"I Have A Story...."

Originally posted on FB May 25, 2014-

"I have a story...."

These words came out of my mouth Saturday morning, and led to an awesome experience. The White Dragon martial arts schools (the entire chain, not just my school), are updating their website, and had asked for students to share testimonials about their martial arts experience. Now, as much as I've written about my martial arts training and adventures, sitting down in front of a video camera and talking about it is the last thing I thought I'd ever do. So, my initial reaction was, "not me."

Still, I wanted to support the effort, so Saturday morning, I headed over to the filming site (the Mira Mesa school). The intent was to film the interviews against the backdrop of a group class in session, so White Dragon invited anyone who was interested to attend group classes at the filming site that day. I figured my contribution would be to perform in the background as an "extra" (which I did). Until I arrived at the school, this was still my plan.

On the way over, I was thinking about my accident in January. It was on my mind since part of the weekend's agenda was to go through the increasing pile of insurance and medical paperwork related to it. I was also thinking about my upcoming trip to the dentist; as it turns out, some of my dental work (crowns) was damaged in the impact, so I've got another thing to deal with related to the accident.

I arrived at school, got into uniform, and went out onto the mat for group class. One of the instructors was making the rounds, offering everyone a "last chance" at signing up for a video interview. She asked us if anyone were willing to talk about how training at White Dragon had changed their life, or "if you just have a story."

Something about what she said lit up the idea/inspiration area in my brain. I raised my hand, and said,

"I have a story."

The videos were done in an informal interview format; one of the Sifus from the other schools interviewed me. After introducing myself (and mentioning my school :-) ), we talked a bit about how I'd gotten interested in Tai Chi in particular, the challenges I'd faced in training, and the gains I'd made in my martial arts work.

He also asked me about my most significant memory (this year's Dragon Cup), and then asked me what I considered my greatest victory in martial arts so far.

I said, "my martial arts training helped me survive the most violent encounter of my life-but not in the way you might think."

I went on to tell him about how the improvement in my conditioning helped me to get through my auto accident in January; I believe my improved flexibility aided in absorbing/reacting to the impact of the crash, as well as helping my recovery from the injuries I did suffer. I also talked about how the awareness and focus I've learned through martial arts is helping me deal with my accident-related PTSD issues.

I closed the interview by encouraging anyone interested in martial arts to give it a try, and commented on the very supportive atmosphere at my school (and all the others, I'm sure).

I'm not sure if they will use my interview, but I'm glad I did it. Several people came up to me afterward and thanked me for sharing my story, so even if I only reached/helped someone in the room, it was worth it.

I overheard some things in the other interviews which touched my heart as well. One of the reasons I got into Tai Chi was specifically to improve my balance and coordination-it's something I have struggled with all my life, and continues to be a challenge in my practice (although I have improved quite a bit from when I started). I was surprised and touched to hear several men in my own age bracket speak along the same lines. I was especially touched by one gentleman who spoke about having self-esteem issues related to doing "physical stuff", even after achieving a lot of success in the military and in the business world.

Hearing that brought back a lot of memories of my own struggles with physical activity growing up (see my early post, "Grace"). It was just another reminder that, even though each of our stories is unique to us, we are rarely, if ever, truly alone in dealing with feelings like this, and the memories and feelings of the boys we once were can stay with us a long, long, time.

It was a special and emotional day that I'll remember for a long, long time.