Presence or Bearing

Will is driven with presence and presence comes from will. Presence is a combination of both body language and voice quality. Have you ever encountered a short stubby person who impressed you as self-confident, self-assured and self-reliant? If you have you may have realized later that this person was short, squat and stubby like but you will say, "what was it that said to me this person is ....?"

Look to the military bearing where presence is critical in winning battles and wars. How many of your friends or family members who had a less than stellar presence until returning from military service where you become impressed at how they "changed?" Their presence was modified through military training.

As martial artist you lean body mechanics or better stated body fundamentals of the fundamental principles of martial systems. It teaches you how to best achieve greater strength, speed, force and power through such things as proper alignments, etc. and that means standing tall, holding your head up with pride and so on. Get the picture.

Voice, often most voices must be strong, resonant and filled with confidence to achieve the kind of presence I allude to here. It must be natural and that requires a bit of training and underlying substance or it won't work. In those rare occasions when a voice just does not have the resonance, pitch, etc. to achieve this goal can be overcome by the presence of the body language. Another aspect is communication skills associated with people skills. The people/communication skills include what is taught through the the art of verbal self-defense series, to name one source.

Now, just adjusting your body language and your voice quality is not all you need to do. There is the underlying substance that must be present to create the aura that says "presence." Some has been discussed already and the other is where both the mind and body training and practice received through traditional or classical martial arts training and practice accomplishes. Even without the military atmosphere the often rigid and difficult requirements of martial arts training is a lot like military training. It provides the impetus for a military bearing or martial bearing that lays a foundation for the underlying substance that builds presence. If you also gain from personal reality or live experience than all the better. Much like military training that is tested and forged by combat.