It is unfortunate that martial arts and the training of the arts can bring about a negative perception of the practitioner by the general public; some may see us as knuckle dragging barbarians that only train for the goal of having the ability to inflict damage upon another human being. While this definition may hold true for a tiny majority of martial art practitioners, there are many who don’t just train for the purpose of self-defense or offense. Many of us who train in the arts may have a variety of reasons as to why we decided to train in the first place, I believe that those of us who stick it out year after year find that the journey has led them to a better understanding of themselves and how they see the world; a sort of transcendence to a very different way of looking at life and our role and purpose for living in it. For me, I began my training only as a means of self-protection, I was, by definition, a coward, fearful of nearly anything that walked, crawled and or slithered. I didn’t care about the history, artistry or the philosophical or psychological lessons that could be gleamed from the lessons and journey. Over time I quickly learned more about myself and my peers, as our training continued, bonds began to develop between myself and my classmates, this bond developed over shared suffering and adversity. When things got tough, we didn’t quit, there were times the only reason I stuck it out was because of my martial art brethren, it was easier to let myself down than to let members of my tribe down. During this journey I also began to see how others processed information, each having varying degrees of learning modalities, if a lesson was shared by my instructor and not easily understood by someone then it was up to the tribe to teach it from a slightly different perspective or explain it differently so that we could help them become better and so that we all could continue to progress together. Now as a teacher of the arts I try my best to make sure I understand the reason why my students train with me and I am constantly trying to find the best approach to passing on a lesson based on each individual learning modality. Some students train for the fitness aspect, some train for self-protection, and some train just because the activity is totally outside of anything they have ever done, and it challenges them physically and mentally. Regardless of the reason, if they stick it out and continue to face and overcome the challenges presented within the safety of the Dojo they soon find that the study of the arts opens doors to their soul and before long they also realize that they are part of a family or Ohana, where their peers and teacher will be there to help them through any adversity they may face both in and out of the Dojo. This is the path I have chosen to travel and a path I hope to serve as a guide for others willing to venture down this road that leads to fulfillment and transcendence, a road of twists and turns where there is no end, but rather a steady climb toward personal progress. -Black Wolf DeCuerdas Eskrima Club.
RSS Feed