I had an interesting Karate class last night with my old instructor. I have been going back to my old teacher one night a week for a month or so now to try to get back into my Shotokan Karate before I forget too much of it. Well, to make a long story short I was asked to leave a bit early so the teacher and the rest of the Black Belts in the class could discuss something. Now I don’t know what they talked about, it could have been me, or something about the class, or moving the class who knows. Please understand that I have a lot of respect for my first teacher, he is very good at what he does and also good at teaching it to others. Anyway I got to thinking I may be asked not to come back since I go only one night a week instead of the two everyone else does. I will be disappointed if this happens but life will go on.
The interesting thing that hit me is the way my first teacher seems to have changed his attitude towards me as soon as I started to study with other teachers. This started years ago just after I got my first degree Black Belt from him when I started to do Tai Chi one night a week also. I don’t know but he seemed to take offense at my move and I don’t know why. I was still doing karate with him two classes a week but somehow the idea I was training with someone else seemed to offend him. I know that later on it delayed my next rank, he commented to me about my time off to do Tai Chi. . . .
The most startling thing to me was how different my new teacher is. She not only supports my training in my old style, but actively takes her students to other teachers in her style of Karate to get her students a broader view of the style and to get input from many teachers. Since joining the new school, I have been introduced to at least four other teachers by my new teacher and been to their classes. Each has given me different things to work on and seen different things in my karate – both good and bad.
This has shown me that to be what I consider a true Martial Artist you can not have only one teacher. To me one teacher gives you too much tunnel vision. By working with all these different people I have been exposed to many different ways of teaching, seen the different things teachers focus on, and been given constructive criticism of my karate from many different viewpoints. All of which has done me a lot of good. My karate is better, and every time I feel my ego starting to get in the way someone points out something I need to work on and deflates my head back to its proper size for training.
I have also been given the opportunity to show some of what I have learned in other styles to these folks too. This has proven to me more than anything that to truly practice martial arts and be a Martial Artist you can not be so focused on one style to the exclusion of others. A Martial Artist should be willing to share what he knows, and learn from other Martial Artists no matter what style they study. The martial arts are not about learning one style, but continuous learning. You are never done, there is always someone new to teach or learn from and in truth you tend to do both at the same time. . . Teaching brings up questions and can show you new ways to look at things you have done since day one. It is amazing how much you can learn from trying to answer a good question. . . .
All of this brings me to another point. . . Martial Arts is not just the oriental stuff you think of. To me the Martial Arts is exactly that, the art of fighting. By this I mean that I find the study of Karate and its self defense aspects is only improved by also studying weapons, from standard martial arts weapons like sword and bo all the way to modern firearms. It all ties together. A good example of this is the show Human Weapon which could probably be its own post when all is said and done. In a nutshell the hosts of Human Weapon spend each week studying a new martial art, from traditional ones to modern Krav Maga. Throughout the show you can see a common thread in the martial arts in how people move, many of the blocks and strikes, and how they use weapons from ancient to modern. All I can say is personally I recommend the show as a good over view of the arts they study.
Well, I am rambling and this post is long enough. . . more later
2 comments:
Oh, so true. I am always saddened when I hear a martial arts instructor disparaging another style or instructor, or touting their own as the end all be all of self defense. To truly advance as a martial artist, one needs to seek out different styles and ways of teaching. No one way has the final truth.
To be fair here I have to say that he never said anything bad about any of my other teachers. Would have been hard to say much about the Tai Chi teacher since my first karate teacher hired him for his school. . . . no, it was more that he looks down on students who go anywhere else after him like it is a personal affront or something. I don't pretend to understand it as I always thought martial arts was not about ego at least for me.
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