I find my approach to martial arts somewhat different to my philosophy of life.
I’m under the impression that by “martial arts” here you’re referring to self-defense. If so, I find exactly the same thing about myself. I’d run from a knife, too! …Unless someone else I really cared about was with me.
But I still think there’s a serious danger in teaching students a martial art—which explicitly looks and feels very much like training our bodies in how to deal with attacks—without taking care to make sure that said art is actually effective. Even if these students should run away, they might actually come to believe that they don’t have to. Hopefully a normal untrained person with some wits would know to run away from a person with a knife and would yell “Run!” to his or her comrades. On the other hand, someone with 5+ years of Aikido training might think—much like I do—that it’s actually a better bet for the safety of their loved ones to stand their ground. After all, that’s what the training is for, right? But if the training is utter junk, you’ll just end up a bloody mess. And your family still gets attacked.
Also, you don’t always have the option of running away. Sometimes you have to fight, like when someone invades your home and you need to protect your family. And in such cases, bad martial arts can actually be worse than raw untrained instincts—especially if those martial arts teach calmness, so the person doesn’t even have the full benefit of a maximal adrenaline rush due to the delusion of competence.
If we wanted to train in Aikido as a form of yoga, then I’d say “effectiveness” shouldn’t be at all measured in terms of self-defense. But that isn’t how we train: we pretend someone is attacking us, and we pretend to defend in order to gain practice defending against that kind of attack. Similarly, most newcomers don’t join Aikido thinking that this is just another form of zen but more dynamic; they join because it sounds like an interesting martial art. The questions I most commonly hear after a training aren’t things like “How do I apply these principles to an argument with my spouse?” (although I do hear that one sometimes). The most common questions are things like “What if he comes at you with a roundhouse kick?” or “What do you do if you’re grabbed from behind while someone punches at your face?” I think it’s a very safe bet to say that these people believe they’re learning how to defend themselves against real attackers. Even if we try to tell them verbally otherwise, their bodies are still incorporating habits that will eventually start becoming their automatic reactions given enough training.
So I totally agree, running sounds like the best option for dealing with a knife attack. But if that turns out not to be the best option for one of my students in some situation, I’d like to make sure that he or she has some effective skills to lean upon so as to have a real leg up on an assailant. If I pretended to provide something effective and it ended up hurting my student or one of his or her loved ones as a result, I would feel horrible about that—and I think justifiably so!
But I still think there’s a serious danger in teaching students a martial art—which explicitly looks and feels very much like training our bodies in how to deal with attacks—without taking care to make sure that said art is actually effective.
I agree. My comment was specific to the difference between martial strategy and life strategy.
The questions I most commonly hear after a training aren’t things like “How do I apply these principles to an argument with my spouse?” (although I do hear that one sometimes).
If I found I needed to be applying what I learn in martial arts training to arguments with my spouse I think I’d hire a divorce lawyer. Come to think of it this is an example where the ‘run’ tactic is kind of perfect. (I do see what they are asking but I would find the question amusing anyway!)
If I found I needed to be applying what I learn in martial arts training to arguments with my spouse I think I’d hire a divorce lawyer.
Perhaps it is just a misunderstanding, and they meant to sign up for a marital arts class. Perhaps one involving an entirely different set of holds, pins, and takedowns.
I’m under the impression that by “martial arts” here you’re referring to self-defense. If so, I find exactly the same thing about myself. I’d run from a knife, too! …Unless someone else I really cared about was with me.
But I still think there’s a serious danger in teaching students a martial art—which explicitly looks and feels very much like training our bodies in how to deal with attacks—without taking care to make sure that said art is actually effective. Even if these students should run away, they might actually come to believe that they don’t have to. Hopefully a normal untrained person with some wits would know to run away from a person with a knife and would yell “Run!” to his or her comrades. On the other hand, someone with 5+ years of Aikido training might think—much like I do—that it’s actually a better bet for the safety of their loved ones to stand their ground. After all, that’s what the training is for, right? But if the training is utter junk, you’ll just end up a bloody mess. And your family still gets attacked.
Also, you don’t always have the option of running away. Sometimes you have to fight, like when someone invades your home and you need to protect your family. And in such cases, bad martial arts can actually be worse than raw untrained instincts—especially if those martial arts teach calmness, so the person doesn’t even have the full benefit of a maximal adrenaline rush due to the delusion of competence.
If we wanted to train in Aikido as a form of yoga, then I’d say “effectiveness” shouldn’t be at all measured in terms of self-defense. But that isn’t how we train: we pretend someone is attacking us, and we pretend to defend in order to gain practice defending against that kind of attack. Similarly, most newcomers don’t join Aikido thinking that this is just another form of zen but more dynamic; they join because it sounds like an interesting martial art. The questions I most commonly hear after a training aren’t things like “How do I apply these principles to an argument with my spouse?” (although I do hear that one sometimes). The most common questions are things like “What if he comes at you with a roundhouse kick?” or “What do you do if you’re grabbed from behind while someone punches at your face?” I think it’s a very safe bet to say that these people believe they’re learning how to defend themselves against real attackers. Even if we try to tell them verbally otherwise, their bodies are still incorporating habits that will eventually start becoming their automatic reactions given enough training.
So I totally agree, running sounds like the best option for dealing with a knife attack. But if that turns out not to be the best option for one of my students in some situation, I’d like to make sure that he or she has some effective skills to lean upon so as to have a real leg up on an assailant. If I pretended to provide something effective and it ended up hurting my student or one of his or her loved ones as a result, I would feel horrible about that—and I think justifiably so!
I agree. My comment was specific to the difference between martial strategy and life strategy.
If I found I needed to be applying what I learn in martial arts training to arguments with my spouse I think I’d hire a divorce lawyer. Come to think of it this is an example where the ‘run’ tactic is kind of perfect. (I do see what they are asking but I would find the question amusing anyway!)
Perhaps it is just a misunderstanding, and they meant to sign up for a marital arts class. Perhaps one involving an entirely different set of holds, pins, and takedowns.
upvoted because puns don’t get enough love