October 23, 2025 • 41 mins
Unlocking Resilience Through Martial Arts
Episode 61 | October 23rd, 2025
Hello, hello, Soulful Seekers! Welcome back to Trauma & Transcendence.
In the latest episode of "Trauma and Transcendence," Amanda M. Dodd sits down with Evan Gatte, owner of Dale McCutcheon's Martial Arts School, to explore the transformative power of martial arts in trauma healing. Evan shares his journey from student to owner, emphasizing the importance of intentionality and mindfulness in every movement.
Discover how martial arts can be a path to resilience, offering a unique blend of physical, mental, and emotional growth. Evan's insights into the mind-body connection and the role of meditation in martial arts provide a fresh perspective on healing. Whether you're seeking self-defense skills or a deeper understanding of yourself, this episode is a must-listen.
Join us for an inspiring conversation that challenges the conventional views of martial arts and opens new doors to healing. Tune in on October 23rd at 7:00 pm and visit Evan's website for more information.
Key Highlights
Evan's journey from martial arts student to school owner. The role of mindfulness and meditation in martial arts. How martial arts can aid in trauma recovery and personal growth.
Upcoming events at Dale McCutcheon's Martial Arts School by Evan Gatte.Evan Gatte
🌐 Website: https://dmcmartialarts.com/📚 Try A Week Free!https://www.healingbeyondtrauma.com/blog/evangatte#TraumaAndTranscendence #MartialArts #TraumaHealing #Mindfulness #Resilience #SelfDefense #HealingJourney #SelfAwareness #PersonalDevelopment #MindBodyConnection #EmotionalHealing #MindsetShift #HolisticHealing #DaleMcCutcheonsMartialArtsbyEvanGatte
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Hello. Hello soulful seekers.
Welcome back to Trauma and Transcendence.
I have a different gift yesterday than you are typically
used to. Today you're going to meet Evan
Gotti and he is from the Dale Mccutcheon's Martial Arts
school, and we're going to be exploring that from the trauma
perspective on who and why you might want to explore martial
(00:23):
arts in your trauma healing. You know that I'm very, very
biased about this, but I do findthat working from the top down
and the bottom up is going to bethe most important and somatic
approach to your healing, but without due.
Thank you, Evan, so much for being here today.
It's nice to see you. Thank you for having me.
(00:45):
It's a pleasure. So tell me a little bit about
the school. So I have been involved in the
school since 2009. I've turned under my instructor
this for many many years now andthen back in 2002 or 2022 I
(01:05):
decided to purchase it and keep the legacy going.
Wow, what got you into martial arts to begin with?
Actually, the time, a friend of mine was really involved in it
and it was a way for us to be able to do something together.
I love that. Did I see that you traveled
internationally as well? Yes, I did.
(01:26):
Back in 2018, I traveled to Thailand and did a martial arts
retreat out there. So it was kind of a eat, sleep,
breathe martial arts for two months.
In my downtime, I went into the town and I did Thai kickboxing
as well. So it was all kinds of martial
arts adventures there. Wow that had to be amazing.
(01:48):
I I myself have never been to Thailand.
I've seen lots of beautiful photos and videos, but wow, how
did that change your life? So that was my introduction to a
different way to do martial artsbecause ours is based in karate
out there. It was Kung Fu and it was my
introduction to meditation and they did a slight introduction
(02:10):
to things like Chinese medicine.So using a meditation along the
lines of the meridians to keep your body in tip top shape.
Which explains why you've also crossed over into Reiki.
Yes, that's correct. And then when I came back, I
wanted to keep pursuing that. And I found my Reiki instructor.
I've been with her now for many years and went all the way
(02:31):
through the stages of Reiki to keep moving with that.
So you touched on meditation, and I feel like that's a huge
part of possible misconception for people with martial arts is
those that don't know it, they think it's just the movement,
kind of like the way that peoplelook at yoga and they think
it's, you know, just physical postures and twisting into a
(02:51):
pretzel. And we learned that that's just
one branch of it. What can you tell me about the
meditation aspect of karate and martial arts?
Well, martial arts in general, every movement that you do is
done mindfully. So you can do meditation as
you're doing martial arts in thesame way that you can do
meditation as you're pouring a cup of tea.
(03:13):
So it's all about intentionalityand where the focus is in any
given time. When you're doing something like
martial arts, you have to have the reason why you're doing it,
whether that's to help with health and Wellness.
It could be because you want to defend yourself.
It could be because it's just something else to do, so
everybody's motivation for doingmartial arts is going to be
(03:33):
different, but that's where the intentionality comes into place.
Who are some of the people that you've had a chance to witness
really benefiting from martial arts, and how did that go for
them? Yeah.
So I've, I've had a couple different situations where
people have benefited over time.You know what, it might be
something small like a super shykid who comes out of their shell
(03:58):
and starts to be able to make eye contact even sometimes that
is a big deal for students. Other times it could be somebody
loses a bunch of weight because now they're now their whole
mindset is changing on what theyshould be doing.
You know, they, they have to be in the best shape for, for
martial arts. So then that inspires them to
(04:19):
make better health decisions as far as working out or the food
that they consume or things of that nature that somebody lose.
I've had a couple people lose over £50 just in in the year or
two that they had been there andbeing able to see them on the
other end of that and see that they are enjoying life a little
(04:40):
bit better because of that, I think it's so.
Is it the quality of mind that they create, or is it the
intentionality the the movement?Or is it that they're just
finally really in their bodies, being embodied or a combination?
Yeah, I was going to say it's kind of, I think it's, it's part
of all of it together. When a student starts, they have
(05:02):
very distracted ideas as to whatmartial arts is.
You see a lot of movies in Hollywood where it's, it's very
much glamorized. You know, you're seeing people
do jump kicks and spin kicks andyou know, just crazy things,
sometimes even on on the border of acrobatics.
And then you get involved in it and realize that it is not as
(05:24):
complex as Hollywood makes it look.
I'm a hypnotist. They do me no favors either.
Right, you know, don't get me wrong, it's, it's difficult, but
in different ways. It's not because you have to
spin and jump at the same time, but it's because of accuracy.
It's because you have to be in full control of your body.
And what you realize, at least in, in my opinion, what what you
(05:48):
realize is that the best teacheryou will ever have is yourself.
So if you are unable to understand yourself or be able
to set with yourself, it's goingto be very hard to teach
yourself and with with with all things, whether it's an
energetic type of healing like Reiki or if it's a very physical
thing like throwing a kick. You have to be confident with
(06:12):
who you are as a person in orderto be able to receive
information. And when people start a new
sport or a new practice, you know, I've used Reiki as an
example as as well as something physical like karate, but it
could be applied to something like dance or swim or anything.
I feel like you have to have a certain level of open mindedness
to be able to do that. And if you aren't comfortable
(06:33):
with who you are as a person, it's very hard to receive new
information and then be able to apply it.
And with martial arts teaching, I always say to a student, I can
show you all that there is to, to know or to do in our specific
system of martial arts, but it'sup to you then to actually apply
it and make the changes necessary because you may need
(06:54):
to throw a punch 1000 times before it becomes very
effective. And I can give you the critiques
and I can adjust, but you have to be the one to actually make
those fixes. I do a lot of coaching around
resilience and I can see why someone would have to, well, be
open, but also it would take a lot of resilience and you would
build a lot of resilience through the process.
(07:16):
That willingness to try something, possibly not be good,
but be willing to suck at it enough to get better at it.
I can see why that would be really, really helpful for that
area and how that can also branch out into other places in
life for sure. Well, and resilience is, is such
a, I guess, in my opinion, is such an important role in living
(07:36):
life because, you know, society tells you that if you fail, it's
the, it's the worst possible case.
You know, you have to redo things, especially in school.
You know, if you fail, that's that's the end of the world
there. You know, you might have to
repeat grades or whatever. And in something like martial
arts, the, the goal is to actually learn to accept failure
(07:59):
because the only way you truly fail is if you quit or give up.
And only through failure and only through making mistakes can
you actually become better at whatever it is you're trying to
cultivate and do. And I think the same goes with
mindfulness practice, you know, meditation, self healing, all of
these types of things. It's, it's, it's on a scale of
(08:20):
really life, you know, you have to be willing to make mistakes
to find out who you are and to find out where you belong and
what you're supposed to be doing.
For people like the audience here who've been through trauma
and they carry a significant amount of fear in life, how can
they begin to bring themselves to explore karate or martial
arts so that they can have some of that resilience, begin to
(08:42):
grow and find some of that intentionality and clarity in
life? I have worked with individuals
who have been through some very traumatic situations and very
traumatic parts of their lives. The main thing that I see often
times is that an individual who's been through intense
trauma first needs to forgive themselves.
(09:03):
And it's not that anything that they did was incorrect or wrong.
Often times in traumatic situations, abusive situations,
it's not that you could even seeit.
You have to almost live through to find out why that situation
might be negative. But many times people will hold
on to the fact that they lived through something for so long or
(09:24):
that they experienced something for a period of time, or that
trauma becomes their identity. And the first thing that you
have to do is forgive yourself and realize that this is just a
part of the the learning and growing experience.
This is a part of life, and as terrible as it is, you owe it to
(09:45):
yourself to be able to work through that.
And that may come in the form ofgiving yourself permission to do
something to better yourself, whether it be a service through
an individual such as yourself or going through any type of
healing. Maybe if it's talk therapy,
maybe if it's energetic healing therapy.
(10:06):
But as far as martial arts goes,I feel like there is the mind,
body connection through that type of of training.
And sometimes, well, I'm a backtrack A little bit of the
hardest part of a martial artist's experience tends to be
the very first day because you don't know what's going to
happen. You don't know what situation is
(10:27):
going to run into. So sometimes stepping out onto
the floor and what we do is bow onto the floor to show respect
for what we're training. Sometimes that can be the most
difficult and the most daunting of situations.
And if you have a person who's gone through trauma, that can be
your almost permission slip to embrace the training that you're
(10:49):
you're going to go through. It's your permission slip to
then bypass the restrictions that we sometimes put upon
ourselves, whether, you know, directly or indirectly, you
know, once you've gone through that, OK, I'm going to step out
onto this floor. I'm going to.
I've decided to cultivate a new lifestyle for myself.
I look at that almost in the in the same sense where I'm sure a
(11:09):
lot of people can can relate to this.
You know, you're walking from one room to another, and then as
soon as you walk through that doorway, you forget what it was
that you were going into that room.
For I did that this morning. It it I I feel like it may
happen more often than we would like to admit, but when you walk
through that doorway, it almost resets the brain.
(11:31):
And in the same way, when you take an experience that is a bit
larger than just walking througha doorway that you're
comfortable with, but instead you're walking through this
doorway of a brand new building,a brand new practice, an art,
it. It will have that type of effect
on an individual on maybe a deeper level where you say, OK,
this is this is who I was prior,but now this is who I can be now
(11:54):
that I've given my precision, given myself permission to grow
and forgive myself. I was going to say, isn't that
just another doorway to a brand new life?
Exactly. Exactly.
I can see just from my training and experience, the way that I
work with NLP, neuro linguistic programming, how just bowing is
going to do so many things for someone who 1 isn't used to
(12:17):
making that physical posture. So right then what we're telling
the brain to do is new experience, get ready, make new
neurons. We need more neural pathways.
We need a whole new program on how do I show up and be with
this thing? And if the brain's creating a
whole new program, then the bodyis going to follow suit.
And so for those those people that I work with who are stuck
(12:38):
in a trauma response, maybe they're stuck in a freeze
response. And so their muscles are slow,
they're tired, they're not moving very much, or they might
be in flight. They don't stop moving.
They're in hyper vigilance. And so those are the programs
that they run all day every day.But it sounds like when they get
to your studio, they learn to bow.
(12:59):
They have that first kind of introductory to here's where
we're going to begin today. That has really great potential
to start to break them out of some of the old conditioning
that doesn't fit anymore. And then you work with someone
like me alongside. And then what we do is have the
whole package of healing happen.So it's not just from the body
or just from the mind or the emotions.
(13:21):
It's the whole thing. So that's actually really cool
and exciting to see it from yourperspective.
And I fully get it a whole lot better now than I did before.
Well, and there's, there's, you know, I, I still go through talk
therapy myself because of certain things that, you know,
I've experienced in my lifetime.And one thing that really stuck
with me about my therapy that I'm with now is he talked about
(13:42):
the idea of the tiger in the cage.
And where a tiger is stuck in this small cage for many years,
it finally gets into a healthy environment, but it still paces
between the dimensions of what that original cage was.
And oftentimes I feel we do thatto ourselves and myself
included. And you're stuck within these
(14:04):
same types of patterns over and over.
And when you introduce somethingelse, some exterior, especially
movement like you were talking about, you know, you're starting
with the bow, you start with thebasic punches, blocks and kicks.
It's now expanding where your brain originally thought was the
end of your path or the end of the ability for you to move from
one place to another. So it expands your overall
(14:26):
mentality of where you can go. I would even go further to say
the nervous system and the somatic parts of the system
because as you're doing those things, you're not always going
to have time and awareness to realize what you're even
thinking about it or feeling about it.
But your nervous system makes upits mind immediately and then it
sends responses for the body to full out respond.
(14:47):
So there's a lot happening therein just those brief moments.
How do people move forward from the fear is what I was trying to
ask before and I maybe didn't phrase it so eloquently.
You went super deep, which was fun, but it was more of how do
people come from a fright or a freeze or a shutdown state and
even get up the courage to step out on that first floor and have
(15:10):
that first class. I think fear is something that
everybody experiences. Those who have been through
traumatic experiences probably experience it to a much more
severe degree. But I feel like our brain
operates very similarly to, you know, say, a metaphor of like a
path in a forest. So if you know recently is
(15:33):
something I've done, and maybe some of your listeners may find
this to be helpful for them as well.
I found a spot in one of my local parks where I kind of
flattened out the area, got rid of all the brush and stuff, and
it's now my meditation spot. And what I realized through that
was essentially this, this metaphoric idea of how our brain
operates. The more you traverse this path,
(15:55):
the deeper that gets. So the more I visit that
specific spot, the clearer it becomes that I've been there
before. If I were to not visit my
meditation spot for a period of time, it's going to get
overgrown and you're never goingto even be able to tell that I
was there. So oftentimes I think through
trauma, it creates those pathways in our brain and it
(16:17):
gives us this idea that we have to revisit it, to keep it, to
keep it fresh, to keep it open, to keep it traversed.
When in reality, sometimes we just need to take a different
path. Sometimes we just need to allow
that part of our lives to move on, become overgrown.
You know, it doesn't mean that you weren't there before.
It doesn't mean that you can't learn from that experience or
(16:39):
where you were at that time. But sometimes it's time to let
that part go. So it's time to let that path
become overgrown and decide to create a new path.
Are you? Not a hypnotist, because you
speak metaphors very, very well.We've got some suggestions
going. I'm looking.
Wait a minute. I'm not, I'm just a martial
artist, but with, with starting martial arts, it's, it's giving
(17:01):
yourself again that permission slip to say, OK, that path
doesn't need to be traversed anymore.
We're going to take this path and step.
And one of the best gifts I feelI can give somebody.
In fact, one of the best gifts Ihave ever received myself is
positive association. It's having people around you
who are willing to bring you up,to motivate you, to encourage
(17:23):
you in the times that you do notwant to do those things to
yourself. To have somebody such as an
instructor pour into you these ideals, these, these virtues,
these skills, and to have that person set there and say, no,
you can do better even when you feel like you're at rock bottom.
(17:43):
I think that is one of the best gifts we can give to anybody.
So for that specific situation, we have our programs and
self-defense program, for instance, is for those that
don't want to learn the jump kicks of Hollywood.
And you know, we don't want to do all those advanced craziness.
You know, you want to stick to something simplistic like using
your keys to defend yourself or if somebody grabs your purse,
(18:03):
how would you get out of that? And it's giving people
permission to change trajectory,change the course that they want
to, to go on, to change that path for themselves.
Success to me is not just a one time decision.
And this is where people who have been through rough
situations, they have to come tothis realization in their own
(18:26):
time and and when they're ready.Success is not just something we
decide one time you're going to wake up.
I want to be a good martial artist, OK?
That's not something I can just decide every single day I wake
up. I have to decide that this is
something that I want to pursue and be good at.
And every time I show up to class, every time I practice,
every time I stretch, it has to be a decision that you
(18:47):
continually make for yourself. So I feel it's the same sense
for those who go through struggles.
They have to, they have to wake up in the morning and, and say,
I am not this situation. I am deciding to do better for
myself, for my future and for all of these, these other
reasons. And you have to be able to wake
up and choose to do something different.
It's, it's very easy to allow negativity or what some say
(19:12):
would be evil to overcome our thought processes.
The nature of how it works through US is it's very
believable. If you have a low self esteem
already, it's very difficult to counter negative thoughts.
And The thing is the person thatyou are going to hear the most
is going to be yourself. The person that you hear on
(19:33):
repeat is yourself. I've asked kids, you know, who's
the who's the number one person you have to hear and they always
say my mom. And it's like, yes, your mom
might be right now. However, you are going to have
to listen to your own internal thoughts from now until the rest
of your life. And if you speak negativity into
your own life, even if it is onetime, the next time it'll be
(19:54):
easier to believe it and the next time it'll be easier to
believe it. Same thing goes for positivity.
If you just state 1 positive thing that you did for that day,
then it may start changing how you are wired.
Instead of sitting there and saying this situation happened
to me and it's negative and thisis this is what I've.
(20:15):
This is what I've become. You can change that.
You can say this is a situation that happened to me, get more of
a neutral stance on that situation and decide how it
helps you to grow to become a better person.
You know, I heard something thatin many cases I think can be
true. You know, I have a Christian
(20:35):
belief. I believe in God and Christ and
you know, there may be some listeners who share the same
thing. Either way, whatever it is that
you believe, I feel like this fits within the standards of
your belief system is one of thegreatest gifts that God has
given us is that there is no there's no innate meaning behind
what we are doing. A situation happens.
(20:57):
God doesn't sit there and say this is a good situation that
just happened to you or this is a bad situation that has
happened to you. I feel that God loves us so much
that He supports whatever it is that we decide to make it.
If it is a negative situation and we perceive it as such, God
loves us enough that He will support that within our own
minds. When we go through struggle,
(21:19):
when we go through trauma, oftentimes the initial feeling
is quite negative. It can be detrimental to
ourselves. It can be detrimental to our
personal beliefs within ourselves.
But I feel that is our job to then step back once we start to
work through these types of things, step back and say, OK,
this is a situation that happened to me, I'm going to
(21:41):
pull the negative out of it. And what is it that I can learn
now so that I can become a better person tomorrow?
Or when you meet other people who have gone through the same
thing, how is it that I can now help them?
Something I like to call that ispost traumatic growth.
I like that. I like that.
Yeah, I think it's true. I feel the same way.
(22:02):
I don't necessarily label myselfwithin any specific faith.
I was raised Catholic, and thereare some things that still
resonate, that still fit within my life.
And then there are other things that I just don't label because
I've had a lot of experiences and those, those primary
personal experiences, they, theymean a lot to me.
So they've definitely shifted myviews.
But when you say that God is neutral, I agree.
(22:25):
Yeah, we've got free will. And just because something
happened and your nervous systemor your brain or your emotions
that oh, this is a bad, awful, scary thing, that doesn't mean
it has to stay that way. You can choose at any time to
step into empowerment or embodiment and say, you know
what? I'm willing to take this shit
(22:45):
sandwich, for lack of a better term, and turn it around and
help it be the fertilizer that makes me grow, right, Right.
It's always that choice. Yeah.
Well, and you know, one thing I've learned in martial arts
too, this came much later, but I'm now training students that
were born the same year I got myblack belt, which is mind
boggling at times because, you know, I, I guess I never thought
(23:08):
I'd be in a situation like that.Here I am teaching somebody who
was born the same year I got my black belt.
It sneaks up on us. It does.
I think about the struggles thatI went through, the doubt or the
fears or whatever it is that I experienced along my journey for
martial arts. And I thought about it.
I thought, what if I would have let that?
What if I would have let that one?
(23:29):
What if I would have quit? And now all these people that
are, you know, my students now, they, they wouldn't be there.
And I've had people express to me that the school or the
martial arts or whatever it is has been such a positive thing
for them. And I look at it now and I tell
people this now, is that if you allow the fear to win, you are
(23:51):
not only doing a disservice to yourself, but all the people
that you were going to potentially come into contact
with in the future that need that service.
Absolutely. I really feel that strongly
within my own experiences and career as well.
There there people were meant tobe of service to who am I to
hold back from helping them? When we have some kind of soul
level agreement that those things are, you know, we're
(24:13):
going to either be a catalyst for each other or we're going to
be a support in some kind of way.
So I think trauma can make us kind of self focused in a way
that is negative and small and keeps us small.
And when we can remember, oh, this isn't just about me, then
we have more choices. I will say one thing.
(24:33):
I've been to the martial arts studio.
I've been having private yoga with Jess and a friend of mine
has been just the best experience.
And I really need to know what is your secret?
Because every time I enter there, and I don't know what
your beliefs are around this, but I have some mediumship
ability. I had some interesting
experiences with that. I've tried to push it down.
(24:53):
I've tried all the things and now I'm just embracing that this
is part of who I am. It is what it is.
And that's partly why I went to Reiki actually was OK.
How do I I manage this? I'm tired of running.
Can't do that anymore. Every time I go to the Dale
McCutcheon Martial Arts studio, the energy is pristine.
For someone who's very empathic or even has mediumship, or if
(25:17):
you're in those layers of traumawhere you're feeling that fear,
that oppression, going and beingin this space is going to be a
beautiful thing for you. And I can promise that if you
are willing to do that and bringyourself to the room where
martial arts happen before you even bow, you're going to feel
pretty safe, pretty secure, and pretty at home.
How do you keep that energy so beautiful?
(25:39):
Well, that's, I guess that's a good question, but because it's
not necessarily something that Imyself am just constantly doing,
I feel like it's, it's a community that I'm trying to
build. So my instructor and myself
always believe that that should be a family type atmosphere.
Now, yes, there are certain rules and martial arts, you do
need to be respectful and say yes, Sir, no Sir, yes ma'am, no
(26:02):
ma'am, those types of things. But if I have a person who is
doing martial arts, I also believe that we're kind of doing
life together as well. If they have something that
comes up in their life that may pertain to martial arts or I, I
may offer some insight to them. I want to do that.
I want to be there for them in any way that I can.
And the relationship between a teacher and a student is a very
(26:24):
unique type of relationship because you do care about that
person. You're pouring a part of
yourself into the student when you give them that information.
So you do have a, I don't know, subconscious belief that you
want what's best for them. Aside from that, though, you
know, I know it's, it may not bewithin traditional Christian
beliefs. I, I don't think I fit within
(26:45):
that. You mentioned what I well, you
mentioned what. Being a Reiki practitioner,
you're. Walking Dead say that, you know,
like I said, I believe in Christ, I believe in God.
I was raised Catholic and there is a lot of beauty in that faith
and that religion, but I feel I'm more of a believer of these
things and I express them in different ways.
My understanding of God, I think, has expanded beyond a guy
(27:08):
in the sky because God is everything.
It doesn't mean that he is just simply out there somewhere
looking at us. I believe God is source and
that's a an idea that's discussed in Reiki is God is
source and. So are we, I don't know if you
feel that way, but I feel so arewe.
All of my experiences have, especially after Reiki, have
(27:30):
always been we are the ocean in a drop, and then we get to be
that drop and eventually go backto the ocean.
Exactly. I, I feel like we are.
Yes, we're unique individuals. Yes, we were created by God, but
each of us express ourselves in such a way that we're a
different expression of God. And it's our job to be the best
that we can be, to express thesepositive traits the best that we
(27:54):
can. And we don't always, we don't
always succeed. We make mistakes, but coming
back now to intentionality, whatis the intention behind what
we're trying to do? And maybe that's where you're
feeling the positive vibes at the school is because my
intention is always to try to be, how can I help this person
who's walking through the door? I have some people that
(28:15):
actually, it's a, it's a funny parallel to to life itself here.
I've got some people who come infor a free week is what we call
it. They come in for one week, they
try it, they decide it's not forthem and then they're gone.
There's other people who then goto our two-month course and they
stick around free week, 2 month that come in and then some
choose to leave after that. And then after that they decide,
(28:37):
OK, let's do a one year course. They may stick for one year,
they may stick for five years. You know, I have people who
started back in 2020 when I was first running things, didn't own
it, but ran it. And those people are still
around now. So I have to look at each
individual from kind of where they're coming from.
And I have to come to terms withthe fact that I may only have
(28:59):
them for three classes and that's it.
So what is it that I can accomplish in those three
classes to help them feel like they got value out of what we
have to offer? Or how can I better them or
their lives, their perspective, whatever it is, just in that
short period of time? That makes a lot of sense to me.
(29:19):
And then also because you are seeing people for years, it
makes sense that you have to show up neutral and make room
for whatever growth they've cultivated that you might not
yet know for sure. And I think when we can come at
each other from that perspective, and it's more of a
collaborative, how can we build each other versus what can I get
out of you kind of situation, Itdoes create that layer of energy
(29:42):
that's different. I know you've got some exciting
stuff coming up. One of them is the tea room.
Do you want to expand on that? My friend got me real involved
in the traditions of Chinese teaand we have a room here that
we'll be remodeling to include this.
There's many different ways thatyou can cultivate tea.
(30:04):
This is why I mentioned meditating is tea at times too,
because as you prepare your tea,it's not just put the tea bag in
the water and that's it. I mean, there's a lot that can
go into traditional brewing, such as cleaning the leaves, you
know, letting them open up before you actually make the
tea, knowing what temperature tobrew each type of tea at.
So there's many things that go into that.
(30:27):
And yeah, that's what we're trying to do there.
And martial arts roots are in China.
So I feel like having that connection to the traditional
roots of of where it came from is can be a benefit.
But we also have we'll also be pairing with you here shortly
as. Well, and I will say for those
of us with trauma, T, although it sounds like it's out of left
(30:48):
field, it's really not. The experience of being present
in every single moment is what you want the most of, to get the
most out of your life, to reach your potential.
Because when you're focused on those tea leaves opening up and
the temperature of the water andhaving this whole little ritual
take place, you're not focusing on the inner critic.
You're not focusing on the emotional flashbacks or the
(31:11):
night terrors that have taken place or the uncomfortable spots
in the body. You're just present.
So it's deeply impactful and it makes a lot of sense that we're
going to partner. And I'm so excited to partner
because we work at things very differently and yet we have a
lot of the same outcomes. Right, right.
Well, and one of my ideas for the school had always been I
(31:32):
want it to be AI want it to be aCenter for people to come and
and heal if they would like as well.
You know, whether that's throughyoga.
We have yoga offered briefly fora while a little while back.
If it's understanding the value of having tea and the benefits
behind it, I made that the room that we'll be working out of.
I originally made it for for Bakey, and now I have
(31:53):
individuals like yourself and Jess who want to pair and come
into the school and offer what it is that you guys practice.
And I think just creating that center of positivity to
encourage somebody to be able toshow up and be willing to
improve no matter what, it is that that mindset is what brings
a lot of martial artists together.
The idea that they want to step out onto the floor and better
(32:16):
themselves, even if it's just one small thing, even if it's
just developing a little bit more power in a punch or a
little bit quicker in a kick or whatever it is.
That mindset is what brings a school together.
And I feel like when you work with, if you're working with
healing, whether it's like I talked about talk therapy or
trauma therapy or Reiki sessionsor shamanic practices or
(32:39):
whatever it is, an individual shows up for the same reason
that somebody else would show upfor martial arts.
And it's just to try to better themselves and even the smallest
way to help create value in their own lives.
Yeah. For those of us who are trying
to the feeling of safety in being embodied again, can you
tell us a bit more on what the self-defense program looks like?
(33:01):
Yes. So our self-defense program is
a, it's a way that an individualcan step into confidence within
themselves. So we're teaching you how to
defend yourselves. You know, sometimes in in trauma
situations, it had to do with anindividual with I'll intentions.
And when you're able to set backand say, I know for a fact that
(33:21):
if this type of situation were to happen again, I'm going to be
able to get away safely. Sometimes that is the confidence
or like I talked about the idea of a permission slip that you
need to be able to move through that that difficult mentality or
that difficult situation. So we focus on the individual to
develop the the mental ability to throw punches, kicks, blocks,
(33:42):
be able to defend yourselves against wrist grabs, hair grabs,
clothing grabs, chokes. You know, even if you stick with
it long enough, we'll even show you weapons defenses if somebody
pulled a knife on you. And there's a mentality that is
cultivated along the way that really does help to to pair well
with what it is that I feel you are trying to accomplish with an
individual in the same situation.
(34:04):
You know, you talked about that we have to focus from the ground
up and from the top down. And I feel that goes hand in
hand, physical, mental, emotional, all three of those
have to be on board for true growth to happen.
So if an individual, you know, starts to meditate, that's
their, that's the mental part. Where's the emotion coming into
(34:25):
play? Where is the physical coming
into play? We add something like, it could
be simple exercise, like going on a walk on a daily basis.
That's the physical. Now where's that emotional come
into play? So we have to, we have to decide
where everything is coming from and how as a collective whole,
as an individual, how can we we give ourselves that permission
to heal and to grow? Yeah.
(34:47):
In terms of logistics, how long do people usually work through
the self-defense program? You know, it's, it's funny that
we're talking about this. The individuals that started in
2020 that I mentioned earlier are the ones that are still
there to this day. So I remember and it's crazy, I
still remember the phone call that I had from them when they
(35:08):
first started back in October of2020.
So they've been there almost five years now.
And it is a, it's a husband, a wife, and then two kids.
The two kids are in our traditional program, and the
husband and the wife are in the self-defense program.
So I think it's just one of those things that the longer you
get into it, the more information that you get, the
(35:31):
better you understand how to handle situations.
The wife now is starting to get involved in weapons, so club
attacks. But she's gone through a series
of difficult training exercises to get to where she is now.
You know, she started with our basic punches, blocks and kicks.
She moved on from learning how to fall correctly if she was
ever pushed. She's used her keys to defend
(35:53):
herself and self-defense and theway that that sits that
situation I'm going to use as anexample, you know, she'll stand
there in the center of a ring and we'll have two or three
different guys go in or ladies, it doesn't matter, whatever
they're comfortable with and grab and basic things like a
wrist grab, hair grab, clothing grab, choke.
And she's using those car keys to defend herself.
She knows how to hold them properly, what points in the
(36:14):
body to strike, to loosen up a person.
That way if a big dude does attack her so you can get away
from it. So there's a it's a journey.
It is definitely a journey. We also don't believe in pushing
people through a program. They go at their own pace.
And I'm going to use the, the husband as an example right now,
he's, he's had a series of injuries outside and separate
(36:35):
from the school that's caused him to kind of pull back and
slow down. And the thing that I, I really
like about it is that he's got this mentality that he's not
going to quit. He's going to let these injuries
heal and then he's going to comeback and just pick up where he
left off. So it's kind of a cool program
because you come in and you giveit whatever it is that you want
(36:55):
to put in. What you put in is what you get
out. And if you are not ready to give
it 110% and right now your version is 50%, we'll meet you
halfway. We'll work through that.
As long as we're not getting caught up in the idea of having
to get a belt or anything like that.
You know, I really don't care how long an individual takes to
(37:17):
get through that material. My main concern is that if they
were, say, attacked with a wristgrab, if somebody grabs their
arm, I want them to get away from it.
I don't care if they're a black belt or not.
I want them to get out of that risk wrap.
So I think that's maybe a mentality that we as a school
have versus maybe branches of schools.
(37:39):
Big branches may have the idea that you have to test every
month or every two months, and they give you that time limit
of, hey, within four years we promise you'll be a black belt.
But what what value is there in that if we're not truly tested
on the information and the knowledge?
One thing that you do that I really enjoy and I find has so
much value is the way that you reach out to community.
(38:01):
So I know you've got some reallycool events coming up.
I don't want to miss name them. I want to say ninja night.
What is that about? So it is called ninja night.
It's a we use it as an opportunity to be able to get
the kids in all together, for them to get to know each other.
I feel that builds camaraderie and it gives them an opportunity
(38:21):
to bring in either family members or friends or whoever it
is that aren't involved in martial arts.
If nothing else, it just opens their eyes to what martial arts
is. You know, there are fun games
and things like that. But for me, I always want to
also teach the skills behind whatever it is.
It's not just going to be, you know, running around doing
aimless things. But yes, that's coming up in
(38:43):
October and anybody can join even if they're they're not
currently enrolled in the school.
Is that a drop in on the date kind of thing?
Do they have to phone ahead? It would be good to get an
e-mail or call, I suppose. I've never had somebody just
drop in. I'm not against it, but it is
good for us to know so that we know how much you know, food to
order and things of that nature.OK.
(39:06):
So a little bit of appetizers orsomething happening.
Are they come in costume becauseit's October or I'm not sure if
I understand everything? Yeah, no, that's OK.
We we as a school will order pizza and things like that.
And everybody just kind of brings a snack to share.
You know, we do have them wear costumes for this particular
ninja night because it is Halloween themed and we have a
(39:27):
contest and my, my office staff is super awesome.
She prepares A goodie basket forthe winner of the costume
contest. And I know all the kids look
forward to that, but they can also then after the contest is
over, go back to their regular clothes, whatever's comfortable.
I love that. But that's the thing that I
really enjoy about what you do is you've got the outreach
(39:48):
program, you're creating a safe space.
It's a clean space. Energetically and physically,
it's a pleasure to be there. And then emotionally it's a very
safe, comfortable space to be. So yeah, can't lose, whether
you're coming in to work with Evan and martial arts and
self-defense or sending your kiddos to get some confidence,
build some strength. Strength and be able to feel
(40:09):
embodied or if you're choosing to come in and do some Reiki,
you want to do some emotional healing.
I'll be there with hypnotherapy and of course IEMT to reduce any
flashbacks or traumas or responses that are still
lingering that you've wanted to change, you just didn't know
how. So you can come on over and be
fully supported. The website, I know I'm going to
(40:30):
get it wrong. Evan, what is it?
Com yeah, I mean, we can, you can sign up for a free week
there. We have the information about
our instructors and our staff, school history and and much more
on there. Thank you so much for your time
today and all of your insight. Is there anything left you want
(40:50):
to share with the audience today?
You know, if I had to leave on OneNote, I would say don't be
afraid to try something new. If nothing changes, then nothing
changes. As if something in your life is
not exactly where you would likeit.
If it's if it's an uncomfortablething, if it's a thought pattern
that that keeps reoccurring, if it's a health thing that is is
(41:13):
just kind of setting around. If nothing changes, nothing
changes. Do not be afraid to make some
sort of change to allow that to to move on.
I couldn't agree more. Thank you so much for your time
and your energy today and hopefully ladies and gents,
you'll come and check this out because this one is actually
local and that's going to be very different.
(41:35):
So you can find the studio in Uniontown and somewhere within
October I will be available for in person sessions.
Very much looking forward. Thank you so much and as always,
soulful seekers, stay happy, stay healthy, but most of all,
stay inspired. Bye for now.
Hello. Hello soulful seekers.
Welcome back to Trauma and Transcendence.
I have a different gift yesterday than you are typically
used to. Today you're going to meet Evan
Gotti and he is from the Dale Mccutcheon's Martial Arts
school, and we're going to be exploring that from the trauma
perspective on who and why you might want to explore martial
(00:23):
arts in your trauma healing. You know that I'm very, very
biased about this, but I do findthat working from the top down
and the bottom up is going to bethe most important and somatic
approach to your healing, but without due.
Thank you, Evan, so much for being here today.
It's nice to see you. Thank you for having me.
(00:45):
It's a pleasure. So tell me a little bit about
the school. So I have been involved in the
school since 2009. I've turned under my instructor
this for many many years now andthen back in 2002 or 2022 I
(01:05):
decided to purchase it and keep the legacy going.
Wow, what got you into martial arts to begin with?
Actually, the time, a friend of mine was really involved in it
and it was a way for us to be able to do something together.
I love that. Did I see that you traveled
internationally as well? Yes, I did.
(01:26):
Back in 2018, I traveled to Thailand and did a martial arts
retreat out there. So it was kind of a eat, sleep,
breathe martial arts for two months.
In my downtime, I went into the town and I did Thai kickboxing
as well. So it was all kinds of martial
arts adventures there. Wow that had to be amazing.
(01:48):
I I myself have never been to Thailand.
I've seen lots of beautiful photos and videos, but wow, how
did that change your life? So that was my introduction to a
different way to do martial artsbecause ours is based in karate
out there. It was Kung Fu and it was my
introduction to meditation and they did a slight introduction
(02:10):
to things like Chinese medicine.So using a meditation along the
lines of the meridians to keep your body in tip top shape.
Which explains why you've also crossed over into Reiki.
Yes, that's correct. And then when I came back, I
wanted to keep pursuing that. And I found my Reiki instructor.
I've been with her now for many years and went all the way
(02:31):
through the stages of Reiki to keep moving with that.
So you touched on meditation, and I feel like that's a huge
part of possible misconception for people with martial arts is
those that don't know it, they think it's just the movement,
kind of like the way that peoplelook at yoga and they think
it's, you know, just physical postures and twisting into a
(02:51):
pretzel. And we learned that that's just
one branch of it. What can you tell me about the
meditation aspect of karate and martial arts?
Well, martial arts in general, every movement that you do is
done mindfully. So you can do meditation as
you're doing martial arts in thesame way that you can do
meditation as you're pouring a cup of tea.
(03:13):
So it's all about intentionalityand where the focus is in any
given time. When you're doing something like
martial arts, you have to have the reason why you're doing it,
whether that's to help with health and Wellness.
It could be because you want to defend yourself.
It could be because it's just something else to do, so
everybody's motivation for doingmartial arts is going to be
(03:33):
different, but that's where the intentionality comes into place.
Who are some of the people that you've had a chance to witness
really benefiting from martial arts, and how did that go for
them? Yeah.
So I've, I've had a couple different situations where
people have benefited over time.You know what, it might be
something small like a super shykid who comes out of their shell
(03:58):
and starts to be able to make eye contact even sometimes that
is a big deal for students. Other times it could be somebody
loses a bunch of weight because now they're now their whole
mindset is changing on what theyshould be doing.
You know, they, they have to be in the best shape for, for
martial arts. So then that inspires them to
(04:19):
make better health decisions as far as working out or the food
that they consume or things of that nature that somebody lose.
I've had a couple people lose over £50 just in in the year or
two that they had been there andbeing able to see them on the
other end of that and see that they are enjoying life a little
(04:40):
bit better because of that, I think it's so.
Is it the quality of mind that they create, or is it the
intentionality the the movement?Or is it that they're just
finally really in their bodies, being embodied or a combination?
Yeah, I was going to say it's kind of, I think it's, it's part
of all of it together. When a student starts, they have
(05:02):
very distracted ideas as to whatmartial arts is.
You see a lot of movies in Hollywood where it's, it's very
much glamorized. You know, you're seeing people
do jump kicks and spin kicks andyou know, just crazy things,
sometimes even on on the border of acrobatics.
And then you get involved in it and realize that it is not as
(05:24):
complex as Hollywood makes it look.
I'm a hypnotist. They do me no favors either.
Right, you know, don't get me wrong, it's, it's difficult, but
in different ways. It's not because you have to
spin and jump at the same time, but it's because of accuracy.
It's because you have to be in full control of your body.
And what you realize, at least in, in my opinion, what what you
(05:48):
realize is that the best teacheryou will ever have is yourself.
So if you are unable to understand yourself or be able
to set with yourself, it's goingto be very hard to teach
yourself and with with with all things, whether it's an
energetic type of healing like Reiki or if it's a very physical
thing like throwing a kick. You have to be confident with
(06:12):
who you are as a person in orderto be able to receive
information. And when people start a new
sport or a new practice, you know, I've used Reiki as an
example as as well as something physical like karate, but it
could be applied to something like dance or swim or anything.
I feel like you have to have a certain level of open mindedness
to be able to do that. And if you aren't comfortable
(06:33):
with who you are as a person, it's very hard to receive new
information and then be able to apply it.
And with martial arts teaching, I always say to a student, I can
show you all that there is to, to know or to do in our specific
system of martial arts, but it'sup to you then to actually apply
it and make the changes necessary because you may need
(06:54):
to throw a punch 1000 times before it becomes very
effective. And I can give you the critiques
and I can adjust, but you have to be the one to actually make
those fixes. I do a lot of coaching around
resilience and I can see why someone would have to, well, be
open, but also it would take a lot of resilience and you would
build a lot of resilience through the process.
(07:16):
That willingness to try something, possibly not be good,
but be willing to suck at it enough to get better at it.
I can see why that would be really, really helpful for that
area and how that can also branch out into other places in
life for sure. Well, and resilience is, is such
a, I guess, in my opinion, is such an important role in living
(07:36):
life because, you know, society tells you that if you fail, it's
the, it's the worst possible case.
You know, you have to redo things, especially in school.
You know, if you fail, that's that's the end of the world
there. You know, you might have to
repeat grades or whatever. And in something like martial
arts, the, the goal is to actually learn to accept failure
(07:59):
because the only way you truly fail is if you quit or give up.
And only through failure and only through making mistakes can
you actually become better at whatever it is you're trying to
cultivate and do. And I think the same goes with
mindfulness practice, you know, meditation, self healing, all of
these types of things. It's, it's, it's on a scale of
(08:20):
really life, you know, you have to be willing to make mistakes
to find out who you are and to find out where you belong and
what you're supposed to be doing.
For people like the audience here who've been through trauma
and they carry a significant amount of fear in life, how can
they begin to bring themselves to explore karate or martial
arts so that they can have some of that resilience, begin to
(08:42):
grow and find some of that intentionality and clarity in
life? I have worked with individuals
who have been through some very traumatic situations and very
traumatic parts of their lives. The main thing that I see often
times is that an individual who's been through intense
trauma first needs to forgive themselves.
(09:03):
And it's not that anything that they did was incorrect or wrong.
Often times in traumatic situations, abusive situations,
it's not that you could even seeit.
You have to almost live through to find out why that situation
might be negative. But many times people will hold
on to the fact that they lived through something for so long or
(09:24):
that they experienced something for a period of time, or that
trauma becomes their identity. And the first thing that you
have to do is forgive yourself and realize that this is just a
part of the the learning and growing experience.
This is a part of life, and as terrible as it is, you owe it to
(09:45):
yourself to be able to work through that.
And that may come in the form ofgiving yourself permission to do
something to better yourself, whether it be a service through
an individual such as yourself or going through any type of
healing. Maybe if it's talk therapy,
maybe if it's energetic healing therapy.
(10:06):
But as far as martial arts goes,I feel like there is the mind,
body connection through that type of of training.
And sometimes, well, I'm a backtrack A little bit of the
hardest part of a martial artist's experience tends to be
the very first day because you don't know what's going to
happen. You don't know what situation is
(10:27):
going to run into. So sometimes stepping out onto
the floor and what we do is bow onto the floor to show respect
for what we're training. Sometimes that can be the most
difficult and the most daunting of situations.
And if you have a person who's gone through trauma, that can be
your almost permission slip to embrace the training that you're
(10:49):
you're going to go through. It's your permission slip to
then bypass the restrictions that we sometimes put upon
ourselves, whether, you know, directly or indirectly, you
know, once you've gone through that, OK, I'm going to step out
onto this floor. I'm going to.
I've decided to cultivate a new lifestyle for myself.
I look at that almost in the in the same sense where I'm sure a
(11:09):
lot of people can can relate to this.
You know, you're walking from one room to another, and then as
soon as you walk through that doorway, you forget what it was
that you were going into that room.
For I did that this morning. It it I I feel like it may
happen more often than we would like to admit, but when you walk
through that doorway, it almost resets the brain.
(11:31):
And in the same way, when you take an experience that is a bit
larger than just walking througha doorway that you're
comfortable with, but instead you're walking through this
doorway of a brand new building,a brand new practice, an art,
it. It will have that type of effect
on an individual on maybe a deeper level where you say, OK,
this is this is who I was prior,but now this is who I can be now
(11:54):
that I've given my precision, given myself permission to grow
and forgive myself. I was going to say, isn't that
just another doorway to a brand new life?
Exactly. Exactly.
I can see just from my training and experience, the way that I
work with NLP, neuro linguistic programming, how just bowing is
going to do so many things for someone who 1 isn't used to
(12:17):
making that physical posture. So right then what we're telling
the brain to do is new experience, get ready, make new
neurons. We need more neural pathways.
We need a whole new program on how do I show up and be with
this thing? And if the brain's creating a
whole new program, then the bodyis going to follow suit.
And so for those those people that I work with who are stuck
(12:38):
in a trauma response, maybe they're stuck in a freeze
response. And so their muscles are slow,
they're tired, they're not moving very much, or they might
be in flight. They don't stop moving.
They're in hyper vigilance. And so those are the programs
that they run all day every day.But it sounds like when they get
to your studio, they learn to bow.
(12:59):
They have that first kind of introductory to here's where
we're going to begin today. That has really great potential
to start to break them out of some of the old conditioning
that doesn't fit anymore. And then you work with someone
like me alongside. And then what we do is have the
whole package of healing happen.So it's not just from the body
or just from the mind or the emotions.
(13:21):
It's the whole thing. So that's actually really cool
and exciting to see it from yourperspective.
And I fully get it a whole lot better now than I did before.
Well, and there's, there's, you know, I, I still go through talk
therapy myself because of certain things that, you know,
I've experienced in my lifetime.And one thing that really stuck
with me about my therapy that I'm with now is he talked about
(13:42):
the idea of the tiger in the cage.
And where a tiger is stuck in this small cage for many years,
it finally gets into a healthy environment, but it still paces
between the dimensions of what that original cage was.
And oftentimes I feel we do thatto ourselves and myself
included. And you're stuck within these
(14:04):
same types of patterns over and over.
And when you introduce somethingelse, some exterior, especially
movement like you were talking about, you know, you're starting
with the bow, you start with thebasic punches, blocks and kicks.
It's now expanding where your brain originally thought was the
end of your path or the end of the ability for you to move from
one place to another. So it expands your overall
(14:26):
mentality of where you can go. I would even go further to say
the nervous system and the somatic parts of the system
because as you're doing those things, you're not always going
to have time and awareness to realize what you're even
thinking about it or feeling about it.
But your nervous system makes upits mind immediately and then it
sends responses for the body to full out respond.
(14:47):
So there's a lot happening therein just those brief moments.
How do people move forward from the fear is what I was trying to
ask before and I maybe didn't phrase it so eloquently.
You went super deep, which was fun, but it was more of how do
people come from a fright or a freeze or a shutdown state and
even get up the courage to step out on that first floor and have
(15:10):
that first class. I think fear is something that
everybody experiences. Those who have been through
traumatic experiences probably experience it to a much more
severe degree. But I feel like our brain
operates very similarly to, you know, say, a metaphor of like a
path in a forest. So if you know recently is
(15:33):
something I've done, and maybe some of your listeners may find
this to be helpful for them as well.
I found a spot in one of my local parks where I kind of
flattened out the area, got rid of all the brush and stuff, and
it's now my meditation spot. And what I realized through that
was essentially this, this metaphoric idea of how our brain
operates. The more you traverse this path,
(15:55):
the deeper that gets. So the more I visit that
specific spot, the clearer it becomes that I've been there
before. If I were to not visit my
meditation spot for a period of time, it's going to get
overgrown and you're never goingto even be able to tell that I
was there. So oftentimes I think through
trauma, it creates those pathways in our brain and it
(16:17):
gives us this idea that we have to revisit it, to keep it, to
keep it fresh, to keep it open, to keep it traversed.
When in reality, sometimes we just need to take a different
path. Sometimes we just need to allow
that part of our lives to move on, become overgrown.
You know, it doesn't mean that you weren't there before.
It doesn't mean that you can't learn from that experience or
(16:39):
where you were at that time. But sometimes it's time to let
that part go. So it's time to let that path
become overgrown and decide to create a new path.
Are you? Not a hypnotist, because you
speak metaphors very, very well.We've got some suggestions
going. I'm looking.
Wait a minute. I'm not, I'm just a martial
artist, but with, with starting martial arts, it's, it's giving
(17:01):
yourself again that permission slip to say, OK, that path
doesn't need to be traversed anymore.
We're going to take this path and step.
And one of the best gifts I feelI can give somebody.
In fact, one of the best gifts Ihave ever received myself is
positive association. It's having people around you
who are willing to bring you up,to motivate you, to encourage
(17:23):
you in the times that you do notwant to do those things to
yourself. To have somebody such as an
instructor pour into you these ideals, these, these virtues,
these skills, and to have that person set there and say, no,
you can do better even when you feel like you're at rock bottom.
(17:43):
I think that is one of the best gifts we can give to anybody.
So for that specific situation, we have our programs and
self-defense program, for instance, is for those that
don't want to learn the jump kicks of Hollywood.
And you know, we don't want to do all those advanced craziness.
You know, you want to stick to something simplistic like using
your keys to defend yourself or if somebody grabs your purse,
(18:03):
how would you get out of that? And it's giving people
permission to change trajectory,change the course that they want
to, to go on, to change that path for themselves.
Success to me is not just a one time decision.
And this is where people who have been through rough
situations, they have to come tothis realization in their own
(18:26):
time and and when they're ready.Success is not just something we
decide one time you're going to wake up.
I want to be a good martial artist, OK?
That's not something I can just decide every single day I wake
up. I have to decide that this is
something that I want to pursue and be good at.
And every time I show up to class, every time I practice,
every time I stretch, it has to be a decision that you
(18:47):
continually make for yourself. So I feel it's the same sense
for those who go through struggles.
They have to, they have to wake up in the morning and, and say,
I am not this situation. I am deciding to do better for
myself, for my future and for all of these, these other
reasons. And you have to be able to wake
up and choose to do something different.
It's, it's very easy to allow negativity or what some say
(19:12):
would be evil to overcome our thought processes.
The nature of how it works through US is it's very
believable. If you have a low self esteem
already, it's very difficult to counter negative thoughts.
And The thing is the person thatyou are going to hear the most
is going to be yourself. The person that you hear on
(19:33):
repeat is yourself. I've asked kids, you know, who's
the who's the number one person you have to hear and they always
say my mom. And it's like, yes, your mom
might be right now. However, you are going to have
to listen to your own internal thoughts from now until the rest
of your life. And if you speak negativity into
your own life, even if it is onetime, the next time it'll be
(19:54):
easier to believe it and the next time it'll be easier to
believe it. Same thing goes for positivity.
If you just state 1 positive thing that you did for that day,
then it may start changing how you are wired.
Instead of sitting there and saying this situation happened
to me and it's negative and thisis this is what I've.
(20:15):
This is what I've become. You can change that.
You can say this is a situation that happened to me, get more of
a neutral stance on that situation and decide how it
helps you to grow to become a better person.
You know, I heard something thatin many cases I think can be
true. You know, I have a Christian
(20:35):
belief. I believe in God and Christ and
you know, there may be some listeners who share the same
thing. Either way, whatever it is that
you believe, I feel like this fits within the standards of
your belief system is one of thegreatest gifts that God has
given us is that there is no there's no innate meaning behind
what we are doing. A situation happens.
(20:57):
God doesn't sit there and say this is a good situation that
just happened to you or this is a bad situation that has
happened to you. I feel that God loves us so much
that He supports whatever it is that we decide to make it.
If it is a negative situation and we perceive it as such, God
loves us enough that He will support that within our own
minds. When we go through struggle,
(21:19):
when we go through trauma, oftentimes the initial feeling
is quite negative. It can be detrimental to
ourselves. It can be detrimental to our
personal beliefs within ourselves.
But I feel that is our job to then step back once we start to
work through these types of things, step back and say, OK,
this is a situation that happened to me, I'm going to
(21:41):
pull the negative out of it. And what is it that I can learn
now so that I can become a better person tomorrow?
Or when you meet other people who have gone through the same
thing, how is it that I can now help them?
Something I like to call that ispost traumatic growth.
I like that. I like that.
Yeah, I think it's true. I feel the same way.
(22:02):
I don't necessarily label myselfwithin any specific faith.
I was raised Catholic, and thereare some things that still
resonate, that still fit within my life.
And then there are other things that I just don't label because
I've had a lot of experiences and those, those primary
personal experiences, they, theymean a lot to me.
So they've definitely shifted myviews.
But when you say that God is neutral, I agree.
(22:25):
Yeah, we've got free will. And just because something
happened and your nervous systemor your brain or your emotions
that oh, this is a bad, awful, scary thing, that doesn't mean
it has to stay that way. You can choose at any time to
step into empowerment or embodiment and say, you know
what? I'm willing to take this shit
(22:45):
sandwich, for lack of a better term, and turn it around and
help it be the fertilizer that makes me grow, right, Right.
It's always that choice. Yeah.
Well, and you know, one thing I've learned in martial arts
too, this came much later, but I'm now training students that
were born the same year I got myblack belt, which is mind
boggling at times because, you know, I, I guess I never thought
(23:08):
I'd be in a situation like that.Here I am teaching somebody who
was born the same year I got my black belt.
It sneaks up on us. It does.
I think about the struggles thatI went through, the doubt or the
fears or whatever it is that I experienced along my journey for
martial arts. And I thought about it.
I thought, what if I would have let that?
What if I would have let that one?
(23:29):
What if I would have quit? And now all these people that
are, you know, my students now, they, they wouldn't be there.
And I've had people express to me that the school or the
martial arts or whatever it is has been such a positive thing
for them. And I look at it now and I tell
people this now, is that if you allow the fear to win, you are
(23:51):
not only doing a disservice to yourself, but all the people
that you were going to potentially come into contact
with in the future that need that service.
Absolutely. I really feel that strongly
within my own experiences and career as well.
There there people were meant tobe of service to who am I to
hold back from helping them? When we have some kind of soul
level agreement that those things are, you know, we're
(24:13):
going to either be a catalyst for each other or we're going to
be a support in some kind of way.
So I think trauma can make us kind of self focused in a way
that is negative and small and keeps us small.
And when we can remember, oh, this isn't just about me, then
we have more choices. I will say one thing.
(24:33):
I've been to the martial arts studio.
I've been having private yoga with Jess and a friend of mine
has been just the best experience.
And I really need to know what is your secret?
Because every time I enter there, and I don't know what
your beliefs are around this, but I have some mediumship
ability. I had some interesting
experiences with that. I've tried to push it down.
(24:53):
I've tried all the things and now I'm just embracing that this
is part of who I am. It is what it is.
And that's partly why I went to Reiki actually was OK.
How do I I manage this? I'm tired of running.
Can't do that anymore. Every time I go to the Dale
McCutcheon Martial Arts studio, the energy is pristine.
For someone who's very empathic or even has mediumship, or if
(25:17):
you're in those layers of traumawhere you're feeling that fear,
that oppression, going and beingin this space is going to be a
beautiful thing for you. And I can promise that if you
are willing to do that and bringyourself to the room where
martial arts happen before you even bow, you're going to feel
pretty safe, pretty secure, and pretty at home.
How do you keep that energy so beautiful?
(25:39):
Well, that's, I guess that's a good question, but because it's
not necessarily something that Imyself am just constantly doing,
I feel like it's, it's a community that I'm trying to
build. So my instructor and myself
always believe that that should be a family type atmosphere.
Now, yes, there are certain rules and martial arts, you do
need to be respectful and say yes, Sir, no Sir, yes ma'am, no
(26:02):
ma'am, those types of things. But if I have a person who is
doing martial arts, I also believe that we're kind of doing
life together as well. If they have something that
comes up in their life that may pertain to martial arts or I, I
may offer some insight to them. I want to do that.
I want to be there for them in any way that I can.
And the relationship between a teacher and a student is a very
(26:24):
unique type of relationship because you do care about that
person. You're pouring a part of
yourself into the student when you give them that information.
So you do have a, I don't know, subconscious belief that you
want what's best for them. Aside from that, though, you
know, I know it's, it may not bewithin traditional Christian
beliefs. I, I don't think I fit within
(26:45):
that. You mentioned what I well, you
mentioned what. Being a Reiki practitioner,
you're. Walking Dead say that, you know,
like I said, I believe in Christ, I believe in God.
I was raised Catholic and there is a lot of beauty in that faith
and that religion, but I feel I'm more of a believer of these
things and I express them in different ways.
My understanding of God, I think, has expanded beyond a guy
(27:08):
in the sky because God is everything.
It doesn't mean that he is just simply out there somewhere
looking at us. I believe God is source and
that's a an idea that's discussed in Reiki is God is
source and. So are we, I don't know if you
feel that way, but I feel so arewe.
All of my experiences have, especially after Reiki, have
(27:30):
always been we are the ocean in a drop, and then we get to be
that drop and eventually go backto the ocean.
Exactly. I, I feel like we are.
Yes, we're unique individuals. Yes, we were created by God, but
each of us express ourselves in such a way that we're a
different expression of God. And it's our job to be the best
that we can be, to express thesepositive traits the best that we
(27:54):
can. And we don't always, we don't
always succeed. We make mistakes, but coming
back now to intentionality, whatis the intention behind what
we're trying to do? And maybe that's where you're
feeling the positive vibes at the school is because my
intention is always to try to be, how can I help this person
who's walking through the door? I have some people that
(28:15):
actually, it's a, it's a funny parallel to to life itself here.
I've got some people who come infor a free week is what we call
it. They come in for one week, they
try it, they decide it's not forthem and then they're gone.
There's other people who then goto our two-month course and they
stick around free week, 2 month that come in and then some
choose to leave after that. And then after that they decide,
(28:37):
OK, let's do a one year course. They may stick for one year,
they may stick for five years. You know, I have people who
started back in 2020 when I was first running things, didn't own
it, but ran it. And those people are still
around now. So I have to look at each
individual from kind of where they're coming from.
And I have to come to terms withthe fact that I may only have
(28:59):
them for three classes and that's it.
So what is it that I can accomplish in those three
classes to help them feel like they got value out of what we
have to offer? Or how can I better them or
their lives, their perspective, whatever it is, just in that
short period of time? That makes a lot of sense to me.
(29:19):
And then also because you are seeing people for years, it
makes sense that you have to show up neutral and make room
for whatever growth they've cultivated that you might not
yet know for sure. And I think when we can come at
each other from that perspective, and it's more of a
collaborative, how can we build each other versus what can I get
out of you kind of situation, Itdoes create that layer of energy
(29:42):
that's different. I know you've got some exciting
stuff coming up. One of them is the tea room.
Do you want to expand on that? My friend got me real involved
in the traditions of Chinese teaand we have a room here that
we'll be remodeling to include this.
There's many different ways thatyou can cultivate tea.
(30:04):
This is why I mentioned meditating is tea at times too,
because as you prepare your tea,it's not just put the tea bag in
the water and that's it. I mean, there's a lot that can
go into traditional brewing, such as cleaning the leaves, you
know, letting them open up before you actually make the
tea, knowing what temperature tobrew each type of tea at.
So there's many things that go into that.
(30:27):
And yeah, that's what we're trying to do there.
And martial arts roots are in China.
So I feel like having that connection to the traditional
roots of of where it came from is can be a benefit.
But we also have we'll also be pairing with you here shortly
as. Well, and I will say for those
of us with trauma, T, although it sounds like it's out of left
(30:48):
field, it's really not. The experience of being present
in every single moment is what you want the most of, to get the
most out of your life, to reach your potential.
Because when you're focused on those tea leaves opening up and
the temperature of the water andhaving this whole little ritual
take place, you're not focusing on the inner critic.
You're not focusing on the emotional flashbacks or the
(31:11):
night terrors that have taken place or the uncomfortable spots
in the body. You're just present.
So it's deeply impactful and it makes a lot of sense that we're
going to partner. And I'm so excited to partner
because we work at things very differently and yet we have a
lot of the same outcomes. Right, right.
Well, and one of my ideas for the school had always been I
(31:32):
want it to be AI want it to be aCenter for people to come and
and heal if they would like as well.
You know, whether that's throughyoga.
We have yoga offered briefly fora while a little while back.
If it's understanding the value of having tea and the benefits
behind it, I made that the room that we'll be working out of.
I originally made it for for Bakey, and now I have
(31:53):
individuals like yourself and Jess who want to pair and come
into the school and offer what it is that you guys practice.
And I think just creating that center of positivity to
encourage somebody to be able toshow up and be willing to
improve no matter what, it is that that mindset is what brings
a lot of martial artists together.
The idea that they want to step out onto the floor and better
(32:16):
themselves, even if it's just one small thing, even if it's
just developing a little bit more power in a punch or a
little bit quicker in a kick or whatever it is.
That mindset is what brings a school together.
And I feel like when you work with, if you're working with
healing, whether it's like I talked about talk therapy or
trauma therapy or Reiki sessionsor shamanic practices or
(32:39):
whatever it is, an individual shows up for the same reason
that somebody else would show upfor martial arts.
And it's just to try to better themselves and even the smallest
way to help create value in their own lives.
Yeah. For those of us who are trying
to the feeling of safety in being embodied again, can you
tell us a bit more on what the self-defense program looks like?
(33:01):
Yes. So our self-defense program is
a, it's a way that an individualcan step into confidence within
themselves. So we're teaching you how to
defend yourselves. You know, sometimes in in trauma
situations, it had to do with anindividual with I'll intentions.
And when you're able to set backand say, I know for a fact that
(33:21):
if this type of situation were to happen again, I'm going to be
able to get away safely. Sometimes that is the confidence
or like I talked about the idea of a permission slip that you
need to be able to move through that that difficult mentality or
that difficult situation. So we focus on the individual to
develop the the mental ability to throw punches, kicks, blocks,
(33:42):
be able to defend yourselves against wrist grabs, hair grabs,
clothing grabs, chokes. You know, even if you stick with
it long enough, we'll even show you weapons defenses if somebody
pulled a knife on you. And there's a mentality that is
cultivated along the way that really does help to to pair well
with what it is that I feel you are trying to accomplish with an
individual in the same situation.
(34:04):
You know, you talked about that we have to focus from the ground
up and from the top down. And I feel that goes hand in
hand, physical, mental, emotional, all three of those
have to be on board for true growth to happen.
So if an individual, you know, starts to meditate, that's
their, that's the mental part. Where's the emotion coming into
(34:25):
play? Where is the physical coming
into play? We add something like, it could
be simple exercise, like going on a walk on a daily basis.
That's the physical. Now where's that emotional come
into play? So we have to, we have to decide
where everything is coming from and how as a collective whole,
as an individual, how can we we give ourselves that permission
to heal and to grow? Yeah.
(34:47):
In terms of logistics, how long do people usually work through
the self-defense program? You know, it's, it's funny that
we're talking about this. The individuals that started in
2020 that I mentioned earlier are the ones that are still
there to this day. So I remember and it's crazy, I
still remember the phone call that I had from them when they
(35:08):
first started back in October of2020.
So they've been there almost five years now.
And it is a, it's a husband, a wife, and then two kids.
The two kids are in our traditional program, and the
husband and the wife are in the self-defense program.
So I think it's just one of those things that the longer you
get into it, the more information that you get, the
(35:31):
better you understand how to handle situations.
The wife now is starting to get involved in weapons, so club
attacks. But she's gone through a series
of difficult training exercises to get to where she is now.
You know, she started with our basic punches, blocks and kicks.
She moved on from learning how to fall correctly if she was
ever pushed. She's used her keys to defend
(35:53):
herself and self-defense and theway that that sits that
situation I'm going to use as anexample, you know, she'll stand
there in the center of a ring and we'll have two or three
different guys go in or ladies, it doesn't matter, whatever
they're comfortable with and grab and basic things like a
wrist grab, hair grab, clothing grab, choke.
And she's using those car keys to defend herself.
She knows how to hold them properly, what points in the
(36:14):
body to strike, to loosen up a person.
That way if a big dude does attack her so you can get away
from it. So there's a it's a journey.
It is definitely a journey. We also don't believe in pushing
people through a program. They go at their own pace.
And I'm going to use the, the husband as an example right now,
he's, he's had a series of injuries outside and separate
(36:35):
from the school that's caused him to kind of pull back and
slow down. And the thing that I, I really
like about it is that he's got this mentality that he's not
going to quit. He's going to let these injuries
heal and then he's going to comeback and just pick up where he
left off. So it's kind of a cool program
because you come in and you giveit whatever it is that you want
(36:55):
to put in. What you put in is what you get
out. And if you are not ready to give
it 110% and right now your version is 50%, we'll meet you
halfway. We'll work through that.
As long as we're not getting caught up in the idea of having
to get a belt or anything like that.
You know, I really don't care how long an individual takes to
(37:17):
get through that material. My main concern is that if they
were, say, attacked with a wristgrab, if somebody grabs their
arm, I want them to get away from it.
I don't care if they're a black belt or not.
I want them to get out of that risk wrap.
So I think that's maybe a mentality that we as a school
have versus maybe branches of schools.
(37:39):
Big branches may have the idea that you have to test every
month or every two months, and they give you that time limit
of, hey, within four years we promise you'll be a black belt.
But what what value is there in that if we're not truly tested
on the information and the knowledge?
One thing that you do that I really enjoy and I find has so
much value is the way that you reach out to community.
(38:01):
So I know you've got some reallycool events coming up.
I don't want to miss name them. I want to say ninja night.
What is that about? So it is called ninja night.
It's a we use it as an opportunity to be able to get
the kids in all together, for them to get to know each other.
I feel that builds camaraderie and it gives them an opportunity
(38:21):
to bring in either family members or friends or whoever it
is that aren't involved in martial arts.
If nothing else, it just opens their eyes to what martial arts
is. You know, there are fun games
and things like that. But for me, I always want to
also teach the skills behind whatever it is.
It's not just going to be, you know, running around doing
aimless things. But yes, that's coming up in
(38:43):
October and anybody can join even if they're they're not
currently enrolled in the school.
Is that a drop in on the date kind of thing?
Do they have to phone ahead? It would be good to get an
e-mail or call, I suppose. I've never had somebody just
drop in. I'm not against it, but it is
good for us to know so that we know how much you know, food to
order and things of that nature.OK.
(39:06):
So a little bit of appetizers orsomething happening.
Are they come in costume becauseit's October or I'm not sure if
I understand everything? Yeah, no, that's OK.
We we as a school will order pizza and things like that.
And everybody just kind of brings a snack to share.
You know, we do have them wear costumes for this particular
ninja night because it is Halloween themed and we have a
(39:27):
contest and my, my office staff is super awesome.
She prepares A goodie basket forthe winner of the costume
contest. And I know all the kids look
forward to that, but they can also then after the contest is
over, go back to their regular clothes, whatever's comfortable.
I love that. But that's the thing that I
really enjoy about what you do is you've got the outreach
(39:48):
program, you're creating a safe space.
It's a clean space. Energetically and physically,
it's a pleasure to be there. And then emotionally it's a very
safe, comfortable space to be. So yeah, can't lose, whether
you're coming in to work with Evan and martial arts and
self-defense or sending your kiddos to get some confidence,
build some strength. Strength and be able to feel
(40:09):
embodied or if you're choosing to come in and do some Reiki,
you want to do some emotional healing.
I'll be there with hypnotherapy and of course IEMT to reduce any
flashbacks or traumas or responses that are still
lingering that you've wanted to change, you just didn't know
how. So you can come on over and be
fully supported. The website, I know I'm going to
(40:30):
get it wrong. Evan, what is it?
Com yeah, I mean, we can, you can sign up for a free week
there. We have the information about
our instructors and our staff, school history and and much more
on there. Thank you so much for your time
today and all of your insight. Is there anything left you want
(40:50):
to share with the audience today?
You know, if I had to leave on OneNote, I would say don't be
afraid to try something new. If nothing changes, then nothing
changes. As if something in your life is
not exactly where you would likeit.
If it's if it's an uncomfortablething, if it's a thought pattern
that that keeps reoccurring, if it's a health thing that is is
(41:13):
just kind of setting around. If nothing changes, nothing
changes. Do not be afraid to make some
sort of change to allow that to to move on.
I couldn't agree more. Thank you so much for your time
and your energy today and hopefully ladies and gents,
you'll come and check this out because this one is actually
local and that's going to be very different.
(41:35):
So you can find the studio in Uniontown and somewhere within
October I will be available for in person sessions.
Very much looking forward. Thank you so much and as always,
soulful seekers, stay happy, stay healthy, but most of all,
stay inspired. Bye for now.
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.