Lessons from a Yogi, Martial Artist and Zen Philosopher with Acharya Raghu [#TBS Eps 32]
Former National Tae – Kwon – Do Champion, Hatha Yogi & founder of Sailum Martial Arts Academy Acharya Babu T. Raghu speaks about learning to absorb pain, achieving mastery and doing everything one loves, even if you cant make a living out of it.
Important Questions from the Episode
1. You have worn many hats. Armed forces, Martials Arts, Adventure sports, Writing etc. What prompted you to pursue so many things? (03:22)
2. So how did you financially support these activities in last the 30 years? (06:14)
3. How has cross disciplinary learning helped you apply lessons from Martial Arts & Adventure Sports to Stocks markets and vice versa (09:26)
4. What is Martial arts and why is it called an art? isn’t it a sport, a violent sport? (11:48)
5. If Kunga Fa is a classical art form, then why do most people know only about the physical combat element of it? (15:10)
6. What does Zen has to say about developing the mind? (17:13)
7. What does it mean to take the journey inward? (20:07)
8. Why do you think it is difficult for people to sit quietly for even 10 minutes? (22:14)
9. What was your approach to learning martial arts? (25:36)
10. What do you think are barriers to achieving mastery? (28:05)
11. How do you transcend pain? How do you get better at absorbing pain? (29:40)
12. How do you help students over-come the fear of pain? (37:42)
13. Summary of Takeaways (50:02)
3 Big Takeaways from the Episode
1. Absorb a little Pain Everyday – As Acharya mentioned, The gap between where you are and where you want to be is Pain of learning or effort. Learning something new or making a big decision is painful. However, you don’t do it in one go. Just as in martial arts, you can inflict a little pain every day. You can learn a little everyday, you can take little risk instead of trying to do what you want to do at once.
2. Transferable Learning – A podcast student of mine once told me “Hey, I’m a software engineer, I dont’ think I can write creatively”. This is an example of Indian education system where we often becomes prisoners of our past education and degrees. Acharya Raghu applied his learnings about risks in adventure sports and quick decision making from martial arts to stock market trading. This is a wonderful example of cross disciplinary learning. I’m not suggesting that learning martial arts will make you a great Stock market trader. However, the mental models or Behavior you pick up from a deep involvement in one activity often helps you navigate other discipline in unexpected ways. So you don’t have to be a prisoner of your past experiences.
3. Mastery is when you can detach your mind from the activity – I loved this definition of mastery from Acharya Raghu. You’ve achieved mastery in something when you enjoy it like a kid. When you can perform what you’ve mastered with pleasure and not pressure. You feel absolutely carefree and completely detach your mind from the activity. Mastery is when what love doing becomes a part of your muscle memory. You no longer deliberately do it. You just Enjoy the flow.
Links related to Acharya Raghu
Correction : The introduction of the guest on the episode mentions him incorrectly as a former Air Force Pilot. He was an Air Force Engineer.