The "Ultimate Martial Artist" vs. "The Practical Martial Artist"

[kj]

How do you see yourself, and which is closer to your aspiration in Wing Chun or martial arts more generally, and why?

[PaulH]

Hi Kathy,

Hobby is a nice word. It means love, true enjoyment and pleasure derived from the thing that really matters to you a lot. While WC is designed mostly for fighting, learning it needs not always be a neverending uphill battle . It is mostly fun and rewarding to me. I grow with it and it becomes me. Ha! Ha!

Regards,
PH

[Ernie]

none of the above

i'm sick i just can't help but to keep training and pushing and testing but i have no desire to compete with anyone

i guess i want to be as honest with myself as possible and express that honesty through martial arts and everything else i do

sorry couldn't pin point it to the list

[kj]

Originally posted by Ernie
none of the above

i'm sick i just can't help but to keep training and pushing and testing but i have no desire to compete with anyone

i guess i want to be as honest with myself as possible and express that honesty through martial arts and everything else i do

sorry couldn't pin point it to the list

If you don't mind my probing a bit, why martial arts in particular and not some other endeavor?

Regards,
- Kathy Jo

[kj]

Originally posted by PaulH
Hi Kathy,

Hobby is a nice word. It means love, true enjoyment and pleasure derived from the thing that really matters to you a lot. While WC is designed mostly for fighting, learning it needs not always be a neverending uphill battle . It is mostly fun and rewarding to me. I grow with it and it becomes me. Ha! Ha!

Regards,
PH

IMHO, a viable motivation often flippantly underrated in importance.

Regards,
- Kathy Jo

[Ernie]

kathey
it's everything i do when i was younger i used to do the music thing , got involved in film and things of that nature with extreme passion and then i went through my art phase , painting and drawing
then my bodybuliding vegeterian health nut phase which is still going on
then mountain biking ,whater rafting snowboarding and travel
but behind all of them there has always been martial arts
i don't know why just allways been there


i need medical attention

[Ultimatewingchun]

Martial Arts training is very important to me but it's also important to balance this with other things in my life.

Sports (including wrestling), music, (I played lead guitar in rock/blues bands for about ten years throughout my high school and college days), and esoteric studies (I was an active member of the United Lodge of Theosophists for 19 years) - and of course wing chun for 29 years and more wrestling over the last 4-5 years or so....

these things have been my life - along with marriage, a day job in telecommunications, and a family life (My mother is still alive and well and living downstairs...it's a two family house - and I have cousins who live nearby). And keeping up with old (non-martial art friends is important to me also). But sometimes my wife complains that I spend too much time with martial arts - and she's right. Spending time with her going out to dinner, a movie, occasional dancing, or a concert, or a walk in the park, or the beach on a summer afternoon...and finding time to read a good theosophical related book on religion, philosophy, metaphysical science (ie.- astrology, raja yoga)...along with keeping up with current affairs (I am following election year politics very closely)...

These things are very important. It's very easy to lose focus on the bigger picture - including one's responsibilites - when martial arts starts to take over your life...obviously based upon some need that comes from within.

I often have to remind myself that the intensity of my involvement in martial arts is too extreme - and I work on myself on a daily basis to temper it with work, chores, and other forms of relaxation and mental stimulation.

[AndrewS]

I seek the truth to the best of my abilities.

The more truth I find, the better my ability to find truth.

The more truth I find, the less certainty I have.

Andrew

[Gangsterfist]

I train martial arts with a practical mind set. If its practical in a real situation I train it, if its not I still train it but with less conviction (mainly for the knowledge of it).

I am single with no family of my own. So I do not have a wife or kids to answer to or care for. So a lot of my free time can be spent training.

Hanging out with my friends and keeping in touch with them is very important to me as well. Some of my friends I have known for 20 years now, thats a long time to know and be friends with someone. Some of my close friends train martial arts with me so I kill two birds with one stone per se.

I also try not to obsess over martial arts too much either, I also try to keep balance. Too much yin or too much yang usually is not a good thing. Balance is recomended for optimal results through out life, even though it doesn't always work out in your favor, but then that is also part of the balance.

[kj]

Good stuff, and good to see some expressions of balance.

Setting aside our OCDs (LOL, Ernie), I realize the "right" balance will necessarily vary for each and every one of us, and often at different phases of our lives and in our training.

I cannot help but wonder, to what degree do we (the communal we) project our own sense of balance and expectations onto others in our thoughts, through our dialogs, training habits, or manner of teaching or coaching others?

Even in the small pages of this message board (and probably all others), indications of what others "ought" to do is pervasive through the generalizations we make. E.g., You "ought" to train realistically, you "ought" to cross-train, you "ought" to train only in Wing Chun, you "must" be willing to incur X degree of injuries, etc.

As humans, it's natural for us to assume that others should see things as we see them, share our same basic needs, desires or fears, or make balances in their lives similar to the ones we make for ourselves. "Ought" or "must" assertions aren't without implications of judgement, though interestingly, they are out of context for many. Implications range from if you don't do X or Y, then you "can't fight," you "don't train seriously," you aren't cut out for Wing Chun, or other definitive on/off type of statements.

To bring this back into some semblance of context, it's easy for us to make value judgements about how others should approach their martial arts training, their purposes in doing so, and the degree of seriousness or intensity we think they "should" engender for it. The pages of this forum alone are evidence that we tend toward universal assertions or judgments regardless if our audience consists of aspiring NHB competitors, those with practical or self-defense motives, hobbyists, those who share their knowledge and experience through teaching or coaching, and without regard to the circumstances or constraints in their individual lives.

To what degree would more of what we consider "good" or "essential" things (like time spent training, intensity of practice, time in cross training, etc.), bring balance or imbalance to the lives of others? Considering outside factors, for example, (such as impact on relationships, jobs, responsibilities and commitments to others, disabilities, injuries, or health concerns) is it possible that for some individuals degrees of moderation may lead not only to better life balance, but also to more or better results in the long term?

We would likely agree more on training approaches, appropriate intensity, and many other aspects of the martial arts if we all came with the same underlying needs and assumptions. That's likely - ha ha!!

Just a lot of musing. Thanks again for your past and continued comments, and great food for thought.

Regards,
- Kathy Jo

[kj]

Originally posted by AndrewS
The more truth I find, the less certainty I have.

You sure got that right.

Regards,
- kj