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The martial arts, as they were first imagined all those centuries ago, were a complete system of combat that were strictly governed by an equally complete philosophy that advocated peace and harmony as well as a gradual spiritual awakening (through rigorous training) that enabled one to practice a kind of moving meditation whilst also learning the art of self-defence. Thus the practicing martial artist was engaging themselves in a complete system of thought and physical movement, both actions seamlessly intertwining with one another with no separation between the two. To this day in the Eastern world the martial arts, to a large extent, are still approached in this way, with the mind, body and spirit being of equal importance. Over here in the Western world, a rather different outlook exists. Western culture in general has a much more materialistic perspective on everything (although with the advent of globalisation this perspective is spreading through out the rest of the world), the result of which is a tendency to view the mind, body and spirit as separate from one another, even though in this age of information we know, on an intellectual level, that this disconnection is false, we still persist in behaving otherwise. In the case of martial arts then, Westerner's tend to over-emphasis the physical aspects of the art, more often then not completely shunning the mental and spiritual aspects (the art) because these do not fit in with their ego-based perspectives.
This particular inclination in Westerner's lies mainly in their reasons for taking up the martial arts in the first place. Instead of viewing the training as learning an art-form, most Westerner's use the training purely as a method of self-defence or sport, the art and philosophy being of little or no relevance to them (this is not of course true of everyone- there are plenty of dedicated martial artists out there who embrace the whole system but they are few and far between when you think of just how many people are involved in the martial arts today). As I shall now explain, this fractured stance will inevitably be the cause of much inner-conflict at some point down the line, especially if one's reason for beginning training was to learn how to defend one's self. So lets for a moment quickly examine the way in which we practice the martial arts today so that we may clearly see exactly were the above mentioned conflict will arise from.
The word martial, in its simplest terms, means warfare, and this is what we do when we train, we practice warfare tactics, albeit on a reduced scale. We attack and we defend, these actions being the very basis of all fighting no matter what the scale on which we are doing them. This is the very reason most people take up the martial arts in the first place, to learn how to fight, to learn how to attack and defend properly in a violent confrontation. Without the fighting aspects, without the intention to inflict violence were necessary, there would not be any combative arts and we would be left with only empty movements, devoid of any real intention or motivation for doing them.
So what about the art? How does art figure into a system that purveys explosive and potentially deadly violence? Well art as a concept relates to skill, and more particularly, the imitative and imaginative use of that skill. This is why we have so much variation within the martial arts. Over the years people have elaborated on and expanded the simple basis of the system to include many more complicated and sophisticated movements, this act in itself resulting in a mushrooming of different styles. Hence a rudimentary fighting system has been turned into many systems that can be quite rightly called an art-form thanks to the amount of thought and imagination poured into them.
It is this conjoining of art and functionality that will eventually pose a problem for the martial artist. After a few years of training, when the basics of ones chosen style have been learnt and one begins to acquire more and more difficult techniques, it is common for the martial artist to begin to question (as I did) the validity and practicality of certain techniques. In my own case I practice ju jitsu, a system that more than any other contains a great number of complicated and hard to master techniques. Now, the main reason I started learning martial arts was, like many other people, to learn how to defend myself in a fight. After a few years training though I began to realise that as far as self-defence was concerned, simple is best, and this is still the advice of many long-standing and respected martial artists across the globe- stick to the basics because over-complicated techniques will not work in a street situation. So if this really is the case, what is point in learning all of those complicated techniques if they are useless in a real fight out on the street?
Well firstly, the techniques themselves are not all useless. Most of the more sophisticated moves could, in theory, be used in a live situation, but only if the person using them is a supremely confident and accomplished martial artist and one who has great control over themselves so they do not crack under the pressure of a very real and violent confrontation. To become this skilled takes many years of dedicated practice and even then the person in question still has to have the proper mindset and bottle to back up their skills. Not everyone does.
Second of all, and here we come to the crux of the matter, one must be able to distinguish in their training between the practicality of what they are doing and the art of what they are doing. From a practical stand-point, which is say from a self-defence stand-point, one must consider the simpler, more easily executed techniques to be the ones that will be used in a live situation, for these are the moves that are more easily remembered and therefore the ones that become second nature to us. You obviously want a fight to be finished as quickly as possible so we rely on striking techniques or, if you want to exercise more control (as not every assailant deserves a severe response), we use simple standing controls like arm locks or chokes, or we simply out manoeuvre our opponent through the use of tai sabaki (body movement) and redirection.
Another thing to bear in is that the average person does not directly encounter that much violence in their life. It is therefore unjustified to spend so much time wrangling over whether a particular technique will work or not on the street (although all techniques should still be approached from a martial perspective). Just knowing martial arts does not guarantee success in a street fight as there are so many factors involved. The only way to gain some success in this area is by doing the very thing you want to avoid -fighting- and no one (in their right mind anyway) wants to do that.
So we can see then that concentrating solely on the martial aspects only get us so far. It therefore becomes more expedient to embrace the art as well, for it is only in the practicing of the art that we make the biggest gains. Through the pursuit of art we are able to reach the deeper levels of meaning and understanding that lie embedded within ourselves and the martial arts as a whole. In the practice of all those difficult techniques we not only get better and more skilled at our chosen art, we also get ever closer to that state of harmony and inner-peacefulness that the mastery of any art (but especially the martial arts) brings.
A funny thing happens when one takes a more holistic approach to ones training. The more one trains, the more ones inner-confidence grows, not necessarily in ones abilities (though this also the case), but in the fact that one comes to avoid violence at all costs and violence itself comes to avoid you as well. To borrow a well-worn phrase, it is the art of fighting without fighting and it is more powerful than any technique. That is true self-defence.
Neal Martin is an ex-bouncer and highly experienced martial artist with many years of training under his belt. He also publishes the popular Urban Samurai blog. Join his e-mail list today to receive some great free gifts, including his authoritative e-books on self defense and mind training for martial artists. Just click here.
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