In most martial arts systems when you first learn a technique, there is a right way and a wrong way to perform a technique. If you do not perform the movements in the correct order, with the correct precision, the way the instructor has taught it to you, then it will be considered wrong. Once you have mastered this technique you will start on your next one. After mastering that technique you will now learn the next one in the order that your martial arts system requires.
Techniques are a great way for teaching a person how to use the martial concepts or principles. They are wonderful for helping you to learn coordination and accuracy. Techniques are a great way to keep your art form alive through the passing of time. They also work well to clearly demonstrate and showcase your approach of your system to a crowd of eager onlookers.
Sometimes though you can become stuck or fixated on just trying to learn and remember thousands of techniques. You can then become mentally trapped with a “mind in a box “- if you are not careful. I have seen this happen on many occasions. It is very sad because it hurts the martial art style and it hurts the person who is performing this art form. It can even make that martial art appear weak and ineffective.
What I mean by “mind in a box” is, if some one were to attack you in a way you have not yet learned a technique for, you could draw a blank. Your mind could shut down and you could sometimes freeze and forget everything else you have previously learned. This can be very bad in dangerous situations. Your freezing can cost you your life or some one else’s life. I have actually seen this happen with my own eyes. It is a really sad thing and it gives you a really bad outlook on what that martial art is able to do and what it is all about. Now I am not saying that this phenomena will happen to you, but it does in fact happen to some and it can be fixed with proper drills.
Conceptual learning may be easier in the long run. This means to learn through concepts, ideas)and principles of why or how each technique works. By learning how the technique works there is nothing really to remember. You are armed with the ability to invent new techniques on your own through gut feelings and reflexive actions. This can really be a major plus if some one were to attack you in a manner that you may have never learned a technique for. You would now be able to create a proper defense in the middle of any attack at any given moment (now isn’t that nice).
To me this is a much better method of self protection. This is the way I teach. I am not saying I have the best martial art on the planet or that this is the best way to teach or the only way to learn a martial art. I am just saying this is another way of learning a martial art
You see, without the techniques we really would not be able to showcase or teach the concepts or the principles for different self defense attacks or angles of attacks. They go hand in hand and you really can’t have one with out the other. They help to enhance your ability to learn by giving you more options for seeing and understanding and put more tools in your tool box for whatever attack that may occur out of the blue.
I will be talking more about this in Part II of this topic.
No related posts.