Recently, I had some professional photographs taken. It was a beautiful day outside. The sun was shining, all the trees were green, and the air was fresh. I found a simple spot to sit in my dress, while the photographer set up his equipment. I hoped he would capture the essence of who I am.

As I smiled to the camera, I also hoped that the photograph would reveal some truth about me. It would be nice if people could see really who I am, as if the camera were an x-ray to what I feel inside. Still, if the camera lens could pick up one attribute that I would want others to know, I’m not sure what it would be.

In a way, it is up to the photographer to set the stage. He can position you, or ask you to nod your head a certain way, but he cannot ask you to become something you are not. His job is to enhance, and bring forth the most beautiful parts of you. He can highlight your strengths, and minimize your weaknesses. He can help you see something in yourself that you have forgotten, or have maybe never seen. When you look at the finished photo, you think, “Wow, I forgot how green my eyes are,” or “This photo really shows my happiness.”

“It’s one thing to make a picture of what a person looks like, it’s another thing to make a portrait of who they are.”
— Paul Caponigro

These thoughts started to feel familiar. There is another lens that helps me to recognize my strengths or potential. It helps me highlight the strengths of my life, and notice detail. It makes me feel renewed. The camera lens, and the martial art lens through which I see my life, have similarities.

Martial arts overshadow all that I do. They are the basis for humility and sacrifice, but they also exemplify my essence in a brilliant light. The detail of the martial art is much like the detail a photographer sees. He re-positions one small part of the object in order for it to appear in its best light. He finds the one detail that makes the photograph unique. Similarly, the martial artist constantly re-positions, recalculates, or adjusts his life, as he practices his martial art. His practice allows him to focus on details such as the mindful breath, the position of the foot, the glance of his eyes, or his anticipated direction.

Open up your lens. Start looking at your life, or your martial art practice, just as a photographer looks at you. Become more aware. The flower in the garden does not exist until you smell it. The laugh of a friend has no meaning, until you hear it. The love of a parent is forgotten, until you need it. For all that you take for granted around you, or in you, the photographer’s lens graciously captures it and beholds it. The detail is the secret to it all.

I often scroll through my Facebook newsfeed only to see many, many different photos, sayings, and videos, that are martial art related. Many I scroll by, without noticing. It is because they lack the detail that I crave. I stop momentarily at the posts that capture an essence, or catch my eye, because they elicit an emotion, or highlight a virtue. Anger. Love. Peace. Kindness. Patience. Spirit. Courage. Honesty. Integrity. These are the details that matter to me in life, in martial arts, that I want to capture through my lens.

When I am practicing a martial art, I am fully focused on the details, and that is why I feel I can never perfect a skill, or form, or technique. This is also why I think of absolutely nothing else during class, or while I’m concentrating on my practice. The concentration guides me toward the details. I question myself as to why my fingers are stretched a certain way, or if a particular stance would fulfill the defense on which I am working. The big picture is helpful. The details are necessary for my personal growth as a martial artist, and a person.

Every artist has a picture to paint, a story to tell, or sees life through a lens, of sorts. As a martial artist, and a writer, I get to combine many expressive details into my life. You have the same opportunity, but it requires clarity of vision, to see the details. Ask yourself where you are headed. What are your goals?

Martial art goals may be different from any other goals in your life. They can be the easiest goals to make if your vision is clear. For many, the black belt is, of course, the ultimate destination. Those who achieve one then realize that the journey is just beginning. The learning never ends. The details always magnify over time and you realize it takes a lifetime to ever see them all, or even apply a couple, to your practice. The lens is wide open. You see a picture of who you are, and who you are meant to be. You can never underestimate the power or the significance of the martial art details, as they relate to your life.

A perfect example of the martial art lens will be seen in my upcoming book, The Martial Arts Woman. I’ve gathered stories from many martial art women, some well-known, some not, who provide details about their lives as martial arts women. Their stories are not as much about technique or style as they are about real life, real struggles, accomplishments, victories, how they have achieved and overcome, and personal barriers they have broken. There are also a series of insights that I’ve written about various topics, through a wide lens, of what I’ve learned as a martial art woman. Looking back over my experiences is like looking at the newly polished photograph. I see now what I never saw then.

On the day of the photographs, I recall the breeze and the sunlight, but had no idea how green my eyes were, how the sun energized my hair, or how the curve of my tentative smile subtly developed.  Upon seeing the finished product, things appear differently than I remember. I see more now than I realized then. Similarly, I never saw my martial art practice grow, or the changes it helped me to establish, until I look back through the martial art lens.

I invite you to stop whatever you are doing, for just a moment. What do you see, hear, or smell? Whose voice whispers in the back of your mind? Whose smile fills the void? These are the details that are important. Life is full of these easily forgotten moments. Look for what you have been missing. Seek the details of life, and your martial art practice. Realize that your true essence, as a person and martial artist, cannot be recognized until you open up the lens.

“When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”
– Wayne W. Dyer

Andrea

My book, The Martial Arts Woman, is in editing now.

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