Martial Arts News, Chinese Martial Arts, Qigong
What Does Your Martial Art Allow You to Believe?
Does your martial art restrict your beliefs?
I am not talking about your religious beliefs but your beliefs in your martial art. Most everyone can believe that their martial art will let move their arm in to an “Up block” to stop a strike coming down on them. This belief is that if I can can move an object(my arm) fast enough to stop another object(downward hammer fist) from striking me it will at least help minimize the damage. Maybe your art adds a few combinations after the up block to stop the attacker.
Some arts, will use the downward force of the arm into a throw and subdue the attacker. Others, teach you to do preemptive strikes: like a kick to the stomach takes much of the power if not all of the power out of a punch. These are pretty widely accepted beliefs in many different arts. We can see a cause and effect and it doesn’t contradict any of our other beliefs.
What about other martial art beliefs? Chi, energy throws, Death Touch, directing energy(chi) to parts of your body for healing or protection. These are beliefs from different martial arts like different styles of Kung Fu, Da Mak, Chi Kung and others. Many martial artists have difficulty believing in concepts like these because they cannot feel it or see it. They may see an attacker fall to the ground from a energy throw, but they don’t see anything physically do the throw. They call it fake or say the attacker was clumsy and they wouldn’t have been thrown.
I for myself feel that you have to keep an open mind. Explore different styles of martial arts, maybe even the ones you feel are “fake”. Many of these arts use concealing techniques so other “clans” couldn’t see how the techniques really worked. Much to the way I think about “Rumors” - there is usually some truth behind them, I would believe that many of these arts have more truth to them than many would like to accept.
For those with an open mind or what to add to their martial art knowledge you should look up Steve Smith - The Little Dojo. He has a Spring Seminar “The Power of Belief”. Check it out.
Posted by Karate Junkie
