Mr. Miyagi and the Karate Kid’s Lessons About Balance
They are just as relevant today as they were in 1984
I recently watched the original Karate Kid movie for the umpteenth time and there are two wonderful scenes about balance.
In the first one Daniel (Ralph Macchio) is standing on the bow of the rowboat asking his teacher Mr. Miyagi to teach him how to punch.
Mr. Miyagi replies, “better learn balance. Balance is key. Balance good, karate good, everything good. Balance bad, better pack up go home. Understand?
In the second scene, Daniel just received a car from Mr. Miyagi for his birthday and they talk about the upcoming karate tournament.
Daniel mentions he’s thinking about the tournament and he’s scared. Mr. Miyagi asks him if he remembers the previous lesson about balance. Balance is not just about karate, balance is about your whole life. When you have balance, everything is better.
Simple lessons in 30 seconds or less that continue to shake me to my core
And worth unpacking and talking about in more detail.
In the first lesson, there are a couple of very important things this brings to the surface for me. One is to immerse yourself in a healthy practice or exercise as a means of inviting more balance into your life.
In Daniel’s case it’s karate. For me at the top of my list is Thai Yoga Massage.
The second is that the secret to finding success with this practice, is to work on the fundamentals repeatedly, until they become second nature.
That is how we build a bedrock of balance.
Wax-on, wax-off, paint the fence, sand the deck, practicing those moves standing on the bow of the boat. Those were some of the ways Mr. Miyagi trained Daniel to cultivate balance.
And as Mr Miyagi shares, balance is the key to karate being good. He is of course understating things. It is the secret to excelling.
How can Daniel learn to punch at the level he needs to, if he doesn’t have balance?
We need to be rooted in our body, connecting mind and heart, building our foundation as a pillar of strength. That is how we set ourselves up for success.
In the second lesson, Mr Miyagi reminds us that balance is about your whole life.
We want to identify balance in all our relationships, inside and out, all our activities and invite that into how we live our life every day. That’s because when you have balance, everything is better.
What’s also implied for me, and something I think giving Thai Yoga Massage has gifted me is that when you engage in your healthy practice(s) or exercise regularly, it will also help you on the journey of living a more balanced life.
You can bring the lessons learned working on your craft into just about everything.
One thing the practice of Thai Yoga Massage has taught me is that because of the very fluid nature of the massage, balance is also fluid.
I think as I was growing up and first exposed to the idea of the need to find balance in life, I thought of it as a static thing. That is, as a state of mind and body, work, play, relaxation that I should seek and when I find it, all will be well.
Balance as a static state of harmony and equilibrium is a dead end
As the massage teaches me, my body is always changing and so is the person I’m massaging. I could be massaging the same person for the 100th time, and it will still be different from every single massage that came before it.
Finding the harmony, the balance, the best expression I am capable of offering in that moment is therefore fluid and always changing. And the more I am aware of my fundamentals, the more I get to show up, evolve, massage and share from a more balanced state.
In Thai Massage those fundamentals include mindfulness, loving kindness, the stances we put ourselves in, and being aware of our moving body so that everything comes from our core. And then of course, there is my favorite fundamental. It’s the one sentence that I call, the secret to giving an outstanding massage, namely, “how slow can you go, how high can you fly”.
It means that the more you can ease into what you’re doing and the more gradual your approach, the better the results for everyone.
These are the principals I practice and am aware of every moment of my massage and the more I practice, the more I am able to be aware of them. As a result, the whole notion of balance moves from something fleeting into something that naturally shows up as part of my reality.
From there, I look to invite these same lessons and experiences into the various dynamics of my life, including work, love, relationships, health etc.
This goes right to the very heart of why I wholeheartedly believe that giving massage is one of the very best things you can do and it’s at its very best when you give it -or exchange it- with the people you care about most.
The lessons in balance, love, compassion, empathy, intimacy, communication and support are priceless.
And the more you practice, the more it becomes a part of your entire life.
Shameless Plug Alert
If this is resonating and you feel inspired to make Thai Massage more a part of your life, the first thing I’d say is it’s a lot easier than you think.
I’ve been teaching people how to do this for over 20 years and it’s amazing how much you can learn with just a few hours of dedicated practice.
And that is true no matter your level of experience.
I have seen it in people from ages 10 to 90 years old. I have seen it in people who are missing fingers and have trouble walking.
With the right system and support it’s amazing what you can learn. Because the truth of the matter is that you’re already an expert in compassionate touch and massage. It’s been ingrained in you since you took your first breath. My job is to help you remember what you already know and give you accessible tools that help you put them into practice; safely, quickly and at a really high level.
If you want to learn how to do this in person, a great place to begin is at one of my Couples Thai Massage workshops.
The next one is coming up at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health Aug. 11-13, 2023. You learn a 1-hour massage for the head, neck, shoulders, back, legs and feet. My promise to you is that by the end of the weekend you’ll already be comfortable and confident in giving this massage and you get to do it with a loved one.
You’ll have a gift that’ll keep on giving for both of you for your whole lives.
This is the link to sign up.
If the timing doesn’t work, you can always check my calendar for upcoming courses.
If you prefer to learn this from the comfort of your living room, you have two options.
You can get my best-selling book called Couples Thai Massage on Amazon and get practicing.
The second option would be to pair it up with my online course that you can get at a great price by clicking here:
What Motivates me to Share This
Every day we run into situations that are best served by the amount of balance we are able to bring. As Mr. Miyagi teaches us, when you have balance, everything is better.
Expanding this wisdom in your heart, mind and body on a regular basis helps us when we go through big learning moments. It certainly helped me this year as I lost the majority of my life savings.
It helps us in smaller ones as well. It helps us to be better listeners, better partners, better able at engaging in this beautiful experiment we call life.