Cookie Cutter Martial Arts

[YODA]

 

 

"Man, the living creating individual, is always more important than any established style"

 

... Bruce Lee

 

It seems to me that most systems out there place a strong emphasis on moulding the individual to fit the art. Why is this? When I first walked into a Karate Dojo in 1976, aged 14, I went with a friend who was even then about 6'2", weighed 17 Stone (238lbs) and played Rugby for the County. I was 5'8", normal build and with a shy manner. There is NO WAY the two of us would fight the same way using the same techniques. They took him, a combative athlete with loads of natural fighting ability, and in 12 months reduced his ability by a BIG margin.

 

When people find out I teach martial arts they often ask - "What do you teach". My usual answer is "I teach people".

 

Another quotation from the same piece (A Finger Pointing) Illustrates the point well I think...

 

"It is conceivable that a long time ago a certain martial artist discovered some partial truth. During his lifetime, the man resisted the temptation to organize this partial truth, although this is a common tendency in man's search for security and certainty in life. After his death, his students took "his" hypotheses, "his" postulates, "his" inclinations, and "his" methods and turned them all into law. Impressive creeds were then invented, solemn reinforcing ceremonies prescribed, rigid philosophy and patterns formulated, and so on, until finally an instituition was erected. So, what originated as one man's intuition of some sort of personal fluidity has been transformed into solidified, fixed knowledge, complete with organized classified responses presented in a logical order. In so doing, the well-meaning, loyal followers have not only made this knowledge a holy shrine, but also a tomb in which they have buried the founder's wisdom."

 

... Bruce Lee

 

It's not always as cut & dry as that I realise - but there's enough there to get us talking

 

 

[SBN Doug]

Well said, and absolutely correct.

 

Too many older people and physically challenged people don't study because they think they would be required to do the same as everyone else.

[Jack]

YODA, great post.

 

I think you have managed to answer your own question there as to why, the beginning originality being made the exact opposite and passed on stringently. When I train my MA, I don't think in the way that I am being moulded, I think in the style of personally absorbing and learning the skills of the MA, that will be useful whether I start another MA or not.

 

I thinks its also a difficulty for an Instructor to teach a large class, and teach them all different ways to fight, perhaps teaching them to teach themselves would be helpful here.

 

McDojo's are unlikely to care this much about the studen'ts progress anyway, as long as they get the money.

[ZR440]

It seems like it would be a whole lot more difficult to customize a system for individuals than to teach a traditional system that has predetermined requirements. It's not fair for everyone, but it keeps continuity within the schools.

[SBN Doug]

Don't get me wrong. Especially in KSW, as you know, I like the standardization of how it is taught. However, it is up to the instructor, as someone comes to them with a problem doing a technique, to be able to show some alternatives to the "exact" technique.

 

It may be as simple as using a slightly different angle on the technique, or as obvious as turning a cartwheel into a shoulder roll in the form.

[YODA]

Hey ZR440 - it's doesn't have to be easy - it has to be RIGHT

 

 

[spinninggumby]

Everybody moves differently and views everything differently because everyone is built differently in both body and mind. Therefore the potential for each practitioner is different in both volume and constitution. I think it is great that many schools and/or styles encourage the adaptation of one's body to the movements/forms/ techniques as long as the retainment of the basic ideologies is still present.

[three60roundhouse]

What do you guys think of different tests for people with different abilities, potentials, and needs? I hear that some schools change the tests according to who is taking them, while at my school the tests are exactly the same, except for sometimes the breaks.

[spinninggumby]

Well at some schools I have heard and seen that instructors will make a test more challenging or grade someone harder if they feel that they are more 'gifted' or have more natural martial arts-related ability. I think that this if fairly okay since martial arts should be about working oneself to overcome one's own limits more than the standards set by a certain school, organization, or giant federation (although I also feel that broad, overall standards set by certain authorities are also needed up to a certain extent).

[Iron Arahat]

One has to remember that without structure, there would simply be chaos. One has to know that we all need structure in which to secure a basis in which we can relate to the world. We should not mistake structure with being rigid, as there must be flexability in order to adapt to the changes of the world.

 

In the search for the truth you must be flexible, but also mantain a certain degree of structure. Without a basis, you are merely repeating history, you will make mistakes made long before you, and not learn from the experience and wisdom of others. People who dismiss the past are doomed to make the mistakes, made before them...