Sometimes in class, we work techniques that we are not really that fond of doing.  It would of course be nice to always do the things you like, but it’s often the things we don’t like that teach us the most.  If the world were only made up of the things that we like because they don’t trigger us, we would not learn much.  Working something in class that you do not like gives you the opportunity to work on what belief you have that is making you dislike whatever is happening.  There’s much advantage in that.  This past class, I had that opportunity and it was great.  I spent the whole time sinking into that feeling and understanding it.

For a while now I have been a huge fan of Byron Katie’s work.  In her book, Loving What Is, she teaches us that our thoughts about things are what really cause us distress, not the things themselves.  I really wish there was a way to use martial arts to address this type of shadow work, or to directly apply Katie’s method somehow to martial arts.  However, what I think it’s coming down to is that like religion and knowledge, martial arts are good but not sufficient for developing your consciousness.  It needs to be mixed with outside activities like coaching, pscyhotherapy, and techniques like Katie’s.