Okay, I've been doing the martial arts for over forty years. I've lived through the arts of the decades, judo in the fifties, karate in the sixties, kung fu in the seventies, and so on, and I've analyzed durn near every art there is. I've made up a list of things which I wish people would have told me, or I somehow could have found out, when I first started.
The point here is that martial arts classes were where one perspired, and not where one engaged in lengthy conversations. However, the reason a lot of people didn't tell people things like what I am telling you here was because they didn't know anything. So are you ready to learn a few of the things necessary before you jump into karate or kung fu or Aikido?
I wish people would have told me that pain hurts, and if I had known the truth about pain it wouldn't have hurt so darn much. The pain of a block, for instance, can go either go into the blocker or into the striker, depending upon which person has more intention. It's not a matter of tough, its a matter of which way you want the energy to go, and the energy will go in the direction of the superior mind.
I wish somebody would have told me what the purpose of my body parts was for. Why it matters how you angle your bones and structure, and why it matters which side of the bone the muscle is on. For that matter, maybe somebody should have just told me I had a head and I could think with it!
This matter of how a body works could have made my progress thought the martial arts ten times easier and quicker if somebody had explained that all the parts had to work as one unit. This is a thing called harmony, and when the body parts all work harmoniously then intention can flow through the body and make it ten times more efficient. What is the ratio of muscle to body part, how much does each part weigh, how far does each body part have to move, how much effort is required for each body part.
Speaking of using the body as one unit, if somebody had explained that it was not just harmony within your body, but how harmony extended into your life, then I would have had a ten times easier life. Heck, life is so much easier when you get along with your fellow man! If somebody had just told me to love my enemy that would have made me a real martial artist!
Probably the most important thing somebody could have told me would have been to get the lead out and stop being lazy. Heck, if I had done a little more sweating I would have gotten to the end of the martial arts faster, maybe even gotten further, maybe even learned something! The point here is that I could have learned all the things that I eventually figured out faster, and then I wouldn't be complaining about how stupid I was.
Ah, the things I didn't know, they slowed me down, held me me up, but, at last I know them. Even more important, you know them, so you aren't going to be lazy or held up in your martial progress! Unless, of course, you want to think you know it all when you don't. - 31491
The point here is that martial arts classes were where one perspired, and not where one engaged in lengthy conversations. However, the reason a lot of people didn't tell people things like what I am telling you here was because they didn't know anything. So are you ready to learn a few of the things necessary before you jump into karate or kung fu or Aikido?
I wish people would have told me that pain hurts, and if I had known the truth about pain it wouldn't have hurt so darn much. The pain of a block, for instance, can go either go into the blocker or into the striker, depending upon which person has more intention. It's not a matter of tough, its a matter of which way you want the energy to go, and the energy will go in the direction of the superior mind.
I wish somebody would have told me what the purpose of my body parts was for. Why it matters how you angle your bones and structure, and why it matters which side of the bone the muscle is on. For that matter, maybe somebody should have just told me I had a head and I could think with it!
This matter of how a body works could have made my progress thought the martial arts ten times easier and quicker if somebody had explained that all the parts had to work as one unit. This is a thing called harmony, and when the body parts all work harmoniously then intention can flow through the body and make it ten times more efficient. What is the ratio of muscle to body part, how much does each part weigh, how far does each body part have to move, how much effort is required for each body part.
Speaking of using the body as one unit, if somebody had explained that it was not just harmony within your body, but how harmony extended into your life, then I would have had a ten times easier life. Heck, life is so much easier when you get along with your fellow man! If somebody had just told me to love my enemy that would have made me a real martial artist!
Probably the most important thing somebody could have told me would have been to get the lead out and stop being lazy. Heck, if I had done a little more sweating I would have gotten to the end of the martial arts faster, maybe even gotten further, maybe even learned something! The point here is that I could have learned all the things that I eventually figured out faster, and then I wouldn't be complaining about how stupid I was.
Ah, the things I didn't know, they slowed me down, held me me up, but, at last I know them. Even more important, you know them, so you aren't going to be lazy or held up in your martial progress! Unless, of course, you want to think you know it all when you don't. - 31491
About the Author:
Al Case has analyzed the martial arts 4O++ years. He began writing for the magazines in'81 and has written hundreds of articles, and had a column in Inside Karate. He is the originator of Matrixing Technology and Neutronics. He is giving away a free ebook which explains all about Matrixing at Monster Martial Arts.
