Best MA!!!
Ok, the thread title was a shameless attempt to get someones attention. But it is accurate.....
It has been discussed many times on this website, which one is best, why, what makes an ma or an artist better then the rest.
Well, I had an epiphany a few days ago, actually, still working through it. I attended a seminar about two weeks ago. It opened my eyes to a lot of things about the art that I practice, but most of all it opened my eyes to the ma world.
This is the conclusion I have come to:
First, as had been said many times on this forum, and by many people, no style is better then the others. I believe that most o fthe styles that exist today, have been tested pretty thoroughly in the past and have been proven to work and to work well. Not that they do not need refinements but that they have been used enough for real, that they have been show 'scientifically' to work.
With that said, the only thing that makes an ma better is practice, and precision. Seriously, over the last few months I have been practicing in earnest, doing things the way I feel they should be done, practicing everyday.
At this seminar I attended I was shown the light. now I practice it the way it SHOULD be practiced. Forcing myself byond my limits everytime, and doing things the right way instead of the lazy way, or 'my way'. I pay attention to every nuance, every alignment, every feeling that I have and I have come to find that in even just a few weeks of pushing myself, working really hard at it, I have seen significant improvement. Not only the harder practice, but the precision is paying off.
I have in the last few days slowly shed my 'american way' of looking at my ma. Now I am putting my back into it, and pushing myself, no expectations of instant gratification, or huge leaps in performance. No big pay off expected after a few weeks of pushing myself.
A few years down the road, I see myself as being a good martial artist, who has a long way yet to go. Will I be able to fight well? Probably, well enough anyway. Will I be a master? I dont think so, especially compared to some of the more modern masters out there, the mcdojo masters or the money seeking masters.
What I see myself as, is a martial artist who will have grown in his art, who will see the journey ahead and not the road. How about you?
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I'd tell you to go to hell, but I work there and don't want to see you everyday.