When the ancients created martial arts they came from a place of honor, respect and spirituality. They were created to elevate the human body and spirit to greater heights and improve the over all quality of life of the individual and community.
Real martial arts are about honor, discipline, self control, honesty, courtesy, perseverance and above all respect for the value of life. They can also be practiced by people of all ages especially the internal aspects like chi control and meditation. That is why Martial arts know no age.
Although Martial arts are the art of war but the brutal aspect was
only to be used during battle in a kill or be killed type situation where there was no other choice and avoiding the confrontation would mean fighting against one's self preservation.Also when fighting in a war zone one has multiple opponents to worry about and there are no time limits or referees to stop the fight so when the animal inside comes out of self preservation and love for protecting one's family and country one can see honor in that.
On the other hand when people are purposely reproducing a one on one kill or be killed war like moment for money and playing God with people's lives that is purposeless and dishonorable.
If you watch a traditional or Olympics Taekwondo or Budokai tournaments and compare them to any of those so called modern Cage fighting events you can see the difference in the eyes of the fighters.
The ones doing cage fighting have true fear in their eyes because they know they could die at any moment. They know that if they make a mistake it could end their life or the life of their opponent.
On the other hand in a traditional real martial arts tournament there is only focus and excitement in the eyes of the fighters competing. Sure there is still some potential for injury but in most cases it is something you can come back from and learn from. Something that inspires the fighter to become even better. Most important of all there is respect among fighters who will not hit a man or woman when they are already down or half knocked out.
Nothing can be learned from getting brain damaged, poked in the eye maimed or killed. That kind of injury can only make the fighter want to give up and never fight again not to mention the damage it causes to his/her family who now have to support them.
The best and true masters of
martial arts are able to overcome their opponent without drawing blood regardless of the discipline. Whether they fight on their feet or wrestle on the ground there is no excuse for drawing blood to show one's superiority.The biggest damage caused by those horrible displays of needless violence is that the newest generations exposed to them think and believe that that is real martial arts when actually that is just pure brutality and they begin to look down on traditional martial arts out of ignorance.
When a person wants to enter the world of martial arts they need to figure out what their goal is.
Some choose it to repair their bodies and heal traumas they have suffered from in the past.
Others decide to join a martial arts school because they are great fun and you meet good people there. Others send their children as young as 3 to learn about discipline, flexibility and motor skills. Some look to learn how to control their Chi or meditate to get away from reality and relax.
Then of course there are those who practice to become strong and defend themselves but usually there are dedicated classes to self defense and the teachers are very careful in making sure the students understand that those dangerous techniques are not to be used against friends and family. They are only to be used in case of emergency in a crisis when attacked by a thug.
The issue we face is that all of these important aspects of martial arts like Chi training and meditation are dying out as more and more people seem to care only about the fighting aspect. If we are to evolve as a species we must learn to transcend the inner ape side of fighting.
We must explore the full depth of the art we practice so that we to can ascend to higher realms of being and consciousness.
Here are a some of Schools I like that respect the true values of martial arts!
1. http://wingchunkungfu.org/ For adults who already have a foundation in martial arts.
2. http://www.ildotkd.com/schedules/class-schedule-heritage-ildo-taekwondo/ For everyone
3. http://rockydirico.com/ For everyone
