Blog Article/Post Caveat (Read First Please: Click the Link)
Things change, this is life for progress and evolution involve change and that change often is about survival. In this instance it is about survival in training as well as application in a real world environment, i.e., the dojo environment is often artificial in nature to adhere to certain rules for safety, etc.
As martial artists who started early we later find this distinction of youth vs. mature in regard to age as well as certain mental and physical states for both. It is best to remember, they are different.
Youth: In martial arts there is often, to the detriment of the art as well as practitioner, a certain mind-set that focuses on strength, speed and technique.
Mature: In martial arts as one matures there is a shift, most of the time assuming certain traits are achieved, from a focus on strength, speed and technique toward a principled based application of appropriate forces as applied through multiple methodologies.
If I could convince people of just "one thing" it would be to shift away from reliance on physical strength, speed for speeds sake and technique-based defense stuff toward a principled method-based application that does not rely on any one technique but a method appropriate and creative in nature to what ever one is facing such as,
- Can I detect this early on before violence happens?
- Can I avoid aggression and violence?
- If not, can I escape-n-evade the danger of the environment, situation and person(s)?
- If not, can I communicate in such a fashion as to deescalate things from aggression/violence down to mutually beneficial face saving outs for all concerned and involved parties?
- If not, can I perceive, decide, act with appropriate and necessary force just enough to stop the attack, achieve safety and security while adhering to the social and legal requirements for self-defense defense, if it goes the distance?
- If physical intervention is required regardless of reasons, can I call on conditioned responses that are principled based methods tested well under adrenal stress-conditions matched with reality or as close as possible to reality?
There in lies the truth of it, it isn’t a matter of strength although strength has its benefits. It isn’t a matter of speed as perceived by the young as faster fists or feet. It isn’t a matter of what technique is best for what kind of attack but rather a creative conditioned encoded response to stimuli of aggressive violent nature to stop it from reaching you.
It is a matter of properly applying principled methods, i.e., physiokinetic natured principles, with appropriate force under legal and socially mandated methods to achieve true legal and morally set self-defense defenses that are unquestionable appropriate to any given situation.
The art of self-protection through martial disciplines should not have a division when one can span the entire spectrum of youth-n-maturity into one definitive and effective model that is more effective that mere strength, speed and technique. Don’t assume because one group knows and teaches strength, speed and technique as the answer, the one true answer or the one and only answer to the problems. Do teach that a creative multiple methodology that is principled based will provide answers to any problem imaginable even if not taught or experienced in a training and practice environment.
The true objective people need to see and take as gospel is that violence is still out there, always will be for humans and animals alike, and that effective appropriate responses of all kinds must be taught, trained and applied in order to achieve a safe, secure and healthy self, family, and social group against the very aggressions and violence that we may encounter in life.
Try on the maturity mantel in your youth rather than waste and wait till you mature by years or aging. In the end you won’t have to make any shifts in training and practice at all because you will already be there.
Note: Know and understand the distinction between hard training and training hard!
Note: Remember, I quote, “Training hard is a matter of focus and attention. Hard training is the bruising, bangs and knocks one takes in the dojo as well as simply exercising.”
Note: Also, remember and I quote, “Training hard is being sensible and intelligent, finding a way to understand the methodologies, principles and the creative process that encodes proper appropriate conditioned responses that are instinct-like for natural speed, etc.”
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