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Cannon_Fodder
Not so Fiendish Admin
106 Posts |
 Posted - 04/06/2005 : 17:10:18
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I know this topic is often done to death, but its always a good to know and start with so . . .Why do you train? or what do you personally want to get out of training?
Death is but a door, time is but a window . . I'll be back.
Ghostbusters 2
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ivesjz
Banging On A Bit
75 Posts |
Posted - 09/08/2005 : 12:42:31
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I've been thinking about this a lot recently - as is my want.
I started training five years ago because I wanted to do something physical to keep me active and to learn how to defend myself if I ever needed to.
I then got to the stage where I thought I would be able to defend myself if I needed to, and I trained simply because I enjoyed it.
Then I started to feel I was going through the motions, and I trained because I felt obliged to.
Then I decided that I wanted to learn the traditional stuff and become technicaly perfect, and I rained because I wanted to become a martial ARTIST.
Then I worked out that this was mostly ego driven,and I wanted to work my way through the grades so that other people would recognise immeadiately that I knew what I was doing.
Then i realised that regardless of your grade, if you dont; parctice in the exact style that anothe person practices in, another person will never think much of you.
Then I wondered if it actually mattered what other practitioners thought of me, and decided that it didn't. I know what I know regardless of what anyone else thinks or does, and I'm confident that I can make what I know work for me.
After a break from training over this summer, when I've sat back and re-evaluated what I'm doing and why I'm doing it, I've decided to come back to training in the understanding that I'm not training to become a martial artist.
I'm sick of all the 'purist' crap, and have decided that I'm not going to train in any particular art, or try to pass myself off as a practioner of anything. I'll try to learn what I can from as many different instructors as I can, take what I like from them, and make it work for me.
In a sense I've gone full circle, and I think that the original reasons why I began training are the ones that matter. All the rest is posturing.
"Do you have the patience to wait till your mud settles and the water is clear? Can you remain unmoving till the right action
arises by itself?"
Lao Tzu (Dao De Ching)
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Coops
Old Hand
20 Posts |
Posted - 15/09/2005 : 19:27:15
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I believe that Jons first reason is the only honest reason people practice. We all start with that aim, unless our parents enroled us in a Taikwondo club - and it was probabally their reason for doing it anyway - but pride, ego, performance angsiety get in the way and make us lose sight.
Good to see you finding out so early Jon. I was much older. All that time wasted....
Coops |
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RichL
Old Hand
15 Posts |
Posted - 29/09/2005 : 12:53:57
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I'm just a sick puppy and enjoy the pain! that or the feeling of comaradary within a "clan"
but probably just the pain
"the pointy end goes in the other guy" |
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Coops
Old Hand
20 Posts |
Posted - 25/11/2005 : 20:08:13
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I understand the pain thing and the clan comraderie aspect. However,I actually believe Jon's viewpoint hits the bull.His comment about 'not training to be a martial artists,' is one of the reasons I am happy to return and train with you guys at B'ham. I am fed up of people who just want to hit things and be macho.
Don't get swallowed up into being just another martial artist. Stick with your original values and views.
Martin |
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RichL
Old Hand
15 Posts |
Posted - 28/11/2005 : 19:28:59
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Ok more honest version of why I train in Ninj. I like to be able to come up with somthing other the "smash man with fist" i like the Plan A... Plan B ... Plan F mentality of ninj, the finding away around the problem. i want to be able to deal with an annoying friend that leaves them able to learn from their mistake. Ninj has lots of silly uses like how to open jars, how to fall down(and get up),how to pick your own mood, and how to make friends and influence people. "I look not to beat others but to improve myself"
"the pointy end goes in the other guy" |
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Cannon_Fodder
Not so Fiendish Admin
106 Posts |
Posted - 06/03/2006 : 21:26:04
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Right figured as i started the post I ought to add my opinion, otherwise it would be a little hypocritical of me! Right I was mugged in my first year of university (largely down to lack of awareness, so coops' keep aware stuff and colour codes was hammering home a point I wish I'd ahve considered 4 years ago! HoHum), so no surprise self-defense was one of the main reasons why I started and certainly one of the factors which I always maintain in training. I enjoy the aspect of making my mind work as well as my body not only in the would this honestly work or how can i continue to be true to the real world. The other reason is that the more I train the more I see the layers of the onion get peeled back and the greater my curiosity the more i find (the rabbit hole is deep) but the harder to understand and the more satisfying when you "understand". I enjoy learning the martial art side, not for the grade, but because I am a bit of a thinker (i think?!) so some of the historic aspects keep me fascinated, like the proverbial kid in the candy shop!
In Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switerzland they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did they produce? The cuckoo clock
Orson Welles |
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Rtee
Newbie
9 Posts |
Posted - 15/04/2006 : 02:32:12
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Training for me (when I can do it) gives me something that we seem to have lost in this corporate world - a physical edge.
Even before the times of the clan and the emergence of the warlords and martial arts, man has been driven by the instincts of survival culminating in three core elements; awareness, endurance and mental sharpness. Over the years of technological development, there has been less cause for many aspects of the human blueprint, as we have designed tools and equipment to eliminate the hardship that was endured by our ancestors. However, in making these elements of our existence redundant, we risk losing them completely. During my working life, I have found myself slipping into a malaise of mental exhaustion and depression, brought about by my life meaning being about being part of a non-descript machine - part of the rat-race.
The opportunity to train with refreshing and like-minded students of the ninpo art offers me the chance to rediscover some of the elements of life and living that many of the population do not recognise or even know exist. The experience of the mind development brought about by meditation and reflection, the self confidence and feelings of achievement brought about by learning new technique with which to feel more secure, experiencing levels of pain that would have those who are ignorant to their bodies reaching for the medicine cabinet are all things that help to vary my life on a day to day basis, and without all of these elements, I can't help but feel that something would be missing, something that is instictive rather than something material.
The historical element of the art is a personal choice thing - as brutal as it was, I would have liked to experience feudal japan, and have had the opportunity to learn from some of the true masters. The art itself is right up my street, as it is not one which abides by the rules, yet it acknowledges that those rules are there.
Going back to my earlier comment on the development of technology and it's rendering elements of life redundant, even killing is becoming something that any mug can do - you've only got to pull the trigger - for which reason, I wish to achieve a level of competency in this art to enable me to teach my daughter, 16months now, and nieces and nephews to be aware, and to have their own levels of self confidence from a young age. After all we learn fear, we aren't born with it.
Reet, going to bed now - before my good lady wife divorces me!
RT |
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Why?
