Your First Experiences in the Martial Arts
[I:http://mymartialartsblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/AlCase28.jpg]First, you can’t just talk about the Martial Arts, you have to do them. To talk about is like thinking about, to know is to actually do. It is the difference between the definition of the word ‘wet’ and actually going surfing.
Thus, if you talk to people about the martial arts, if you watch movies about the martial arts, if you read books about the martial arts, it doesn’t work. The only thing that works is to actually find a teacher and learn them. To put on a uniform and step onto the dojo floor and find out how they really work.
Interestingly, they don’t always work the way they do in a movie. Bruce Lee looks awesome, but he had two separate arts, one was a movie art for the movie camera and creating the WOW in the audience, and the other was designed for real life, down and dirty combat. These two arts don’t even resemble each other.
When you walk onto the mat for the first time you will find you are entering a wonderful world of mystery. You will have butterflys in the stomach, you won’t know what to do, and you will actually be a in a state of awe. You will learn to tie the belt, bow, and how to conduct yourself in this strange, new world.
The fun starts when you learn your first moves. Everything you do is going to seem so totally odd, but it is really just unfamiliar. You’ll do everything wrong, make all sorts of mistakes, and totally misunderstand such simple concepts as right and left.
Eventually, you’ll have copy catted your techniques enough, and you’ll face a real opponent. Oh, Lord, you have to actually throw somebody to the ground, block somebody, hit somebody! How in heaven’s name are you going to manage this without falling on your fanny?
Time passes. You keep at it, and things start to make sense. The techniques and forms become workable, and even able to be applied in the great chaos of freestyle.
And you learn that the most important lesson of the dojo…you won’t learn anything if you don’t start. What’s that old saying…a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. And the single step you took, through the dojo doors and onto the mat, will end up being the most significant and important step you will ever take in your life, for this is the step that brought you discipline, good health, confidence, and the ability to take on and defeat any problem in life.
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