Blog Article/Post Caveat (Read First Please: Click the Link)
Hey, I was lucky for the time I spent teaching and training karate in my dojo. Lucky, because every single student who entered the dojo was first and foremost already physically fit, healthy and with a solid positive attitude. From the moment they crossed the threshold of the dojo they had already understood and made up their minds to study karate, the self-defense/combative kind.
Most of the modern karate and martial arts schools are based on the gym model where one comes to “workout” and become healthier, fitter and to shape the outer body for social benefits. They come expecting to work out, to do both anaerobic and aerobic exercises to sweat, strain and build bodies.
When I say, work out, I mean to perform physical fitness exercises, use gym equipment for strengthening the body and to experience other benefits like losing weight and so on but in my dojo we don’t “WORKOUT!”, we practice and train.
In the old days, for me, we always did warm-ups to get the body ready then we did some basics like kicks and punches, etc., what some in Isshinryu call, “Te-no-bu and Ashi-no-bu.” In those days, as is done today, the practice of basics focuses on repetition and making the body sweat profusely, in other words it is used to get a work out.
It is an expectation in my version of the karate and martial arts dojo to be in shape, physically and mentally fit and ready to train and practice from the moment you enter the dojo gates. I also expect that practitioners get ready by dressing in the keiko-gi, etc. then stepping out on the dojo floor to do warm-ups simply to reduce injury and get the blood and breathe flowing. When time arrives the training and practice begin:
- Mokuso - meditative practice.
- Basics - focus on the principles of the upper and lower basics.
- Kata - focus on making them adhere to the principles as well as the methodologies, etc., along with making kata like kumite; a living, breathing, appropriate training and practice for self-defense and combatives (if military).
- Iki-Kumite: To live, to live the kata in karate and to apply the kata in ways that relate and connect with life itself. In the karate dojo this means to learn, train, practice and create a reality based adrenal stress-conditioned bunkai of kata for self-defense. Its about breathing applicable life into your kata practice toward the distinctive goals you have set upon entering the dojo. This may vary according to those life distinctions of applicability and that is important as well.
- Mokuso: meditative practice, change and depart.
If you want to get in shape, build muscles and strength, build endurance, etc., then go to a gym and get a work out but if you want to learn karate and martial arts in self-defense then be healthy, fit and ready to “Train and Practice” principled-based multiple defense methods along with learning types of force along with adrenal stress-conditioned reality based self-defense.
If your goal to participate in training and practice is to get in shape and be healthy then karate and martial arts are not for you. The majority of time in the dojo is about learning, understanding and applying the skills and abilities of a karate-ka and martial artist toward self-defense. Yes, the process will help you get healthier and a bit more fit but that is a side benefit, not a primary one.
Dojo are not gyms; Sensei are not physical fitness trainers; Karate and Martial Arts are a serious and dangerous discipline requiring respect and a proper attitude; Participants don’t compete, they join forces to learn and understand the discipline; Dojo are not social clubs although a certain social connection is made and fostered; I think you are getting the picture, right?
Bibliography (Click the link)
No comments:
Post a Comment