Some people inevitably ask how I can in good conscience teach fighting techniques that have the ability to physically devastate another person. Is this not perpetuating violence, they ask? I do not, however, see it as a cultivation of aggression and violent tendencies.
Martial arts as a whole has had a tremendous change of emphasis over the past two hundred years. Where personal fighting skills were highly valued as battlefield arts, they began to fall away with the rapid advancement in warfare technology. At that point, with a lack of purpose, many martial art styles particularly in China, Japan, and Korea shifted focus from combat efficiency to emphasize, in some cases exclusively, the personal self-development and discipline aspects of the martial traditions.
As these arts were later transmitted to the West, another, more subtle shift occurred. Fighting techniques, which had become almost secondary in importance, began to take on a tertiary position. In many cases the arts were only methods of moving meditation with all, or nearly all, of their combat relevance removed and forgotten. This view of martial arts has taken greater hold since the end of World War II.
Chinese martial arts were hit particularly hard by this idea of modernization of the martial arts. Even within China the arts were promoted and cultivated as a form of performance only (modern compulsory wushu) where fighter effectiveness was completely removed and replaced with acrobatic skills and an emphasis on movements and postures that were aesthetically pleasing. The result was the development of highly skilled athletes essentially performing a dance based upon martial arts, at this point it ceases to be a martial art, and is simply art.
We no longer need to train martial arts daily for battle, and do not wish to produce mindless, brutal combatants obsessed with fighting, but when you remove all understanding of the martial aspect, we remove the heart and soul of the martial art, and strip it of it’s rich history. However in modern times we have a unique opportunity. We can combine the aspects of combat training with the powerful self-development of traditional Asian martial arts.
Training in practical combat, no matter the style, can help you explore areas of yourself you may not be able to access otherwise. When practiced in a realistic manner, self-defense training can put us under pressure and even some stress. Self-defense deals with a subject that touches us on a very primal level; someone attacking us, violating our personal space with the intent to harm us. This is where you can learn a lot about yourself, how you instinctively, physically and, perhaps more importantly, emotionally react. Emotions of anger, fear, anxiety and insecurity will arise. They are not produced by the training, but they exist within you without your knowledge. Once they surface we must learn to deal with them and work through them. In this way we work through and develop our physical, mental and emotional reactions in the safety and comfort of our school.
Often we learn that how we thought or wanted to believe we would react is not in fact how we react. This and other challenges help us to break down our over-inflated ego to a more manageable size. When we realize that we do not know all we thought we did, we are more open-minded. This attitude can be taken into any other aspect of our lives, if we choose to make that leap.
Furthermore, proper training can be a blueprint for success. Martial arts training forces you to confront challenges, hardship, pain and frustration not only physically, but on an inward level as well. It teaches us that nothing comes without some effort; we must put something forward. This is the guide for success in any arena. The path to success is the same no matter what you are trying to accomplish. We are using something tangible, the physical training of the martial arts, to guide us toward those more intangible and elusive aspects of ourselves.
I do not teach the arts of violence. All forms of physical violence have their genesis in thoughts of violence in our minds, the body is only an outward reflection. Fear and insecurity are its seeds. I teach people how to control and defend themselves and protect those weaker than they are.
An untrained person, who has not examined the dark corners of their own mind, can react to a confrontation in a physically and emotionally uncontrolled manner, harming themselves or others tremendously. The person who has examined and developed their personal aspects, that most people ignore and have cultivated physical and emotional confidence, is a benefit to everyone. When they are confronted, they will know when to act and when to remain still. This person is a true warrior.