A Lifelong Process
I aim to embody the principles exemplified by the
T’ai-Chi symbol, hard and soft in balance, in every area of life, including but
not limited to martial arts, as long as I live. This aim leads to a certain
kind of life.
If my aim was to see how quickly and how good I
could get at the art itself and only the art itself, that too leads to a
certain kind of life.
Embodying the principles is a life long process
and involves working on things like:
posture and joint alignment
integrated strength and flexibility
suspended and relaxed joints
agility and mobility
power and ease of motion
spatial awareness
responsiveness
listening
As well as things like:
preserving health throughout life
preventing injury throughout life
balance in diet
physical balance
emotional balance
psychological balance
relationship skills
relationships with intoxicants
relationship with everything
Focusing only or mainly on excelling at the art
itself, the drills, forms and techniques, tends to lead to channeling most
available energy into work that yields results the fastest and that are felt
the most directly.
In the process, some, perhaps half of the above
areas of life are not explored or worked on. Someone in training for a big
tournament is unlikely to be working on being a good friend or exploring his
available range of emotion. It’s just the nature of the beast. When getting
good as fast as possible is the focus, certain sacrifices end up getting made
and this includes an increased risk of injuries. It’s hard to be as safe as
possible while trying to go as fast and far as possible.
I’m not knocking this by the way, even though it’s
not my way. I have watched and enjoyed a ton of boxing in my life, and I’m
pretty sure the guys I was watching and enjoying so much were not looking to
make the principles of boxing the guiding philosophy of every area of their
lives for the rest of their lives. Both approaches are valid depending on what
you want out of training and out of life.
