Recently Rodney was interviewed for a documentary on the South African Mixed Martial Arts scene. Click the more button to watch it now.
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Posted by the Crazy Monkey Team
Recently Rodney was interviewed for a documentary on the South African Mixed Martial Arts scene. Click the more button to watch it now.
Posted by the Crazy Monkey Team
I used to work for a road safety organisation. We developed a program to teach drivers how to drive safely on slippery roads – snow and ice. We demonstrated how speed affects and what to do to by pass an obstacle.
Teaching drivers to drive on slippery roads made them drive faster – not safer!
How do you teach martial arts and not make your student not to want to use their skills – like drivers did?
Hannu I am not clear exactly on your question? Let me see if I can answer it.
My point in this interview can be summed up in this respect;
Anytime you teach someone to only fight and how to fight better, all you create are effective fighters. In using your example all your company did was teach those drivers how to be more effective drivers.
When we talk about martial arts this however was never the only intention of training. Martial arts has always been equally about becoming more as a person and by serving others for the greater good of society (I am not saying everyone followed it, but it was there to be pursued, and those who did found balance in their life).
However when you tie martial art training to a philosophy, driven by developing excellence — where the point of training is moving beyond simply the effectiveness of fighting skills and beating the guy in front of you — where you are made to be aware that your immersion in a martial art experience is about letting go of anger, especially anger projected to other people. Martial arts should be about discovering your authentic self through the relationships you build with others. Training in martial arts impacts your relationships and the the society you live in, so in the end it is not about not using it, I never said that, but rather the intention behind how you use it that matters.
So in your example again, your company made the mistake by not tying effective driving skills in hazardous conditions to consequences beyond the driver and to a philosophy of excellence in driving beyond themselves. Had they brought in family members to talk to drivers, telling how important it was to them to have them home safe, brought people in who had been victims of reckless drivers and why not driving safe does not only impact the drivers safety, but the consequences of their actions could affect many peoples lives. The philosophy then of driving excellence is not only to keep the driver safe, but their families from losing them, from impacting society, other people and their families etc.
In the end I spar everyday. All my clients spar. We use what we train on a daily basis. But instead of it just being about beating the guy in front of us, it is about beating the inner opponent. Our intention for training is personal growth, to help others grow, and you just cannot do that by hurting someone else, even if you call it sport. I have written more about this here: http://www.crazymonkeyuniverse.com/philosophy
Great interview and good question from Hannu.
Actually, many martial arts rooted in a philosophy and emphasis on cultivation of virtues teach you to be ready and able to deftly fend off a predator and WITHOUT a desire to have to resort to physical means to send the bad guy on his way. Someone once said “The martial arts at the highest level are about the skillful resolution of conflict—on the physical plane but equally in the intrapersonal (making sure we don’t let our “inner bullies”, fear, doubt, self-contempt, etc) and the interpersonal-social realm (this is where we encounter peoples attitudes, game playing, efforts to intimidate, manipulate, control, etc us).
Rodney and Dr deQuincy have described the different ways of knowing, a martial art practice that is guided by “embodied” intelligence so that there is no real distinction between what happens on the mat or in everyday life. Martial arts as practiced by Rodney King is about self-cultivation, self-transformation, and responding with patience and compassion to the people in our lives. There is nothing “soft” or “fluff and puff” about this. Grown men aren’t intended to be walking around wondering whose ass they can kick and feeding their narcissism while everyone around them suffers as a result.
Real men are trained to neutralize predators—and most of the time eye contact does the trick—-and to be an example of another way of living life grounded in virtues and guided by a coherent philosophy.
The mixed martial arts guys—or the dominant mindset of this community doesn’t have anything to do with cultivation of virtues, living by principles, subduing inner demons, or spreading goodwill as you interact with the people in your life.
Actually, it is so damn simple it is hard to explain to people who don;t just naturally “get it”.
Dr. Keough said it better than me:) Love it!
An interesting , important and obviously often missing. key point for any martial arts training.
Thanks for touching this stimulating topic!
A brilliant video…..well said and very much needed to be said. As I have said before this is but one of the many reason’s Rodney King is not only a fantastic coach but a mentor to myself and many many others around the world
James
CM Australia
Fantastic video from Rodney. I totally get what he said, Rodney has been helping me in my pursuit of self discovery and self awareness since 2005. When I started martial arts training, the intention was about proving to myself and others in the realm of fighting and status. As I grew older and kept training , there were times that my fear of not able to dominate others and being dominated have hindered me from training and not being honest with myself. When I started to train in Rodney’s CMD, besides the physical stuff ; his coaching, mentoring and him being congruent have opened my eyes to question my intention on why I train martial arts in the first place. Now, training in Crazy Monkey Defense has been one of my most effective vehicle in self discovery and improving my intuition. The CM family attitude has helped me attract the right people in my life that empower me to become better human beings, Thanks Coach.
Great interview Coach! I hadn’t thought of how influential you’ve been with MMA in South Afirica. Reminds of how grateful I am to be in a program the promotes values as well as functionalilty of martial arts.
Great conversation, guys. Thanks : )
I absolutely love this interview and agree 100%. Martial arts has always been about exhibiting practical skills for self-preservation as well as balancing that with a mindset of peace, focus, self-control, and self-discipline. In a sense, peaceful warriors. Warriors of the heart and mind , and if necessary, in physical combat.
We carry on that tradition as coaches with each of our clients in a society that increasingly steers clear of that original premise.
Personally, I’m proud to be a part of the Crazy Monkey Program. This organization spearheads that philosophy in the modern martial arts world!