Saturday, April 21, 2007

Methodist minister wins black belt in karate, loves its ethics and sensitivity

Jackie Schlotfeldt News-Bulletin Staff Writer; jschlotfeldt@news-bulletin.com

Rio Communities "If you want to improve your spiritual life, improve your physical life," First United Methodist Church Pastor Jay Armstrong says.

And he should know.

Armstrong, who's been a pastor of the First United Methodist Church for the past 12 years, said he decided to improve on his physical life by taking karate lessons at Richard and Cindy Long's business, Belen Goju RYU Karate in 1998-99.

Armstrong's children, Rebecca and Wesley, were taking lessons, and he remembers Long telling him he ought to come and join the adult classes.

"I said when you start a daytime class, I will," Armstrong said, thinking back. "And then he did."

Today, Armstrong is a second-degree black belt, NIDAN they call it, and he says he plans to continue on.

"It's harder now that we're (the church) at a new location," Armstrong said smiling. "We're much busier, and Richard's even had to take me aside and talk to me."

What Armstrong has learned both physically and spiritually through karate is that if you're healthy body wise, then it helps your spiritual body.

"I think there is a link behind the body and mind, and I think they both can touch on each other," Armstrong confirms. "Part of it (taking karate) was so I could keep my body healthy. But you also learn a lot about the discipline of your life as a part of the karate."

Armstrong went on to say that Long doesn't give you anything — you really have to work hard and learn all of it in order to advance.

"Part of it is the knowledge of karate — the sayings and the names of the punches and kicks," Armstrong explains. "When you get to black belt, they know you know those things. But will you, when you are totally exhausted, dig down as deep as you can and keep going?"

Armstrong said it took almost three years to get his second-degree black belt.

"Sometimes I get some jokes," Armstrong laughs. "When I got my first-degree black belt, they started talking about 'my preacher can beat up your preacher.'"

While funny, Armstrong said seriously that what karate is really about is teaching students to avoid that type of behavior as much as you can.

"The first thing is you don't get involved in any kind of struggle if you can run away," Armstrong explains. "That's just the smart thing to do really. He (Long) likes to be sure that the children and adults he teaches are people of character so they're not going to learn something and then go out and try it out on people."

Armstrong continued talking about two of the aspects of karate he enjoys, one being the Katas or the forms, and the second, which is sparring, or a way to practice combat type moves.

"I have some of my high school students in karate, and when they first came into the adult class, they were hesitant to hit the preacher," Armstrong said laughing out loud. "But after they were hit a couple times, they were less hesitant."

One Kata, The Three Battles, is about mind, body and spirit and Armstrong said you have to conquer all those things in order to be at your very best.

"I think that's true in the things I try to teach folks here (at church) as well," he said.

Long said what Armstrong has accomplished takes hard work and dedication and speaks highly of his character.

"There's a humility in karate," Long said. "There's no way you can come in here and be proficient. To have a student like Jay - he's a very accomplished professional person and to come in and start something totally different - you have to have humility."

Long said what he and Cindy find so rewarding is seeing people achieve things in themselves and learn the deeper meaning of the art.

"It's humbling to us," Richard said.

While it's taken years to get where he is, Armstrong said he hasn't competed in tournaments in the past couple of years, but instead, he goes and judges them when the tournaments are in town.

Reflecting back, Armstrong remembers one experience at a tournament at Rio Grande High School, and he was also writing a sermon that week titled "Iron Man," which was about the time former Gov. Gary Johnson was running some of the Iron Man events.

"I went to the tournament on Saturday, and I got tapped a little harder than I needed to on my chin with a kick," Armstrong recalls. "I was down on the ground, and when they propped me up and asked if I knew where I was and I said at a high school. They asked me where, and I said Belen."

Needless to say, Armstrong was taken to the hospital where he suffered a concussion and was not able to preach the next day.

"I was dizzy enough that I couldn't preach," Armstrong said with a chuckle. "I never did get to preach that Iron Man sermon and I got a lot of giggles over that when I came back - Iron Man, huh?"

Armstrong clearly has a sense of humor, but one thing he's become acutely aware of is the benefits karate provides to both children and adults.

"A lot of kids come in without the ability to concentrate, or without a sense of discipline and, over the years they find a way to control their bodies and their minds," he said.

Armstrong further explained that he really recommends it for girls because he thinks it's that self-confidence level they're able to achieve through karate.

"Most of the time, men are physically stronger than women are and with domestic violence, if they (girls) take anything away from karate it would be to recognize and avoid potential dangerous situations," Armstrong said. "They get the confidence to be able to just get out of there and that kind of confidence is helpful to them."

Armstrong seems to have found a balance that compliments his life, and he said of Richard and Cindy Long that one of the things they teach from the karate masters is "it's about being ethical in both your private and public life. It's always a positive focus that they have in what they do."

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