? Why am I even engaging in this person? Why am I even in this environment where things have gone so far downhill? Because if I can get that, then I’ve kind of got everything.

So that brings us to the next subject of what happens in martial arts. So you have somebody that feels very insecure as a person, somebody that is very fearful. The root of all violence is fear and insecurity, and so in order to cope with their fear and their insecurity, they feel that they have to control the outside world, but the outside world is very difficult to control. So they get into martial arts, because at least it gives them this sense that—at least if I can protect myself, at least if I can fight against other people, then maybe I’ll have security.

Now there is some value to that. No question about it—Now I’ll explain why I think that can bevery very valuable at times for people, but I’ve seen it as many times as that have[sic] value. I’ve also seen it take people that are kind of dangerous, kind of ruthless, kind of insecure people, and they stay dangerous and insecure, only now they can fight. And that’s no good. So one of the missions of our dojo is to not just teach the physical part but to teach the internal part, because the physical part alone almost never gets you where you really want to go.

So to take it a little bit away from martial arts, there is a very famous motivational speaker named Les Brown, and he says it very well. It’s very humorous. He says—He’s talking of course to these big success seminars where they’re talking money—and he says, “They always told me as a boy that money doesn’t buy happiness, but I always figured I’d like to find that out for myself.” And that makes a lot of sense, and a lot of us feel that way. Because sometimes when a person struggles financially, and they are really worried about paying the bills and making their car payment and just being able to get their rent, sometimes it’s hard for them to think of higher levels in life. So sometimes they’ll go to that financial guru or that person that helps them and get out of the place that they’re in, and when they’re in a better place, sometimes they can start thinking higher thoughts.

And so sometimes that happens also in martial arts too, but more often than not, it doesn’t. So that leads me to the third point, and that is where then as a martial artist do we find security if it’s not in our ability to simply fight. And the reality is, is security comes from the only place that it can come from. It comes from learning to turn the mind within and control the thing that’s creating the fear in the first place. And the way it works is this. I have a thought, that thought leads to a negative emotion. That negative emotion leads to me making decisions that are harmful and that lead me away from my goals.

So what we say at the beginning of every class is that meditation is the foundation of all true martial arts. And the reason that we say that meditation is the foundation of all true martial arts— it’s the ability to sit alone in a room for twenty or thirty minutes and feel the security coming from within you that ultimately makes you a secure person and a nonviolent person so that you can truly walk into the world and be the kind of person that never has to draw the sword. Now here’s the great part about it. The great part about it is, is that when you learn through meditation and through the internal study of the art—the internal part—all of sudden you begin to live without fear. And when you live without fear, or certainly with less fear, all the punches and all the kicks and all the chokes all of a sudden work better, because there is no resistance when you offer them if you must. Make sense?

So that’s the talk of tonight. The talk is, there’s a saying, and the saying is that the cleanest cut is with the sword that is never drawn. And it’s really talking about prevention and not being in conflict with other people, and then also understanding where conflict comes from. Conflict comes from our need to feel security by controlling the outside world. But when we learn to discipline the mind, we learn that the outside world can be just as it is, and I can still be happy. And then the great paradox of the universe is, is when I can still be happy without money, it’s easy to find money. When I can still be happy without the relationship, it’s easy to find the relationship. When I can still be happy without being able to kick somebody’s a**, it gets really easy to kick somebody’s a**. Seiza.

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Sensei Joseph Hurtsellers: Here’s what’s happening right now at Ohio Martial Arts. Coming up this Saturday the 26th, we have the mall hosting trick-or-treat night. There’s tons of kids going to be at the mall, so if you know some little ghosts or little goblins and you want to bring them out, bring them to the mall between 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. At 7:00 that same night, the 26th, we’re hosting our lightsaber seminar for MAAM. They are definitely spots still available, so please register at our front counter. In addition to that, in November on the 9th, we have our rank tests. Rank testing can be registered for by going to ohiomartialarts.com/testing where you can get all the information and get registered and also see what your rank test time is. And finally, we still do have a few, only a few, copies of Break the Chain!: Volume 2 available in the dojo. Get them in the dojo. Do not try and get them on Amazon. It’s $195 on Amazon, only $15 at the dojo, but only a few left and these are the last copies you’ll ever see. Thanks so much for listening to our show. I do appreciate your support, and have a great rest of your day.