Nick Cromwell describes how Martial Arts, Psychology and Life Coaching have provided a powerful means of self-development.
‘There are many different roads to achieving success and many different routes to developing oneself. In fact, almost any experience can be used as a platform for learning about oneself. There is that old truism that we can all learn from our experiences if we choose to do so. For me the most powerful paths to developing myself have been through the Martial Arts, Psychology and Life coaching.
‘When I was eight years old, my mother sent me to learn self-defence at the local Judo club. Unfortunately, the only defence I learnt was to run away from my mother when she called out that it was time to leave for training. Her intentions were positive – she wanted to help me to survive in a potentially tough world. Unfortunately, the lessons were not geared towards children or at least not to me. I didn’t understand at that age that it takes time and effort to achieve your potential, while the instructor did not understand ways of working with different groups (in this case children) to get the best out of them. Studying Judo was only ever my mother’s goal for me. Much later on in my life, when studying to become a Professional Life and Performance Coach, I was able to achieve my desired outcome because it was just that - my outcome. It is an old coaching cliché that the outcome that works best is the one the client decides for herself or himself.
Traditional Karate
‘I did not revisit the Martial Arts again until I was 20 years old when, following a conversation with a friend and Martial Artist, I enrolled at the Sheffield University Karate Club where at the time Sensei (Teacher) Dennis Dalby and Sensei Mick Smith taught Traditional Shotokan Karate, a style developed by Gichin Funakoshi, first in his native Okinawa and later in Japan. Traditional Karate has always been regimented and yet good instructors still manage to get the best out of people by guiding individuals to develop their strengths and to improve upon their weaknesses, while at the same time teaching to the whole group. As individuals, we all have areas in need of improvement. In Life coaching there exists a balance between the structure of the process and freedom of the content.
Individual Psychology
‘As well as studying Karate, I had for some time been interested in Individual Psychology, a system developed by the psychiatrist Alfred Adler, and other areas of personal development. I had always trained hard in Karate and been keen to develop myself on both the physical and spiritual side, yet this had somehow been separated from my other life, away from the dojo (training hall). I knew there was a connection but I couldn’t always find it, despite also reading many books around the subject.
Self-Development
‘It seems obvious now, but it wasn’t until I started to work towards a qualification in Counselling in the early 1990s that I began to understand the link between my Karate and self-development in other areas of my life. I became fascinated and went on to study both Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) with, among others, the co-founders Richard Bandler and John Grinder, and Life coaching. I am still working on developing the connections and I now coach people professionally. I am amazed by how often I go back to the principles of Karate for my inspiration, while I also use what I have learned through coaching to develop the state of mind necessary for performing the Karate Katas (set forms) and Kumite (sparring). My Karate benefits my coaching and my coaching helps my Karate.
Awareness
‘Karate teaches focus and yet, it also needs to be adaptable to circumstance. For example, as we get older we have to change our style to suit our body. While we may lose flexibility, if we are intelligent about the way we train then we will gain insight, power and the ability to relax, which will compensate for the ageing process. Life coaching also teaches focus, helping us to become more efficient through prioritisation, goal setting and better time-management. Both Karate and Life coaching enable us to develop awareness of ourselves and of others. Life coaching helps us to develop techniques for managing change in an ever-changing world. It is particularly useful in the area of work-life balance. Balance is important in the Martial Arts (the Chinese yin and yang): the balance between hard and soft, fast and slow, dark and light, and action versus re-action.
Life coaching
‘Life coaching enables people to tackle everyday obstacles, both in their personal and working lives. The first thought is not always the best solution to a problem. When faced with difficulties, rather than stepping back, thinking laterally and trying something different, we often find ourselves repeating the same patterns of behaviour, sometimes with even more determination than before. It’s a bit like the person who, when giving directions to a foreigner merely shouts the same instructions louder. The instructions will not be better understood for being shouted louder. It’s also rather like the competition fighter who will only use his or her favourite techniques even when these become transparent and no longer work because the opponent has been able to predict what attack is coming next.
Challenges
‘One of the many challenges within Karate is the need to learn to apply flexibility behind the discipline. Similarly, Life coaching is a way of enabling people to develop a varied and flexible approach not shackled by previous limiting beliefs, but underpinned and encouraged by the discipline and structure of the coach and the coaching process. At its most useful, life coaching is a way of increasing the choices we have at our disposal. Coaching enables individuals to maximise their full potential in their professional, business and personal lives, helping organisations and those within organisations to achieve goals and move beyond expectations. Karate also does this by fostering a positive mental attitude.
Developing Performance
‘Life coaching is the art of facilitating the performance, learning and development of another. There are obvious parallels to studying Karate. My best Karate and my most successful life coaching come when I am able to concentrate my Ki (energy), to work from the Hara (my centre) and to achieve for myself the almost paradoxical state of staying both relaxed and alert. Teaching a group of Karateka (Karate students) is rather like coaching a team of people where the aim is to achieve the best possible outcome for all those involved, while acknowledging individual strengths. There is no doubt that my confidence as a person has been developed through Karate and this is of tremendous benefit to my work as a life coach with companies and individuals. As for my development as a Martial Artist, I have recently started Tai Chi, which is a challenge for me as it represents a system very different from Karate.
‘I can only speculate how things might have been had I known at eight what I now know. Perhaps I would have gone on to study Judo for many years, but in a funny sort of way I am convinced that this first experience of Martial Arts, although very brief and apparently not very positive at the time, was nonetheless instrumental in beginning the process of self-development that continues within me today.’
Further information
Nick Cromwell, who has studied with many distinguished Karate instructors, previously ran his own Karate club and still teaches occasionally. He gained a scholarship to train as a life coach with The Coaching Academy where he qualified with distinction in 2003. He works as an independent consultant to companies, teams and individuals in the voluntary, public and private sectors and privately. He specialises in Executive and Management Coaching and has particular expertise coaching in the Legal, Housing and IT industries. Contact Nick Cromwell at info@nickcromwellcoaching.co.uk or via his website at www.nickcromwellcoaching.co.uk.
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