Have you ever had to do something challenging but didn't really believe you could make it happen? I did. I used to run motivational events where we break karate boards and bend 6 foot reinforced steel bars with our throat bar bending sockets. It's the same energy as a fire-walk like Tony Robbins does but a lot easier to organise.
Now, officially if you learn karate it would take you years before you get to break boards or concrete bricks. There is a lot of training involved. It's not just about the moves you make, you need to get into the state where you can break a board with a single hit. If you don't, it hurts like hell. You've got to do it right. You need to get the energy right. You have to transmit that energy through the board, not at it.
In an ideal world, you would train for seven years before you would even attempt to break boards, or concrete bricks in a single hit. Nowadays, in a lot of dojos, they use thin plywood boards, maybe six millimetres thick to make it easier for beginners. These plywood boards are so thin, you could snap them with your hand. But typically, we would use three-quarter-inch solid wood boards. They take some force, yes, but it's more about the mindset, the follow-through, the energy you put into it. That's what breaks the board.
I've done a lot of board breaks over the years. I remember doing a training once in the West of Ireland, and one of my students asked me, "Micheal, could you do a motivation event for my football team?" He coached a Gaelic football team, outside of Tuam, Co. Galway. They were bottom of the league. He said it was because their heads just wasn't in the right place. So I said, "OK, let's do it."
We planned a full day event starting on a Saturday morning. Lesson number one, by the way: don't do motivational events on a Saturday morning if most of the players drink on a Friday night. Just a little tip.
I had told John exactly what sort of boards I needed. Three-quarter-inch, solid wood. Twelve inches wide. Eight foot planks cut into twelve-inch chunks. Square boards. Now, it's actually quite hard to get solid wooden planks that are twelve inches wide. Most boards are six to eight inches. Twelve-inch ones, they don't make them that often. They're hard to get because they warp.
So, what did John do? John went out and he bought laminated window sills. You know, solid wooden laminated window sills about two inches thick. Laminated, which means they're reinforced. Which means they're about ten times harder to break than normal wooden planks.
So, I walk in. The lads are due in twenty minutes. John says, "The boards are over there, Micheal. You just want to check them out?" I went over. I saw those boards and saw how thick they were. All the colour drained from my face. "Oh, no," I thought. "I'm not even sure I could break these boards."
Anyway, John went off. I grabbed one of the boards. I put it between two tables. I whacked the board as hard as I could. But I wasn't in "State", my energy was low. And the table was too high to get a good swing at the board.
My hand bounced off the board with a loud "thud". I nearly screamed but held it in. It really hurt. "You'll break your hand," I thought. "My hand is not going through these boards. I'm well and truly screwed here." This was really bad. I tried to put it out of my mind but the throbbing palm of my hand was a constant reminder all morning.
Anyway, we started the Motivation session. We start with learning all about motivation, energy, goals. It was going great. We got through the first half of the morning. First exercise, we do this exercise to raise your energy. It's called 'Ha' breathing. You breathe in through your nose, then a long exhale, like 'Haaaaa.' I was in the middle of a circle, twenty-four lads around me. They had all been out the night before. They're breathing in. And then they're breathing out and I get overcome with the smell of whiskey and beer — everyone started laughing. I said out loud "God almighty, how much drink did you have last night?" Everyone started chuckling. Anyway, we got through that. Finished the morning session and the energy was high and everyone was in great form.
We got to lunchtime. Had a quick bite, came back, and then we did the warm-up for the boards. I knew I had to get everybody into a really, really peak state. I really needed to get into a peak state, because, cold, I could not break that board. Not for love nor money, in a normal waking state. So I had to get myself, (and them), really energised. Normally, we'd do this for say twenty minutes. That day, I did it for two and a half hours. Two and a half hours of energy work, breathing, chanting, yelling, singing to Eye of the Tiger, all that high energy stuff. Just to get really psyched up. Like the final minute of the closest stadium match you've ever been to. That kind of peak state.
Then we started breaking boards. I did the first one. Demonstrated it. I really had to zone out, and get into a deep state, walked up to the board, and just pictured myself smashing through. One... two... three... Bang! The board popped. I smashed right through it. It was so easy I didn't even feel the board.
"Oh, wow," I thought, "this is great, we are home and dry." And then I cranked up the music and we started lining everyone up for the board break. Everyone broke boards.
One of the lads was the instructor's son. He was seven or eight years old. He broke this board. In fact he broke a second board he was so excited. Remember, these were all two-inch thick, laminated window sills. I still couldn't believe it.
It's one of the greatest examples that sometimes, even if you don't believe something, you just have to go with it. Believe. Make it happen, in order to get the result you want.
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