Martial Arts

Introduction

Few things in life hold as many powerful lessons as the martial arts. They allow us to develop physically, mentally, and spiritually all at the same time. Initially, one may not apreciate this, however, with training over several years, you'll begin to gain a better understanding of what I mean.


At first, you're learning movement. Making it smoothe, breaking bad habits, understanding the cause and effect of each technique. You will certainly make mistakes. By continued practice of the martial arts you'll begin to develop the first of our key virtues; "Humility." After enduring many mistakes, after getting hit, or landing incorrectly, you'll start to understand that we all make mistakes, every one of us. It sounds simple now, but this lesson becomes more and more profound. You'll become more accepting of other people, and in the process, yourself.

As you progress, you begin to get stronger. If not in the form of physical strength(which often you will) then in coordination, flexibility, balance. The enhanced flexibility will make you healthier, and allow more energy to circulate through your body. You'll begin to understand better how the body works, and cause and effect, deepening your skill in other physical areas. It will carry over, the better you get, the more it unfolds.

Time goes on, and your mind develops, as you gain discipline by holding stances, by sparring, by repeatedly refining your technique until it is effortless and power, and then refining some more. You will begin to relieve more stress in your life through your training. Your will gain a sense of focus as you repeatedly try to correct bad habits, try to pick up every little detail. Every move either makes you better or worse, so you must have awareness, be alive, alert, awake.

Spiritual lessons will begin to unfold. The principles of martial arts carry over into all areas of life. Let me give you some examples. The principle of getting off the line of attack. In martial arts, if someone is going to try to hit you, throw you, unbalance you, you want to move in such a way that their original intent is not possible. Let's examine this principle in depth. If I'm crossing the street,if I'm not where the car is as it drives, it won't hit me. If I am, it will. But as we look deeper, we can apply it to non-physical threats. If someone is speaking ill of me, I can allow it to effect me, upset me, or, I can change my point of view to something like "they don't mean that, they're just frustrated" or "I was mistaken to trust them" or "yes, it is my fault, I should try to correct it s it doesn't happen again." See what I did? I changed my point of view, I got out of the way. In doing this, these words did not hurt me.

Another martial arts principle "If you destroy an opponent's weapon, they can no longer attack with it." If my opponent hits at me, and I hit his kicking leg in a nerve so that he cannot stand, he won't be able to kick at me with that leg. So, how can this be applied? If you and your spouse are having an argument, and they start to get upset and yell, you don't want to yell back, or simply take a submissive posture, this will end up hurting both of you, and lead to the issue not really getting solved. As you see them start t get upset, you need to detach your emotions, use that well-developed discipline, and look at their point of view. Talk in a calm voice. It will immediately begin to take the sting out of their words. Describe your point of view in a calm voice, looking into their eyes, this will eliminate aggression. They will no longer yell at you.

In these last few examples, I showed the development of the rest of our key virtues. Strength, Justice, and Compassion. Strength was found in calm, decisive action to find a resolution. Not by shouting, but accepting. Justice was served as you did not overreact to the problem, or cause greater chaos in your response. Compassion weighed in as you took their point of view, understand the truth of what they were saying, and acted from there.

As you practice the martial arts, you will develop Humility by enduring mistakes.
You will build Strength as your train, push yourself physically, or endure the uncomfortable. You will understand Justice when you come to realize that not all attacks can be met with a lethal response. Sometimes you may need to hurt the person, sometimes you may be able to stop it without hurting them. At times you might be able to stop it before a fight begins at all. There is no one-size-fits-all to Justice. Through the martial arts you will build Compassion, it will teach you how fragile you, and everyone else is. You will become less aggressive and forceful, and more understanding of other people.

While the martial arts are an incredible part of one's training, we cannot offer to teach them ourselves. Training through pictures, or notes, or videos can be tremendous aids to your progress, they can in no way teach you what you'll need to know. You won't grasp timing, you'll miss the finer little details that make techniques effective. I've known people who had great teachers, but still had a great deal of difficulty grasping what their instructors were showing them, even after years of training. Even with teachers there, with immediate feedback, they had a hard time smoothing out their flaws. Books, DVD's, they can't even correct you, and they're so 2 dimensional. While they could point out a few details you missed/forgot yourself, you're missing a huge key here.

Many people will argue some people learn by reading, some by seeing, some by being told something, some by actually doing it. However, since this is a physical skill, and answers can be yes/no depending on a situation, it's not so cut and dry as 2 + 2= 4.

We suggest that you embark on some sort of martial art if possible. Please, don't think we want you to live like an ascetic monk so you can afford lessons at the best schools in your area, that's not what I'm saying. But if you can afford to train, find a style/teacher that appeals to you. DO RESEARCH! Research style/teacher/school. Try an introductory class, if possible talk to other students. This may not be the place for you. Once you find an art, Be it Kenjutsu, boxing, karate, mixed martial arts, or whatever, make sure you're happy, and do your best.

The greatest thing about martial arts, they'll teach you a million things. Most of them are not about fighting.