THE ART OF FIGHTING
You can learn the art of fighting
Question
I'm not really asking you to teach me to fight because I know you have to have your mind set mentally first. Meditation is a way to improve concentration on certain skills but it doesn't help when in an actual defense mode.
And the thing about knowing your enemy you really can't do that if someone jumps at you from nowhere. That really doesn't give you enough time to think about who you're fighting or how you're going to win. But there is something I'm looking for is like a hole I'm trying to fix. It's a feeling that seems to drive me crazy. I can't quite solve it. Most of the fighting art teachers teach moves but none of them teach the mental part and I believe that's what I'm missing. Any advice or help you could give would be appreciated a lot.
-- Drew, USA
Answer
My advice is simple, direct and effective, and is in two steps. One, stop intellectualizing. Two, learn from a master or at least a competent instructor.
The elaboration of my advice may not he pleasant for you to hear, but it is given sincerely and for your benefit if you appreciate it.
It is obvious that you have no exposure to both the philosophy and the practice of good martial arts. You form your opinions based on your limited experience and knowledge, but regard them as facts and deliver them as if you were an expert.
Let us have fun as well as benefit by analyzing what you said.
“I'm not really asking you to teach me to fight because I know you have to have your mind set mentally first.”
This sentence suggests that you were confused. You did not know exactly what you wanted to say. Meditation, if practiced correctly, will help you to overcome this problem.
“Meditation is a way to improve concentration on certain skills but it doesn't help when in an actual defense mode”
The first part of your sentence is right, although there are much more meditation can do. The second part is wrong. Meditation is very helpful when you are in an actual defense mode.
“And the thing about knowing your enemy you really can't do that if someone jumps at you from nowhere.”
Meditation enables you to know your enemy well, including if he jumps at you from nowhere.
“That really doesn't give you enough time to think about who you're fighting or how you're going to win”
A good fighter well trained in meditation can “freeze” time during combat, so that a split second in normal time may appear like a few seconds in a meditative state of mind, called Zen in Shaolin Kungfu. A well-trained Shaolin fighter does not think during combat! He fights spontaneously and extremely effectively in a state of Zen.
“But there is something I'm looking for is like a hole I'm trying to fix. It's a feeling that seems to drive me crazy. I can't quite solve it.”
Meditation training under the guidance of a competent teacher will help you to solve such problems. Meditation on your own incorrectly or taught by incompetent teachers will make your problems worse.
“Most of the fighting art teachers teach moves but none of them teach the mental part and I believe that's what I'm missing”.
Today most fighting art teachers not only do no teach the mental part, they also do not teach the physical part of fighting (they only teach fighting moves for solo demonstration). If they did, their students would not routinely hurt themselves in sparring.
You (and most fighting art students today) are missing not just the mental part, but many of the wonderful benefits of practicing a fighting art, such as good self-defence (which includes not being hurt in sparring), good health (not likely if you sustain internal injuries from sparring), mental clarity (which you lack if you cannot present your points clearly), as well as the philosophy and the methodology of the arts you practice (which you also lack, as revealed in your questions).
But you are wrong to say that no teachers today teach the mental part as well as the other wonderful aspects of fighting arts. These teachers are rare, no doubt, and obviously you have not met any of them yet.
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