Hello and welcome (audio here). This is Battle Ready. I’m Ciara Morrison and today I want to talk about our dojos. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Irish living in London and I’ve been doing martial arts since I was very, very, very young. Along the way I became a psychologist and over the last few years I’ve been battling cancer. So this podcast kind of takes one of those pillars and talks about them. Today it’s going to take two of those pillars. We’re going to talk about martial arts and the dojo specifically and use some psychology to get into that in a little bit more detail.

The model I want to use, maybe no surprise to those of you who studied psychology, is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. He basically wrote a paper in 1943 which was a theory, I think, of human motivation. And then he wrote a book in 1954, Motivation and Personality. For those of you who like reading, I’d highly recommend them. Things have moved on a little bit but the basic tenet is there and is the same. And he created five different levels and his theory was that you needed to meet the needs at every level in order to move on to the next one. He started with:

1. Basic physiological needs such as water, food, sleep.
2. Safety, security, stability, freedom from fear. It’s an interesting one in a dojo but we’ll come back to that later.
3. Love and belongingness, so your social needs. So affiliation, connection and intimacy.
4. Esteem needs, self-respect, recognition and achievement.
5. Self-actualization needs, fulfilling one’s potential and capabilities. Which is an interesting one again in a dojo.

And I think if we start to break them down, the physiological one is kind of straightforward in a lot of ways, the things we need for our survival. And I think this kind of came more into focus during the pandemic because I heard people who’d never in their life talked about breathing suddenly focusing on, oh I’m going to do breathing training. And I thought well we’ve been doing that for years in the dojo and the dojo does give you a lot of the physiological I suppose advantages of training, you know, fitness. Slightly away from the sort of food, air, water, shelter needs that Maslow identified. But I still think it’s applicable. And certainly now that we know how much, you know, it’s really important from the pandemic, you know, more people are eating healthy. More people are really looking at their basic physiological needs and I think that’s really important. And I think the dojo, you know, I don’t know how many times we tell people, oh go home and drink water. Make sure you’re fueling correctly if you’re going to a gashiku or a grading etc. So, you know, a good dojo should be able to, you know, shine a light on those needs and make sure that you’re gaining as much input as possible.

Now one side point I will make here is that I don’t think a dojo is responsible for getting you fit. I do think that’s something that a good level karateka should work on themselves. But the dojo should inspire that and should motivate you to be doing the extra work that, well let’s face it, we all basically need to do.

The next level up from physiological is safety needs. And that for me is really interesting because it goes right across a huge area. I don’t know how many dojos I’ve gone into over my years and gone, this is not safe. I do not like this. I don’t like what’s being taught. There are people here who are physically dangerous to me. Or the instructor is teaching something and maybe they just don’t know the background of how, you know, injuries occur or how to put together a balanced class. Where I’ve literally had to walk away. Now, it’s not too often I’ve done that, thank God. But I think for somebody on the outside looking in, there’s always that fear, right? Going into a dojo, am I going to be safe? Am I going to get hurt? I’ve got to go to work tomorrow. Am I going to have visible bruises? And are there rules and regulations in the dojo that will make me safe? I do have an issue with these MMA, you know, focused groups springing up because I don’t see a huge amount of safety, specifically around kids. And I could be very wrong, but I have seen a few that I’ve worried about. And somebody knocked on my door a few years ago and he told me he was about 15 different grades and 10 different martial arts. And I was just worried. I was really worried that whatever they were teaching was not going to be safe. I didn’t go along, so I can’t reallyspeak to the safety. But it’s really something around, for me, those safety needs. Am I going to be able to train properly? Are the people around me regulated? And are they able to also manage their own self-regulation? You don’t want to be in a dojo where, you know, you can have one or two people who really get into it and can hurt you. You want to make sure that there is somebody who’s in control. And for me, that’s really important. It’s one of the key safety needs. And if you’re in a dojo that has good guide rails in this area, you have nothing to worry about.

Actually, I say that, but many, many, many years ago, there was a class that I went to where things just got out of hand. I mean, they just got out of hand. And I don’t know, it just it escalated. And then when the sensei kind of saw what was happening, I think we were doing basics for about, I don’t know, maybe three months afterwards. I mean, it was literally the same class over and over and over again. And we were very sure of our level within the class from then onwards.

Social needs is an interesting one. If we go from we’ve now gone from physiological through to safety and now we’ve got the social needs. A dojo can offer loads of things to people and it depends what you’re looking for. You know, I’ve been in dojos where it’s been very much a competition. And well, I’ve always done the two together, competition and traditional focus. Some of those relationships have stood the test of time and people that I’ve gone and fought all over the world with. I’m still in contact with. I still speak to. And we still push each other on. Oh, where are you? What are you doing?

There is a big social structure within a dojo. There’s also things that are demanded of the, you know, I guess the member of that social structure. And that’s around emotional self-regulation and following the rules, which might not really be something you’d see. Well, actually, aren’t something you’d see in the general world. Right. So, you know, in a dojo, we have very much a great system. And those of us who’ve been around an awful long time and have come through that recognize the value of that.

And we’ve we’ve stood in the back row. We’ve been the person getting water for the senseis at Gashku. We’ve been the person, you know, driving senseis all over the country and doing all of that kind of stuff. And you kind of earn your stripes. And that social construction that says I stand in a certain place in this dojo because of, in a way, everything I’ve endured, the hardships, the disappointment, the gradings, that, you know, traveling two days to go to a Gashku that lasts three hours. We’ve done it. And it’s something that’s sometimes lost on more junior people who come in with the outside world’s mentality. But it is important.

And I do see it as a great tool for kids. I was your most unstructured, I still am in a way, but unstructured person. But martial arts gave me structure and gave me something that I take into my life now. And that recognition of somebody who’s more experienced, someone who’s got a different experience, I think is really important.

Now, that notwithstanding all the little groups that spring up in the dojo and people go and socialize and can lean on each other, you know, that to me is incredibly important. And you’ll always know a good dojo because there will be groups that will go out together after they’ve done the kind of rigors of hard training and left any kind of emotions, etc. on the floor. And that for me is really important.

Then we move on to the kind of esteem drivers. And again, I spoke a little bit about this in the kind of social constructs, but this is really, you know, for a lot of people getting your black belt. And I don’t know how many people have come through the dojo and unfortunately they get to black belt and then they’ve kind of done it because they’ve not really set their self-actualization needs. They’ve basically focused on, for me, the pinnacle of this training is black belt.

Now, most people will tell you the start of your martial arts journey is your black belt because then you can start to add in various different elements and different ways of training, go no sen, sen no sen, all of that kind of good stuff, as well as much more, I guess, access to people who have a lot more experience than you do. So more experience and more access, I think, come with meeting your esteem needs.

I’m always disappointed when people stop training after black belt because I’m disappointed for them. They worked so hard to get to this black belt and then to not really use it for me is, I don’t know, it’s just a big, I do feel sorry for them. I feel,oh, you were so close. But for some people, that’s the recognition they need. They just want to know that they have that black belt and that it’s again, you know, a nod to the fact that they’ve put blood, sweat and tears into everything.

And then self-actualization is kind of a hard one, but it is this never-ending pursuit, which we have in our dojo kun, of personal self-actualization, this relentless journey towards the betterment of the self. And it should then kind of spill over into other areas of life. And that for me is really important because it shows that you’ve gone on a journey. It shows that you have really taken on every challenge and have come out the other side. I don’t think it’s a destination point, more a way of living your life and being in your life.

It is a hard one in a lot of ways because, you know, my self-actualization changed a few years ago if I comment on sort of being seriously ill and then it was very much down to, you know, actually just want to get back in the dojo. That was my self-actualization point that guided me a lot through being ill and being in hospital. I was very conscious of the fact that, you know, I wasn’t in the dojo and that was my destination point. And, you know, I was knocked back from, you know, being at a certain level, perceived certain level for myself, right back down to, you know, being at a much lower level. I went back down to the lower levels of that pyramid and those physiological needs, you know, were at the fore for an awful long time.

And I do want to sort of finish by making some comments on the wonderful people that we find in a dojo and that we attract. And one of the areas, and there’s a little story to this, but I was doing weapons many, many, many, many years ago in Osterley and we had a Japanese instructor over and there was a lot of hullabaloo about this guy coming over and, you know, he was the head of the style and rightly so we were all getting very excited.

And there must have been maybe, I don’t know, 100 people in this room and he was teaching, it was Sai Kata. And at the time I hadn’t a huge amount of experience with Sai. I was still focusing on trying not to drop them. And he taught a kata that was completely new to me. I’d never come across before. And we were in a massive big group, black belts towards the front. I was safely ensconced in the back and he split the class and he took the people who were much less experienced and he taught us for a good period of the time, giving the more experienced, you know, karateka to one of his students.

And he made a big speech at the end and he talked a lot about how important beginners were in the dojo and how they are doing much more work than anybody else. And he was keen to point out that obviously just getting to the dojo is very difficult from the point of view of all of the decisions you have to make to actually arrive. But then to stand in a room where everybody else seems to be, you know, more experienced than you. And they are because you’re a beginner. And that’s stuck with me my whole time and I have a huge amount of respect for people who show up in the dojo.

And a desire really to help them and to help them find a way because I really believe in this. I have seen so many people grow and flourish in the dojo. I’ve seen them go on to do great things. I’ve seen them take their martial arts with them through their entire life. And for me that is just testament to this whole mind, body, spirit, world, life connection that you can find within a dojo. So yes, I’m always very supportive of that.

The other groups that you find, I’ve just pulled a few out. I think there’s so much that happens in Brown Belt that’s really interesting. You have a whole world encapsulated in that, you know, three or four years that it takes you to go from getting your Brown Belt to Black Belt. And it’s a journey and, you know, you can spot them because they are, you know, trying to find their way, trying to define everything, trying to lock everything down.

And as a group, also totally bonkers because, you know, and I equate White and Brown Belts together as some of the most interesting groups in some ways. And interesting is the word I’m going to choose to use, but you never know what they’re going to do. Because for White Belts it’s just pure reaction. And for Brown Belts sometimes ambition outstrips ability. And so, yeah, I’ve oftentimes had the most challenging encounters with Brown Belts because there’s so much going on there. Andoftentimes they overthink. So I really encourage Brown Belts to just train, not think too much about it and just get on with it. Because if you stop and slow down and try and overthink everything, yeah, it’s just, it’s just, yeah, it’s a hard one because I try not to kind of be overly directive at this level. But it is a case of just, it will happen, trust the process.

You know, a few of the other areas that I always think are interesting are, you know, the people who come to the dojo who tell us that they’re, oh yes, I do marathons, I do this, that and the other. And we all know that fitness is specific. Just give yourself time, it’ll take a while. But I’m always interested in learning from those that are very much, you know, your gym bunnies or people who have other ways of training.

And it was my sensei who’s unfortunately passed away in Ireland, Sensei Brendan, who would take inspiration from anywhere. And he would try it out. And if it worked, it worked. If it didn’t, it didn’t, and he’d leave it there. But I’m always interested in trying to improve, which is why I had to go out and do crazy stuff myself.

But, you know, I do come back to what I said earlier. Karate would not get you fit. It’s not going to get you fit. I can stick a heart rate monitor on you and prove all of this to you. You do have to train a certain way to get that rounded fitness from a strength, cardiovascular endurance point of view. I’ll maybe not be so popular for that. It does certainly add to your fitness. But yes, it is not there to get you fit and does need additional help and support in order to get there.

The other areas I like to think about are, you know, the guy in the gym who’s the realist who’ll always tell you, well, that wouldn’t work outside. Nine times out of 10, they have a point and it is worth listening to them. You know, I certainly come from a background where I’ve had to deploy a lot of the things that we learn. And I’m a great believer in studying everything, but then figuring out the techniques that work for you.

And then the karate nerd. The karate nerd is an interesting one. I had a conversation with somebody recently who, and they tend to come out again white or brown belt level and they’re hyper interested in everything. And it’s fantastic and I love it.

And the other thing for me really at the end of the day is we’re all on a journey. The dojo offers so many things to different people. And I wanted to just pull it into focus a little bit today and maybe introduce a new tool into the thinking. There’s lots of, I guess, sort of Zen thinking around the dojo. And maybe there’s a podcast in there somewhere to talk about that.

That is it for me for today. I hope if you’re interested in going into a dojo, you take the leap, find a good dojo. It is very, very much worth it. And if you’re a more experienced karateka, maybe this has made you think that’s really all I wanted to achieve today.

I hope to see you soon, maybe in a dojo somewhere and come and say hello. That’s it for now. I’m Ciara Morrison. This has been Battle Ready. Thank you so much for joining me. I can’t believe we almost hitting 18 minutes, but there was a lot to say. I will speak to you soon. Enjoy your training. Bye bye for now.