PROJECT MANAGER Peter Brooke often found that clients wanted high performance from him but his staff could not give him the support he needed. This led to stress from long working hours, a demanding family life and tiring commuting. “I was exhausted and depressed. I had been on a treadmill for over 30 years and it had got to the point where my personal and professional lives were blurred. I needed a release from both.”

One of the problems seemed to lie with the karate classes he was attending. He was training hard three times a week and had nearly reached black- belt status but was feeling a lot of muscle pain. His instructor shrugged this off as a typical reaction to the physical exertion. But Brooke wasn’t convinced. Then he heard about Paul Perry, a high-ranking karate expert with an alternative spin.

The switch has transformed life for Brooke, who feels he is getting a lot of energy out of the new regime.

“Originally, I was using it for self- improvement. But it’s more a case of being at peace with oneself — to be calm and in control.”

This is not a normal feature of contemporary business life. “Going into the office in the morning, you might have 30 e-mails waiting. People are becoming tied up in e-mail. It’s easy to become part of a large organisation, which is a hive of industry built with no purpose. With Perry, you get into a position of confronting issues without being confrontational. It enables you to have the self-confidence to master a level of control,” said Brooke.

“A lot of stress is self-induced. It stems from a belief that you always have to respond. It’s possible to reduce one’s stress by having a different view of one’s position in the workplace. You need to have that feeling of resolution, that focus and concentration that happens as part of training. People need to be effective but they can only be effective if they have clear aims and objectives.”

Perry seems to have had a profound impact on many stressed executives. An unassuming man, his goal is to help all those managers who say their performance is affected by stress — 75% of them, according to an Institute of Management survey.

Under the broad banner of martial arts, there are a number of different programmes. Tai Chi Chuan is a slow rhythmic form of movement. Muscle contraction and release, and breathing techniques are a central part of it. Participants acquire strength and flexibility, balance and control. Yoga contains elements of stretching for flexibility and strengthening muscles. Chi kung is a breathing technique that promotes wellbeing.

Perry is the founder, director and chief instructor of Jin Sei Kai Corporate Services International, based in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, and has been practising martial arts for 38 years. He has a direct, third-generation teaching lineage from Master Gichin Funakoshi, the founder of modern karate. After studying movement and body mechanics, Perry has developed the Jin Sei Kai style of “perfect movement”.

It works by offering individuals and teams access to healthy living and exercise. This comes through martial-arts movements designed to increase strength and flexibility. Perry likes to start by teaching people to breathe properly and by increasing their lung capacity. The next step is muscle building and a careful study of where the stress points are in the body. “Once you start to get rid of tension, the body begins to relax,” he said.

This also helps to deal with the part of our lives influenced by the “fight or flight” mechanism. This can cause huge problems in business life — particularly in meetings. Learning to master this is an important step towards lowering stress and improving performance and motivation at work.

Clients claim widespread improvements can be achieved in business relations, the effectiveness of meetings, greater ability to focus and to manage conflict more creatively. “We are trying to put fun back into their lives,” said Perry. “A lot of executives do not have any fun at all.”

Brooke feels his life has undergone a profound change. “The training has significantly improved my performance at work and leadership capability,” he said. “Perry identifies life issues that trouble you but which you are not aware of. He helps you work through them physically and emotionally and identify opportunities you might not otherwise consider.”

Jonathan Crone’s interest in Jin Sei Kai developed when he was working with BAA, the airports operator, on the development of Terminal 5 at Heathrow. A member of his team recommended Perry to help the stress of working on such a big project.

“Construction and project management are high-pressure environments and we wanted to find different ways of managing stress,” said Crone.

“The training initially focused on stretching, enabling us to become more supple. After this Perry introduced more martial-arts moves and techniques and, although I didn’t know much about martial arts to begin with, I was fascinated by it. It has really helped me with my personal development and, from a team perspective, we all get on better. It has also enabled me to think in a calmer way.”

Nick Andrews, managing director of Equa Terra Europe, a firm of consultants, believes he has learnt to control his level of personal stress as well as recognise the symptoms of it in others, enabling him to address problems before they escalate.

“This perception has been particularly important in work-related situations,” he said, “and it has enabled me to identify other people’s stress and dissipate it rather than adding to it.”

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