“No man ever steps in the same river twice. For it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.”

-Heraclitus

Upon starting to train in a martial art, there exists an unacknowledged expectation that our development will be linear;  we will move toward our goals in a straightforward manner, making progress by the same increments over time. We envision a straight path, where our goals are always in sight directly in front of us, and if we only train hard enough we will achieve them in a predictable manner. But the reality is, in the martial arts, growth is sometimes not linear at all. Like a river, your development winds and wends, branches off, narrows and swells, dams and overflows. 

You can’t see the bends in the river while you are in it.

I have now studied three separate martial arts through to Black Belt, and, as I write this, I currently hold a third degree Black Belt in American Kenpo Karate, which I continue to study. What follows was written as it applies to Kenpo. If you are studying another martial art you may find it applies for you as well, or perhaps not. I don’t presume to speak about that which I have not studied.

Everyone’s journey is different. The river that is Kenpo is unique for all of us. People learn at different paces. Some are the slow but steady types, making minute, incremental changes each day. Some make leaps and bounds of progress, and then appear to stall out for a while. Sometimes we are slowed by an injury, or need to attend to things outside the dojo for a while. Plateaus can be challenging; not seeing measurable progress for a time can be discouraging.   

Kenpo is a varied style, and, in the course of our training, we encounter masters in many areas. Sometimes you go down a branch of your river that seems to be veering off, learning things that interest you but you think aren’t helping you reach your Kenpo goals.  Maybe you get obsessed with bo staff or joint manipulations or ground fighting. Or maybe you detour completely. Children take time off to pursue a season of football, or wrestling, or volleyball.  But eventually your “side” interest winds you back to Kenpo, you come around a bend and you find your fundamental techniques have mysteriously improved while you thought you were digressing. Then you realize it’s all one river, moving always toward the same ocean. As long as you continue to train, you are always moving forward, even if that forward momentum isn’t readily visible. 

Spiritual strength is cultivated through the physical discipline.

Our growth is not limited to the physical. Even when our bodies are dammed up, struggling to learn something new, Kenpo gives our minds and spirits ways to expand. We find a new insight to a technique, or develop an alternative we would never have explored if we’d been able to execute it perfectly the first time. We might discover the reason we are struggling has to do with a concept we haven’t fully understood yet, and experience a flash of insight that changes how we view all of Kenpo, and return to old techniques with this new insight informing them.  The dam bursts; our flow is unrestricted again.  

We also see evidence of the impact of our Kenpo training outside the dojo as well. The development of inner resources to navigate daily challenges with grit or grace (as the situation warrants) is directly tied to the challenges we are working through in the dojo.  Spiritual strength is cultivated through the physical discipline of our Kenpo. After you’ve done so many kicks in a row you think your leg will fall off but you grind out ten more; after you’ve executed all your katas at double speed and can’t breathe; after you’ve done so many squat kicks you aren’t sure you’ll be able to walk the next day; after you’ve gotten tossed to the ground over and over (and tossed your training partner right back); after you’ve jumped back in the sparring ring when you were completely spent; after all that, you have grasped the ability to persevere when a task gets difficult.  This is also growth, and equally important as physical skill for those who seek to embody the qualities of a master martial artist.

Enjoy the journey.

Western cultures are extremely goal focused. Having goals can help us push ourselves to new achievements, but it can also backfire: when we don’t see progress toward a goal we get frustrated and we consider quitting altogether. If you manage to stick it out, to ride out the plateaus and the digressions, eventually you will learn to trust the process, and the ebbs and flows of your development will cease to bother you. You let go of ego and ambition and just enjoy the journey.