Ok, after some soul searching and some reflecting on my martial training so far I have had a huge paradigm shift. I attribute some of this to interaction here on this forum, there are some personalities on here that cant help but look at things logically ad from a realistic point of view and for them, you know who you are, I thank you.
Now on to an explanation. For some of you who know me, you know I have been pretty ferverent about studying wingchun. Before my wingchun I studied Karate, and while it was a fun experience it lacked something. I came across Wing Chun many years later and realized that the things I was looking for were contained in wing chun.
Mostly a realistic and effective way to defend myself. Also, sometimes we get into an art, of any sort, be it martial or otherwise, to do some soul searching, to challenge who we are and what it is we can get out of ourselves.
My path through wingchun helped me to figure out that while I was young, not only did I want to learn self defense, but I also wanted to compete. For a while I told myself that all I needed was wingchun.
I was fortunate to find what I consider to be one of the best wing chun instructors I have ever met. His skill is real and it is dangerous and that is what impressed me. TMA training has become for the most part watered down, not as tough or demanding as it seemed to use to be. Wing Chun is heading down that path, too many hobbyist are out their teaching as a hobby as well, not enough people who really desire it with all their being, the level of skill you can attain by following these arts.
So, I took a look at what I wanted, determined that for me it would be another path I had to go to get what I wanted, the skills to compete in competitions where I could challenge myself.
So I am currently leaving the world of TMA to pursue training in the world of mma. Not because TMA is less effective, or not as hard core as mma is. I said above that I had the luck to come across a man who had taken TMA and CMA to the level I believe it is supposed to be at to be as effective in the world today as it was in the past. however I need the intensity that an mma school can offer, atleast here locally, and the competitions that are often a part of the MMA world.
Ultimately, this whole experince has allowed me to see, what I believe to be the disparity between the way people see their training as being better then others. True TMA, trained properly and with spirit and passion can be a powerful thing on many levels. There are individuals out there proving that as we speak, or you read this. The same with MMA. There are big muscle bound idiots on both sides of the fence, and there are guys fooling themselves into thinking that they know what it is all about and have no worries, on both sides as well.
Anyway, I want to thank you guys that have helped me to make this transition and to help me recover my passion for training. Specifically, Merry Prankster, Yenhoi and Apoweyn, as well as those of you responding to my threads seeking some advice and help. Those of you with some quality attitudes, wushu chik, ewallace, sharky, and ton more who I am definitely not doing justice by at the moment, sorry if I missed you!
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