Zaine

When I started the home stretch to my Black Belt I started to pick up a lot of books on Martial Arts philosophy and reflected on that. If you're not a reader, or you simply don't have time to do that or that idea just seems boring to you I would suggest looking back on conflicts that you've had during that particular day and how you solved them. After that, ask yourself if it was the right or wrong solution, and if your journey as a Martial Artist shaped this decision. Part of being a Black Belt is how we handle ourselves in the day to day, regardless of situation. We represent not only the body of Martial Artists, but ourselves. Are you conducting yourself in a way that befits a Black Belt?

Speaking as an often time stressed Husband, Student and expecting Father, I can really relate to this. A beloved teacher once told me that we go to school because that's what makes life after 5 o' clock worth it. At face value this seems like he meant that the jobs our education will get us will give us enough money to go out. What this really meant, I think, is that we'll have the education to actually enjoy what it is that we do on a deeper level. In this sense, you can use the education that you currently have to do this. I would also recommend taking less hours and sitting down a physically writing out a daily schedule for yourself. It's super tedious but it will help you maximize time and once you get use to it the routine become automatic. De-stressing isn't an easy task, but for me it's the little things that help.

Zen is a fascinating concept that Western minds often have trouble wrapping fully around. One of those things lost in translation. Western philosophers have always paralleled this concept of Being differently. We very much want to say that our way is better than this way of Being, which is interesting considering the fact that most followers of Zen will tell you that there are many ways to get to Being and Truth, this is there way and is useful for them and you have your way which is useful for you. When it is useful to use a Western way to get at Being and Truth, a follower of Zen can easily adopt it to explain something or get at what lies underneath the surface of the world. It's fascinating stuff.

I think your umph factor comes from proper technique. When an advance students refine power, it is usually in the realm of technique. Proper technique generates power regardless of brute force behind said technique. The trick to power is how it is distributed throughout the user's body. All techniques have a point in which they generate power first and it all follows into the part of the body making contact. This is where Kung Fu differs slightly from Karate in that they've taken the time to name the different kinds of power generated.

I would argue that it highly depends on which school we are talking about. Personally I think schools should be open about most things. I think it is reasonable to exclude certain things that are reserved for higher level students because they've earned that level of secrecy through their commitment to the school. However, whereas how the training is conducted and general rules are concerned there should be absolute transparency. As to your question, I think that it mostly is insecurity with the label of protection.

I agree with MasterPain and DWx. This shouldn't be an issue, but if it is you should pull your kid. An instructor needs to set aside petty things like that so that they can teach to the best of their ability. If he were to let something like that effect your kids instruction then he doesn't have any place teaching your son karate, much more teaching it at all.

Competitions can be fun. They can also be frustrating in the sense that it's sport and there sometimes has to be a conscious effort to not do what you've been training but it's a good exercise in control.

This is why it's hard for teachers to be just teachers. They have to pay for space, and then make sure that they are paying themselves. My teacher had another job, and did classes in a plethora of places that didn't charge until going to a MMA gym that charged him a rent that he could afford. Teaching was something that he did out of love for Martial Arts and it showed. Rent is tough though, it has to be met. I remember practicing in parks and at his house many times, however, so I don't see why more don't do that.

Like MasterPain said, it's hard to tell. You're always going to get competing doctrines and people saying that this or that system was first. The Egyptian one mentioned I believe is the oldest that we have evidence of, but that in no way means that there isn't something else that we just haven't found yet.

One of the most important things that my teacher taught us is that we should always run if we can, fighting is always the last resort. I get that doing that can be seen as cowardly and that can be hard to get around for some martial artists, but I'd rather avoid a confrontation and not get mixed up with a fight in a place that I might not know well against a guy that I probably don't know with the end result of talking to the police and either sending someone to the hospital or going myself. Other than that, Groinstrike and MasterPain have the right of it, it's sometimes black and white when you should, it's sometimes very grey. What you have to do is assess the situation as best you can and decide for yourself whether or not the situation requires any force, or if you can try to talk it out. It may hurt the ego, but sometimes an apology goes a long way.

If Martial Arts are dead, why are there still so many movies based around it? Why do they still make money? Those who say that the Martial Arts are dead are often taught that by someone who, at one point, took it and thought it was stupid because of all the work that went into it so there was no instant gratification, or by someone who encountered a white belt who got cocky and then they beat them up because they didn't know what they were doing. Martial Arts are very much alive, you can't kill something that many people still flock to, it's as much of a way of life as it is a way of defending yourself and you don't hear anyone yelling out how other ways of life are dead. Others yell that it is outdated, but that is false as well. As Martial Artists we sometimes learn life lessons that help us strive and move past our peers in the personal. And professional worlds that those who didn't take Martial Arts could never had hoped for.

Exactly right. It happens at a lot of BB test and many others. An instructor will throw in someone that they know will stumble the student. This is to test how they handle something new, to push them in an area that they're weak in or a combination of both. I was the first BB in my school and there was this particular student who didn't like me and I felt the same about him. I was made to fight him to test on whether or not I was humble enough to put my personal feelings aside and not go crazy. This stuff is thrown at us all the time and sometimes it's not just to test the one being tested.

Solid post.

yay!

He certainly did be the karate guy pretty soundly.

My teacher was constantly inviting kung fu practitioners to our classes so that we could get that kind of exposure. It wasn't just kung fu, anything that wasn't Shorin Ryu. It was really important for him to expose us to many different styles and he encouraged us to attend seminars of other styles and, after we got past a certain rank, to start cross training so that we could introduce new things into our style.

Attached is a youtube video of a wing chun practitioner who entered a karate studio to challenge one of the students there. No other description is given, and I didn't watch it with sound, but what it seems like is that this guy wants to test his skill against a harder style. For me there is a lot of arrogance in this video. First off, this isn't the age where one just goes into another studio out of the blue and submits challenges. I would personally have kicked the guy out. For me, getting a call or an email a few days in advance as a challenge would be acceptable. I would happily accept the challenge as it would be an excellent learning experience for not only my students but the practitioner. What I saw here was not only holes in technique coming from both side but a lack of exposure on the side of the karate studio. The karate guy clearly had no clue how to handle the wing chun practitioner because he had no clue what was in store. Was absolutely unfamiliar with the fighting philosophies of kung fu and honestly looked like a fool. The wing chun guy had a bit more exposure, but not enough to know that in karate there are many systems at least somewhat comfortable with going to the ground, although when it did the karate guy seemed to be extremely clueless as to how to handle himself. The driving point to this post is to ask yourself this. Do you, as teachers and students, expose yourself to the opposite end of the martial arts world? Do you make sure that you or your students understand the principles of the other styles? Most importantly, are you and/or your students sufficiently equipped for a challenge such as this?

Nothing like a healthy debate.

That seems fair to me.

Ah, no I don't think it's being committed here. I do have some experience being a student of philosophy and already passing the logic requirements for my major. As a little non sequitur, the post hoc fallacy, which you wrote out correctly for modern terms, should actually real post hoc ergo propter huius. I'm a Latin nerd, what can I say.

I don't see where the Post Hoc fallacy is being committed.

That's kind of what I usually keep in mind when people talk about chi. Although there are some who take it to the extreme.

Most who do Okinawan karate do.

What branch of Shorin Ryu are you studying?

So you learned the pinans one after the other? That would make a lot of sense. Pinans are beginning crane for a lot of systems, especially when you get to Sandan and beyond. Some take those further and put more emphasis on the circular motions, some don't. I learned the first two pinans and then had to wait until 2nd Kyu to learn the last. Naihanchi katas are some of my favorite, but they focus more on the stances than the circular movement the way I learned them. A lot of fun when you get to Naihanci Sandan. The first two have a choppy feel whereas the third flows very nicely.