The Tao of the Martial Way

There have been too many books on martial arts, but too few on martial ways.

You need a disciplined mind to have disciplined body and you need a strong, healthy body to have a strong, healthy mind. Strengthening the mind and body in tandem is the Way. Balance is key; the mind and body complement each other. The relationship is symbiotic and both must be strengthened.

The first, the most important and the most powerful weapon of self defense is prevention. Nothing is greater than avoiding damage. Pride is for the living not the dead, yet one can not live with cowardice; therefore, you must avoid battle, but do so honourably.

Discomfort is your body telling you something that your mind has not yet realized.

There are techniques developed by warriors with experience from life and death battles; why would anyone develop a new style just to make a name for themselves? All warriors adapt to different situations; it is naive to think that any martial art is so rigid that the founder of a style would advocate failure. All traditional styles have merit but too much technique and wisdom has been lost because of adherence to a false notion of tradition. Tradition is using wisdom and common sense. Taking a technique and adapting it to a new situation is as old as combat itself. Humans adapt; and modifying techniques is tradition. The modification of a style is evolution, not a new style. If a person changes what they wear and eat in order to adapt to a new climate, are they no longer human?

If you are training in a traditional style and you can not adapt to any situation, then you have not finished your training. You are looking for shortcuts. Those who have a need to rush out and seek new methods lack patience and those who lack patience have not spent enough time developing technique. Why seek out new technique if you have not perfected your old ones? Your old techniques are your foundations for newer ones. Building upon a weak foundation will cause the home to fall when you need it the most for protection against the elements.

Making time. If you are working 80 hours a week and have several children to take care of then you do not need self defense because stress will destroy you before any assailant does. Solution: make the time before time takes care of you.

Range of combat is important. Kicks and punches do not work on long range missiles. So how do you defend against these weapons? Some may think that it is pointless, but no ‘true warrior’ who has honour would give up against any foe, even missiles. So how do we defeat such an attack? With our mind, each person should exercise their political ability to seek out ways of preventing such attacks. Dying without trying is cowardice and cowardice is not acceptable.

Fear and Cowardice. One cannot be brave and fearless at the same time; if one does not fear the situation, then they are acting out of ignorance not bravery. Bravery is continuing to do battle in an atmosphere of fear and cowardice is letting the fear control you instead of warning you.

Self defense is not something that is taught in a short period of time. Self defense is protecting your body, including your health! What is the point of trying to save your own life if you are killing yourself on purpose? Live a healthy lifestyle by adopting a martial arts regimen for a lifetime. Training and exercise should be a lifestyle along with healthy eating. Defend your body from illness. Assailants could be as large as people or as small as bacteria; both can cause serious harm.