 Hi, today is a bit of a special episode with an exceptional guest that I fully believe defines exactly what Karate Do is, and how it can be used to overcome your worst opponent. Many people train Karate and the martial arts as a method of self defense, but the interesting thing is how we define that. We train so that we can protect ourselves from harm, not just from the chance encounter with an attacker, but from the person that we encounter and have to live with every day ourselves. Today's guest is a man named Ian McLeod, who unfortunately after a series of accidents has been left with a traumatic brain injury. Ian faces a level of pain and challenges that most of us would not be able to relate to. Now, while the easy road would be to accept it and live with the limitations, Ian decided not to accept it and instead he turned to the martial arts as a method to reclaim his life. Ian, in a sense, has shared his story with us to remind us that the martial arts is about learning how to fight, but that fight doesn't always occur out in the streets. We are TBI survivors for a reason. We survive. I absolutely love this quote, and it actually hits a chord on what we want to talk about today. This episode isn't just about overcoming minor inconveniences, but it's about dealing with reality, facing real pain and real obstacles that most people can't relate to. Ian, can you tell us a little bit about who you are, what life was like before, and what happened to change that? Well, as I said, brain injury survivor, pretty much honestly says it all. It's not an easy road to travel, and once you actually have it, it's difficult to constantly be defending who you are when people can't see the injury itself. My brain injury is a humiliation of numerous concussions over many years doing many different sports, many different accidents and whatnot. Started playing ice hockey in the mid-70s, and it was an extremely rough and tumble time. It was a lot of head injuries, which back then nobody actually knew what head injuries really were. I've had several car accidents. I was in a motorcycle accident. I could crush between two trucks. Then in 2016, things really came to a true head. I had three accidents in the span of six months. I had a rear-end accident, so a front-to-back head injury. And a couple of months after that, I was T-boned. My car was just destroyed when somebody hit me. And a few months after that, I was in an elevator that fell three stories, and that was a totally different concussion. So front-to-back, side-to-side, and then up and down. I guess the struggle with that is they're just concussions. But when they're 12, 13, and on and on and on, the compounded damage is very difficult. I had to basically relearn to walk, learning that my balance was destroyed and having to just relearn to completely stand on my feet and go from there. I guess my last concussion after that, my son and I were playing in the pool at the building I was living in at the time. We were practicing throws in the pool, and he absolutely booted me in the back of the head. Surprisingly, as that sounds, it was probably the best thing that could have happened to me because I was having all these chemicals being released into my brain, which were causing me to become very aggressive. And this last concussion at least shut off the part of the brain that was producing those chemicals. So now I'm back to being the charming person I am today. I find it actually really extremely fascinating that you did decide to turn to the martial arts. What made you continue down this path of the martial arts? And can you tell us about the art that you chose? Well, what what shows me into martial arts is I was having zero success with Western medicine. Very few doctors here at least Canada believe that you can get a brain injury from numerous concussions. I've been having great success dealing with a Eastern practitioner of arts. He's a Shaolin monk, and he's helped me a great deal in, I guess, mid-2017. September, I got my son involved in martial arts. I was asked to join the program, but I was far too injured at that point. And so I started in the parent-child program that my sensei runs at the school. So parents can obviously train with their children. It's a tremendous experience. Well, I met Sensei Porter through her other job as a mediator. And when I had set up the appointment to actually meet her, I was waiting in her office and she she walks in in her gi and apparently I'm the only person she's ever done that with. And I was actually immediately put at ease because I actually believe people who are trained are black belts. They believe differently. And so that really put me at ease right then and there. And she knew me before my injuries. She knew me before the 2016. So she had a really good idea of who I was before I started training. Sensei is just an incredible person. He reached out to me for a different matter, a different occupation. I'm also a credited family mediator and a parenting coordinator. He's been so for 20 years and he ended up becoming my client. He and his ex-wife were my clients. So I've known Ian for a long time. Because of the gi, we talked about some martial arts and I told him that I was going to be opening my old school. And perhaps after all the legal stuff was done, that maybe he or his son in particular would like to join and train. And he and his ex-wife signed up his son almost right away. So I decided to to turn to martial arts instead. I figured that would be the best way to learn how to control my body because it's all about discipline. There's consequences to all your actions. I actually discovered I was training goju-ru. I just wanted to get into martial arts. I had no idea what karate was about in any way, shape or form when I did this. Over the time I've actually been here at the dojo, I've learned a fair bit about what goju is about. The hard, soft way, it just resonates greatly with me that I live such an extremely difficult life. I suffer pain, so much pain. And yeah, but goju, that's what it teaches you. You know, there's hard parts in your life and it can teach you to enjoy the softer parts of your life as well or Taoism. Even though I am truly injured, I have a purpose where I can actually help a lot of other people with disabilities as well. After four years of training, I'm much more calm and able to deal with people. And now we have several disabled students, both children and adults here in the dojo. They're really seeing that they can change and improve their lives after hearing my story. I've shared this with my chronic pain groups, my brain injury groups all over the world so they can see who I am and fully understand how far I've come. In fact, I still keep the mobility scooter that I first started coming down to the dojo in one of the change rooms. That's not in use because of the COVID restrictions and it's a reminder now. And when people come in here and talk, I'm able to actually show them what I drove into the dojo on and they're just astounded at what I'm able to actually do now. I want to ask you a question because I saw you make a post at one point that doing the martial arts and doing the goju, it actually helps quiet your mind. Can you walk us through that process of when you're actually in training? So when you're running a kata, you're training yourself to completely tune out the outside world and everything that's going on there while you're running a beautiful kata. It's very easy to accept pain when you train, when you do something physically active. It makes your day a little bit happier to know you've done something actually productive, which releases a lot of chemicals in your brain that allows you to mask some of the pain that's going on. And then when you're at home at night, you're able to say, well, I hurt this bad today. I'm this mentally exhausted today because I actually did something. I didn't just wake up and hurt. So it's tricks I've learned to trick the body into accepting pain. There's no point in just sitting at home crying about the pain. It doesn't go away. It just doesn't. So it's easier and better to trick the brain into accepting the pain so they don't become a file nauseous person to those around you that end up tending to hate you over time when you're just down on yourself. Before the interview started, I was so nervous. I threw a few hundred punches at the monkey war and the beanbags that we have on the concrete blocks just to get some of the attention out of martial arts for people with brain injuries is absolutely astounding. I recommend it to all the people in our brain injury groups that I'm a part of. So can you tell us a little bit about your school overall school? Overall is non-sport, non-tournament, non-competition. I teach lessons here and I have a very old school philosophy about what training, what martial arts is, what gojuru is, and it is about balance. You know, I have the intention of students enjoying their training. I don't want it to be militant. I don't want it to be so harshly structured that they're not enjoying. So I have a nice balance between some fun and laughter. However, when kata begins, it's serious. It's hard. So we have to harden this off. Every person's program in here is designed around who they are individually. So it's amazing that way. So she's taken it full consideration to my extreme injury. She's got so many degrees. It's absolutely incredible. So she has a real understanding of so many different things. When I first started training, one of the aspects that was being presented to me was this is going to be a safe place for training. Nobody will ever make fun of somebody else because they can't throw a kick properly or they can't speak properly. Which is, it's really important. We do have now a number of people with disabilities and mental health issues that train here at the dojo. So it's been extremely exciting to see everybody work so well with everybody else. Can you tell us what your, what was your hardest challenge so far in class on the mat? I couldn't understand when I first started why my body able to do anything just completely failed. Being able to move my body, turn, you know, it was so difficult. So I guess the, the just trying to reteach my body how to do its job was the most difficult thing at that time. That was, I guess, four years ago. So the last six months, I would assume for me the most difficult thing is actually training with the children. Every second that you're, that you're working with them is teaching me how to control myself. You not get excited when they can't do things that I've just really learned to do myself, their children. It took me four years to, to count to 10 in Japanese, four years. They do it after a couple of weeks of training here. So I've learned already now that I'm going to have these bad days where I can't remember stuff. And what I did yesterday, I might not be able to do today because my memory is just not there. So we take it in now really more in stride. You have a favorite drill or exercise in class? To be honest with you, I enjoy every second, everything we do in this dojo because the fact that I'm actually in here being able to do it is so joyous. You know, it just makes me so happy. I'm on the bad guy in class that laughs and giggles because I actually able to do stuff. I laughed at the end of running Saunch and Kata at one of my dojos because I actually did it really well. I was just so happy I was able to get through the actual kata with her kicking me, with her punching me and focus on the actual kata itself. It was just an incredible experience for me. So you talked about your challenges and you had to really learn to walk again and how to control your emotions again. So people who have not had a TBI, they can understand that concept of it. But what is something that a person might not understand or challenge someone might not understand about a TBI? You can get angry at something when you don't have a brain injury and get over it pretty quickly. When you have a brain injury, it can go on for a very, very long time. You don't just get to switch off problems. They can ruminate with you for hours, days or weeks for some people. I think that the biggest struggle on a daily basis is what is his mental state at the time? So one of his challenges is learning how to leave the outside world outside once he passes a threshold and bows in. To leave all that behind is what Ian has been working on. I face a great deal of discrimination because to be honest with you, I look really good. You know, I look fairly fit. I look very strong, active. But you can't see the turmoil that's going on inside the head and people just don't understand it. Well, you look good. You sound good. I don't understand what your problem is. You can't see his injuries. So somebody else out in the world will assume. Ian was at the local store and he was trying to purchase a bottle of wine for a dinner that he was going to. And he was having an off day. People with brain injuries often slur their words. The woman behind the cash made an assumption. She assumed that he was drinking, that he was intoxicated. In fact, he wasn't because he had just finished teaching here at the dojo. He assists me with the children and he had just finished assisting me. And she refused him service, outright refused him service. And the security guard came running in and there was a big issue. Somebody with a brain injury who somewhat slurs their words, encounters a person who makes an assumption, then is demoralized. And that happens a lot. A lot of assumptions happen because you can't see the cast on the arm. What is your message for anyone out there who might have a disability or a challenge and they're looking to join the martial arts and they're kind of on the fence. What advice can you give them? Give it a try. Interview the sensei. Don't just walk into a class. If you need to feel comfortable somewhere and walking into an unknown place isn't a comfortable thing for you to do, a good sensei would set aside time. A sensei would say, yeah, sure, come on in, let's have a chat. A sensei can have a profound effect on your life one way or another. The wrong sensei for you can do damage. The right sensei can lift you up. I would like to first congratulate you on your recent brown belt achievement. And as you continue to train, you're working your way towards black belt. What does that milestone mean to you and what are your plans afterwards? Realistically for me, once I grade black, it means I just learned the basics. And the real training is actually starting. It's a great milestone to teach me that I know absolutely nothing. My future is to spend the rest of my life attempting to perfect myself and pass on what I've learned to other people who have injuries like myself. Hopefully I have my own class to actually just people with disabilities being a part of. And I think that would be a wonderful thing to do. Well, some of the great grandmasters in history, you know, they began their passing karate to overcome sickness and weakness. Ian, you walk through health, yet you still hold your head above all the flames. You've used your training to not only improve yourself, but to stand as a beacon of inspiration for others who might be facing similar challenges. If anyone were to walk away from this video with only one message, what do you want that message to be? Never give up on yourself, never stop trying. If you stop trying, you might as well just get ready to die because that's what you're basically doing. So never give up, always fight. How can people find you if they're interested in reaching out to you or joining your classes? Go online on my website, call me, chat with me. I have no problem with people reaching out if they don't live in my area. Then I'll do online classes if that's what makes you comfortable. With COVID, a lot of people still don't want to leave their homes. So we'll do private online or you can join the class that's going on in here online, right? It's always possible to train, to say, no, I can't train is very defeatist. You have to say, yeah, I can do it. Ian said, I can do this and he did. Well, thank you so much, Ian, for your time today and for letting us walk a little bit with you on your journey. You might not have your black belt yet, but you're already showing us what a true martial artist looks like. Thank you so much. Ever got to go say a master. So if you are facing some challenges in your life that are having a negative impact, I sincerely hope that this gives you the inspiration to step up to the mat, either literally or figuratively. Ian teaches us that you don't have to accept your boundaries, but you can learn to push them. Today, sir, you are our Sensei.