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When you take a look at some martial arts - while their choreography may look amazing,
for a person who has done functional combat sports, or someone who understands the reality
of self defense - sometimes the question of what do these practitioners expect from their
elaborate movements, may come up.
While it may take years to master these beautiful looking techniques, an experienced fighter
knows, that most of them are not applicable in a real life fighting situation, yet often
enough, masters of these complex martial arts believe that they are actually capable of
fighting, and they bathe in glory of their organization and many students.
While observing all of this we are often left to ask - how do things in these martial arts
get so twisted?
And do these martial arts masters actually believe the effectiveness of their abilities?
Hi, my name is Rokas, and in this Martial Arts Journey video we will take a look at
how martial arts and combat sports get twisted.
While I was a student of Aikido I always had a doubt if it would work in a self defense
situation.
When I would express that doubt to my instructor, he would become upset about me having a lack
of faith, and he would tell that I simply need to train more, and that Aikido takes
years of practice until it becomes effective as a form of self defense.
This was also what I read online in the Aikido community, when I was seeking answers about
the same question.
I became obsessed about training, doing extra training all the time, and asking my training
friends to strike harder, and did my techniques as hard as I could.
Yet we were still doing basically the same static techniques, just with more energy,
and I continued to believe that all I need, is just more techniques, to know all possible
defenses against all possible attacks, and since I did not know all of them, my doubts
were justified.
Wanting to remove the doubt, I decided to add a more fighting oriented art into my training
regime, and thus I started practicing Wing Chun Kung Fu.
Yet while I was able to pick up the complex movements quick enough, because of learning
all the complex movements in my Aikido training, and I trained very intensively - the doubt
stayed.
When asking my instructor about this doubt, I was told pretty much the same as what my
Aikido instructor told me - just train harder, question less and one day you will get there.
That when I will be attacked in the street, if I have trained enough, I will be able to
use it all.
Yet while I was attacked more than once in the street during that time, even after 3
years of dedicated training, my techniques did not kick in, and I ended up just randomly
punching the attackers to defend myself, and then ran away.
All these complex techniques that I learned never showed up in a self defense situation.
Years passed, and I devoted even more years to training Aikido.
I even became a full time live-in student in an Aikido Dojo, with a high ranking instructor,
where I spent three years doing intensive training.
While there I was told, that I should invest into spontaneity, and not expect too much
out of static techniques, still there was no pressure testing and high resistance training.
When addressing my doubts, I was just told to believe that if one day I will be attacked,
my training will naturally kick in.
The doubt never went away still, but with time I learned to push that doubt away, and
eventually I made myself believe that I reached that point of training, where now I know how
to defend myself, and if the occasion happens where I will need these skills, they will
appear naturally.
As years passed I was not confronted by a situation where I would have to test that
theory, and I ended up opening my full time Aikido Dojo.
While self defense was never the most important part of my teaching, I believed that I knew
enough about what self defense is, and that I was capable of teaching it.
After all, I was a second degree Aikido black belt who spent years of intensive training
in martial arts.
I learned many excuses along the way, such as: “Well, there is not a big chance you
will get attacked anyway”, and the good old: “Just train this way long enough, and
these skills will kick in naturally when you will need them.”.
I learned to pass on the same justifications that I used for myself - as knowledge, and
when I was asked to, I even taught a women’s self defense seminar based on these untested
skills that I took over.
Me being the head of a Dojo, a black belt who has been training in martial arts for
many years, my students rarely questioned me, and I did not feel that I could question
my instructor for the same reasons myself.
After all, he trained for even more years than I did, with some of the most famous martial
arts instructors out there.
If he says it’s effective self defense - it has to be.
Luckily enough, my mind was interested enough in truth to eventually start questioning,
and a few years later being exposed to brazilian jiu jitsu helped as well to realize I was
looking at the wrong places.
Yet I know from experience how easy it would had been for me to stay in this nutshell of
believing that I know the answers.
People believed me, and that should had made me right, yes?
Even if somebody disagreed with me and saw through my plot holes, I could have easily
given them one of the elaborate justifications that I collected through many years of searching
for them, in order to silence the doubts.
Luckily enough, I didn’t…
Yet I know how easy and comfortable it would had been to do it.
Now I am sharing with you this story to present a personal experience and example of how easy
it is to twist your understanding of martial arts and self defense, even after devoting
dedicated years into it.
While watching a martial arts master presenting a demonstration of complex techniques, or
explaining his misguided understanding of fighting or self defense to others, for a
person who really understands what these realms are about, sometimes it may be difficult to
comprehend whether this master believes his own tale, or if he does it for business purposes,
to convince people to pay for his teaching.
From my experience and observations of spending a decade in the traditional martial arts world,
almost being in that situation myself, I tend to believe that most of these cases are based
on an elaborate, from generation to generation passed on justification system, where a master
ends up believing it, because at the beginning there is nothing else for him to choose from,
than believing his own master and his tales, given the authority, and after years of dedication
to the practice, it would simply cause too much discomfort for the now ‘master’ to
admit to himself and others, that what he invested so many years into, is not really
what he thought is.
As human beings we are creatures of comfort.
We will sometimes end up going incredible lengths to justify something, instead of facing
the truth.
While in the long run it would be more beneficial to us to face the truth, it would cause great
discomfort to us in the present moment, and thus we avoid it with everything we’ve got.
Now, not to say that this attitude applies only to traditional martial arts.
More and more often the question of whether focusing entirely on the sports aspect of
brazilian jiu jitsu is not hurting the self defense aspect of it, is raised by some of
it’s high ranking practitioners, including such legendary figures as Rickson Gracie.
Many MMA practitioners firmly believe that practicing just it, entirely takes care of
their self defense knowledge, forgetting to address such questions as multiple attackers,
weapons and prevention.
And while personally I’ve experienced much more clear headedness and honesty in the combat
sports realm, it is not to say that it’s entirely safe from at least a degree of delusion,
that is often common in traditional martial arts.
When considering all this, it is important to take a step back and to double check ourselves.
To review our strong beliefs, and everything we say to ourselves and to our students, and
to check why we are so sure about what we say to ourselves and others.
It is so easy to adopt the thoughts of others as truths, just because they were told to
us by authority.
It is so easy to believe an answer, just because it is comfortable to us and it fits our current
beliefs.
But when we are talking about something as sensitive as self defense, we carry a huge
responsibility to both ourselves and others in terms of safety, and sometimes even matters
of life and death.
If we do not critically consider all of our beliefs and thoughts, we may end up doing
someone a big, and even dangerous disfavor.
And even if we put life and death matters aside, having a lack of critical and honest
thinking may dramatically limit our personal growth and actual abilities.
It is important to respect and admit that some martial arts masters devoted years of
sweat and training to develop the beautiful looking, choreographed movements and skills
that they possess.
All the energy and dedication they’ve spent to reach their level of achievements should
not be taken lightly and disregarded, even if it does not entirely fit with truth.
It may still represent their discipline in seeking their goals, even if in the wrong
places.
Yet that being said, we also have to understand the importance of what effect we have upon
our lives, and the lives of others, by not questioning ourselves and our authorities,
and even if the truth is uncomfortable, we must come to face it sooner than later, until
it faces us.
So before I end, I leave you with a question.
Do you relate and identify yourself in the story that I’ve told?
And did you come to the moment of questioning - your own journey?
Thank you for watching the video.
I hope you’ve found some important points to ponder in your martial arts journey as
you watched it.
If you want more videos like it, make sure you subscribe and also share this video with
your friends, who may appreciate this message.
This was Rokas and I wish you, to own your Journey.