Mid [Karate] Life Crisis! Could use some advice

[sri_mersing81]

Don't think that i'm giving u any ideas, just sharing my story.

I was from another lineage of Shito Ryu before actually joining Shito Ryu. Due to some disagreement with my Sensei so i left.

Later i found out that some of the students left too, since my previous Sensei wouldn't allow any of his students to participate in any kumite competition.

Feeling sorry and having deep respect for him, (since he introduced karate to me), i tried to look for him to mend things with him, even not intentioning to join his style back. Later i found out he had moved to somewhere solitude, where i can't even find him. None of us can.

I've tried my best to look for him. Trust me, i did.

If u have any disagreement,it's better for u to talk it out with ur Sensei, to make sure that u guys are speaking on the same page. Furthermore, it's not that he didn't give his blessing, for u to participate rite?

As for the 'Kata' part, may i quote a saying that 'the essence of Karate is kata'. Karatekas are told to 'read' a Kata, not just memorize it. To read or understand it could take years.

I could take example that Karate is the same as eating. By not knowing the essence of the food, we'd still enjoy it, but less in knowing how the food is prepared to us as we have no knowledge on the essence; which in this example is the ingredient.

Eventhough that Kata is being said to be the essence, the application of it in real life depends on how hard u train. This is what we call as muscle memory. If u've trained harder, ur body will automatically does any Kihon (to make it simpler, Karate basic movement) by reflex.

For the BJJ or the mixed martial art u learn, it's not the martial art that counts. It's u can even go against a 10 year-old child training everyday, with us (let's say just during weekends) and the kid would still beat the crap out of us!

[brentyj]

Hello again!

I thought I would drop back past and give everyone an update of how things are going.

Very well, would be the best way to describe it!

My relationship with my sensei has completely mended and I believe a lot of my issues came from the fact that I wasnt understanding that martial arts is a personal journey, something individual to the practitioner.

One of the posters here mentioned that I 'shouldnt walk away from a problem thats not there'. I find that to be very true and find that my MMA training balances out my traditional Goju training nicely. The best of both worlds if you will.

I train harder in kata than I would have, because I no longer resent that I am not as quick as others at it. Rather, I acknowledge I have other strengths and should work on my weaknesses.

Lastly, I no longer mind the lack of emphasis on competition and sparring, as my MMA gym has all the sparring and rolling I need.

I look forward to what kind of a martial artist this will make me, and the challenges that await

[bushido_man96]

Its great to hear things are going well for you!