Sensei Joseph Hurtsellers:  Hi, this Sensei Joseph Hurtsellers from Ohio Martial Arts.  Most people know that martial arts is practical self-defense and getting people in fantastic shape, but people also know there is something more going on.  There is this idea of learning to focus the mind, and this show is designed to address that third component, how people can focus their mind to get more of the things in life that they want and less of the things they don't.  Thanks for listening to my show. I hope you enjoy.

[music]

Sensei Joseph Hurtsellers:  There's really three promises that we make to people when they start marital arts, and the first promise is that we'll get them in really good shape.  We want to make martial arts something that they get in shape, but they get in shape in a structured way. In a way that they're more engaged in figuring this out, and learning, and having fun with it, and the getting in shape sort of happens in the background.  So, many of you can think of a lot of different activities. For example, if you were to go for a run on a treadmill, well, you'd run. You'd get some work, and you'd have some benefit to that. But I guarantee you, you wouldn't run as far, as fast, as hard, as if you went to the Glass City and ran with a few thousand other people.  The reason is just something about the energy, just something about the environment, just something about the scenery takes you a lot farther than what you'd otherwise go. That's what we try to do here in the martial arts, and it's one of the reasons why people get in shape, and they get in shape pretty quick here.

Then, the second main reason that we work with people is we really want to teach them practical self-defense.  This idea that you, at a certain point, will be able to walk into a room and know that you can take care of yourself and know that you take your family.

So, it's kind of interesting because if you just took those two things, right, you just took the getting in shape, and if I were to ask you are there ways to get in shape—now for people that are martial artist maybe there is not a good answer to this, but, for non-martial artists, are there ways to get in shape that are non-martial arts?  Everybody would go, "Well, yeah. There's thousands of ways to get in shape."

Now, I already mentioned a treadmill.  You really could get on a treadmill and get a lot of activity.  Now, somebody might come along, and they might say, "Well yeah, but, Sensei, it's not as engaging."  And I say, "Well, then you can get one of those Spanish courses and listen to it while you're running," right, "Or you could listen to whatever podcast while you're running."  You could probably get in shape, and then if somebody comes along and says, "Well, Sensei are there ways in today's world where I could really learn to defend myself without martial arts?"  For some of us that live out in the country, we would say, "Well yeah, it's called a firearm. It works pretty good from what I understand." 

How many of you had that happen?  I remember years ago—Does anybody remember?  Is anybody old enough to remember when saunas were a thing?  There was a sauna at my place out in Arizona. At my place in Tucson it averages about 110 degrees in summer and in the club, in the condo, do you know what they have?  A sauna. That was a really popular thing back in the day. You can tell by the age of the condo complex why they would have a sauna in the middle—but anyway, I'm sitting in there with a bunch of karate guys, real good tough guys, in this health club.  We're sitting in the sauna and one of the guys, they start talking about, "Oh, you're doing karate. You're doing martial arts. You're doing this," whatever. Then the one guy—I'm sure this has happened to all of you at one point or another—The non-martial artist looks at the martial artist and says, "All that martial arts, it can't hold a handle to my .45."  Have you ever heard anybody say that? Oh yeah, what would you do against my .45, or my .38, or my whatever it is, and my friend—we're all sitting in the sauna—my friend said, "Do you have it with you?"

[laughter]

The advantage to martial arts, from a standpoint of learning to defend yourself, is it's connected to you.  They haven't made it illegal to bring martial arts on airplanes yet, right? But all of that said, in the modern era that we live if you really wanted to only get those two benefits, you need a treadmill, and you need a gun.  If that's all martial is, that's all you need.

"Boy, that Sensei, he's horrible at selling his dojo.  He's just horrible at it," but that's not what all martial arts is because everybody knows that there's something else going on that ties all that stuff together, and that's the hidden or the internal part of the art.  That what makes it special because I like to believe that I could go to a firearms range—and it is really a kick if you've never done that. It's really a blast, and to fire some of those magnificent weapons, and to feel that power in your hands, and to feel when you lock up that firearm and put it away safely your power diminishes.  The difference between that and, over time, learning to technique, that when you learn the technique and you bow off the matts, and you step out the front the door, to feel that power come right with you. That's just a powerful powerful powerful thing.

Not only does the physical part of martial arts come to with you, when you learn the internal part, you're going to be facing challenges that are different than somebody trying to physically attack your body.  These are going to be challenges by sometimes our most well-meaning family and friends who tell us that we can't have the things in life that we want, or that our goals are past our prime, or that the things that make us happy maybe we should give up for the things that make other people happy.  Those are the biggest challenges that you will ever face in life, and I like to think that when you learn the hidden part of marital arts, it will help you in those areas too. Then your friends will say to you, "Why do you do marital arts?" and you say, "Well, of course, it gets me in shape. Of course, it teaches me to fight, but does something more to me.  It's made me a better human, and it's made my life better, and therefore it's become a way life." Make sense?

Students:  Yes, sir.

Sensei Joseph Hurtsellers:  And those internal aspects of the marital arts are really encapsulated in the five ways to become a great martial artist.  So, I'll go through those with you briefly just so you hear them. The first one is patience. So, everybody say patience.

Students:  Patience, sir.

Sensei Joseph Hurtsellers:  And patience means that in everything that we do we either have a position that we're not happy with it, and so we need to be in another spot.  But as long as you're not happy in the current spot that you're in, it's very difficult to move to the next spot. So, what we're saying is patience really means to enjoy the journey and enjoy where you're at so that you don't necessarily need to get to another spot.  Why? Because as soon as you truly are satisfied with where you're at, that you enjoy it, that you really are pleased with it, the universe has a way of rewarding you with a new position. Or the way that Wayne Dyer used to say it, he used to always say that infinite patience brings immediate results.

I was talking to somebody the other day and they were telling me that they were struggling selling their house, and I said, "Well, tell me a little bit about your house." And they said, "Well, it's got really really bad storage.  The closets are small. The other thing is the sump pump in the basement is old, but even when it wasn't old the basement leaks a little. And the other big reason why we want to get rid of it, it really needs to be painted, and we just can't find anybody that wants to buy our house!"  I said, "Well, that's because nobody wants to buy a house with little closets, and a leaky basement, and that needs to be painted. You got to fix that stuff up and love that stuff the way it is, so that when people walk in to that house, they feel the love for that house, and that's when they'll want to buy it."  And the same thing with your martial arts. The second way to become a great martial artist is perseverance. Everybody say perseverance.

Students:  Perseverance, sir.  

Sensei Joseph Hurtsellers:  Perseverance means that are going to come, and things are going to go.  Things are going to come up. Things are going to come down. The great motivational speaker Jim Rohn used to say, "I don't know much about the markets and the futures and all of that, but I do know this; in old times there were some bad times and there were some good times.  I do know this; there are some times when the weather is really really tough, and there are some times when the weather is really really really nice. I do know this; there's going to be times when you have a lot money, and there are times when you don't have a lot of money."

That same thing is true of your life.  You're going to have ups and downs in your life, so what you have to do is you just have to decide that you're going to train through those ups and down.  Or another way of putting this, is if you have to take martial arts and leave it in that realm of deciding—people are always deciding to do everything in this day and age.  It's like, I get up in the morning; I decide whether I'm going to eat, whether I'm going to not eat. I decide whether I'm going to do this, or I'm going to go to that. I was talking to someone just a little bit earlier today about one of the problems we have with technology is that so many of our young people they don't really have anybody holding them to any kind of personal responsibility anymore because everything is right at their fingertips.  They just have it all. They have it all. They have it all.

As long as things remain in your, "Yes, I'm going to do it" or "No, I'm not going to do it," there's going to come a day where you just don't do it.  That's true of everything. So, what you have to do is you have to take martial arts out of that realm of deciding whether you're going to do it or whether you're not going to do it and just do it.  So, if it's Monday Wednesday, if it's Tuesday Thursday, if it's Thursday whatever it is, but you just got to get it out of the decision realm, and just get it into the just do it realm, so that it becomes a habit.  Then third way to become a great martial artist is practice hard. Everybody say practice hard.

Students:  Practice hard, sir. 

Sensei Joseph Hurtsellers:  That means we have to push ourselves, and we have to really apply ourselves.  We have to take what we're doing very seriously. The fourth way to become a great martial artist is practice exactly the way you want to perform.  Everybody say that.

Students:  Practice exactly the way you want to perform, sir.

Sensei Joseph Hurstellers:  When I listen to Mr. Sears paper on Saturday, I really liked the way he described this.  I'm going to try and say it in his words, but I may change it. I'm trying to get the gist of it.  Basically, that means don't take shortcuts to what you do.

So, I spent 30 years—when I first moved to Toledo, northwest Ohio as a matter of fact, I used to joke.  I used to say that the old slogan of Toledo was, "Toledo, you'll do better here." Because I was so poor for so long, and after being here for a little while and knowing all the people that I ran with in those days were pretty poor too, that the new slogan of Toledo should have been, "Toledo, quote, I know a guy," because whenever I had something that needed to get done, I always got it done because I knew a guy.  I know a guy! I didn't call the professional. I called the guy! You got to get a guy. My brother-in-law's sister's uncle's husband's friend knows how to do stuff, so I'll get that guy because I was afraid of paying full price. I will tell you I've come to this point in my life where I realize I couldn't afford not to pay full price anymore. Point is, pay full price for your practice by doing is right and not trying to skip steps.  Then finally, the last way to become a great martial artist is meditation. Everybody say meditation.

Students:  Mediation, sir.

Sensei Joseph Hurtsellers:  That's the practice of learning to discipline the mind because when the mind is disciplined, you can keep it on what you want, keep it away from what you want, and start to see more of the things in life that you want.  Seiza.