In a time where an unseen opponent inspires fear and keeps everyone inside, a lot of things will sure come into mind especially fighting boredom. But many of us, especially Martial Artists who are educated in the philosophies of efficiency by great thinkers such as Sun Tzu, Miyamoto Musashi, even Marcus Aurelius, will undoubtedly seize this opportunity to reinvigorate our Martial skills which were stripped from us by our day to day focus on our work, career and family. A lot of us Martial Artists are now given the time to hone our bodies back, stretch our legs, and oil up rusty joints but many people especially those who are new to Martial Arts that at least have trained for a month or so will find this time a little bit stagnant in terms of their learning plans. But some may consider, especially with those who have internet, to learn online.
It is often highlighted, although sometimes this education paradigm is insensitive to social and economic status of developing countries who have difficulty in the quality of accessing the internet like the Philippines, that we are now living in the 21st Century and that 21st Century learning and teaching should be applied in our learning institutions and lives. This 21st learning and teaching models often emphasize the use of innovation and the internet. And this is actually a good idea if only everybody and every country has access to internet. If that were so, there would be no problem of ignorance and stupidity anymore but, we still see a lot of people who goes the other way. Anyways that is a topic for another article. But for this one, I want to reflect on some ways and tips so that we can advance our Martial Arts practice using the internet even if it is a little bit, in this time of Community Quarantines.
First, I would like to speak a little about my background as a Martial Artist. I have a Brown Belt in Shorin Ryu Karate, I took up a little of Tae Kwon Do, a short course from a Philippine Modified Aikido and a Brown Belt from an Asian Hybrid Martial Arts style known as Tae Kwon Rang Do before going to Kinaadman-Kali. And to add to that I was an Arnis ‘Anyo’ player in High School. In all of these styles I noticed that they have constantly emphasized on the basics. No training advances if the basics are not yet perfectly executed. My Karate advanced very slow because of this kind of framework. It took me three years of constant Saturday Sunday practice to even reach Green Belt. But as I was exhausted and drained and at times that I would like to give up and go to other styles I began to appreciate the practice so much so that after practicing other styles, what remained in me were still actually the simple, direct, yet significant part of my Martial Arts skills and that is, the basics.
But of course, I do not romanticize the idea that in learning a Martial Arts one should only get stuck up with the basics. That’s just counter-productive to learning. In Kinaadman-Kali, the learning transfer is actually pretty fast (but quality is not sacrificed because scrutiny in executing techniques in every session is always on play) to make up to this over-emphasis of basics. What I’m saying is, in times where we only practice alone, given that we only have entry level knowledge in Martial Arts, it should not hinder us into doing what we love to do. That brings us to the question of how can online learning be utilized safely to help in the continuous flow of our practice. Let us remember, Miyamoto Musashi, in his Go Rin No Sho/Book of Five Rings have stated that “The way is in training. One must continue to train”. So the lack of physical interaction with our fellow practitioners and our instructors must not stop us from achieving the goal of becoming a fine Martial Arts man, if not a warrior.
Tips and Reflections
1) First tip in using the internet as learning tool: do not do Martial arts if you don’t have a knowledge of the basics. In my case, I could say that I was doing Martial Arts even if I was still not practicing it because of my addiction to Kung Fu Movies. Every after a show, I would imitate the movements and woe is me! Many a skin has been scathed and many a finger has been nearly crippled or cut. And to think that, I had a bad form! Because no one was there to point out the essentials. But the real issue here is, DO NOT TRY MARTIAL ARTS AT HOME WITH YOUR SIBLING OR FAMILY AS PUNCHING BAGS. This first tips is actually not just for your safety but also for your loved ones. Just think about it this way, it’s like giving a .45 caliber pistol to a 9 year old who is addicted to Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 – he will aim to friends and foes alike. And also, your
family will laugh at you. That is awful. Better do other arts like cleaning your bedroom.
2) If you know some basics it would probably help you in choosing a good video with a good instructor or Martial Artist in it, just be mindful that you should consider some reminders. A lot of Martial Arts videos out there are spread like wildfire by bogus McDojo Gurus and hoaxes. If you have been to a Martial Arts School, a legit Martial Arts School, then you should have even just the faintest idea of what is hocus-pocus and what real. Or maybe you recognize some Martial Artists that you follow in social media and that you have researched their credentials. In qualitative research, we call this validation of source as “triangulation technique” (also helps with Fake News Scrutiny). But this does not end here.
3) Make sure that the videos you choose or the instructor you want to learn from are appropriate for you, that is, it is nearer to your art. That is to say that the content of the video that you want to learn or the Martial Arts that you are looking up on the internet must be immediately connected to your art and has a difficulty threshold that is appropriate to your level. Think about this, if you are a Karate White Belter and then you are looking at videos which teach you purple belt jujitsu, would that benefit to you directly? I don’t know about your talent, and I really respect people who can get complex concepts in body movement just by looking at it (search TED Ed and you will see that learning by imagining and learning by doing may actually just yield to almost similar results) but as I have experienced, I didn’t go past through some katas while doing this. The thing is, it’ll get you confused (If you are not talented and sorry to say I’m not that kind). The worse thing is, if you practice wrongly for a long period, it will stick with you and it is better to avoid that.
4) The Martial Arts is a wide world not confined only to body movement and beating each other up. In these times of home quarantine, it can also be helpful that we train our soul and our intellect. Why not go for exercising the mind while exercising the body also? I mean, when we study Martial arts, the physical and the technique aspect are only the surface. What makes our understanding of the Martial Arts deeper is our in-depth and sincere study of the origins of our art, how it came to be, the philosophy behind it, the psyche of the people who created it, the culture of the nation which spawned it, the history of the country which formed and nurtured it and so on and on goes the list. In my study of Martial Arts, studying the Philo-Socio-Politico-Cultural-Historical Aspect of these actually helped me to connect the dots more in my physical practice and it cleared out some heavily blurred lines. So, it came to be that when I see a video, and tried to imitate it, or integrate it in my practice, it came easily and it came surely because I understood first its origins and, as we say in philosophy, the ‘why’ of it. In the words of Sartre: ‘Art has its own reason for being’. And because I have understood its being, it is easy (not so easy sometimes, other arts are like wild tigers on top of rodeo cows – they just wont bow down to you know matter how you know them) for me to understand them and to utilize what is beneficial for me and discard what is not. In summary, be a philosopher martial artist! (Many Martial Artists are Philosophers i.e., Bruce Lee, Miyamoto Musashi, etc.) and that would not require much physical effort because your internet is the one being stretched.
5) If you have imitated something from the internet or you have just practiced your own basics, it can also be helpful to video yourself and let your colleagues and instructors critique it. Jesse Enkampf of Karate by Jesse in Youtube is doing this! So it helps that we let others critique our progress. This is the topmost use of internet in online practice of Martial Arts. My colleague and founder of Kinaadman Kali, E. Pobadora would show a lot of experts in the Martial Arts his recorded moves and would solicit valuable information thereby advancing and improving the quality of his skills. This is the beauty of the modern world, and as the Romans say: ‘Carpe Diem’ seize the day!
6) This last tip is the most important and that is, practice-practice-practice but at the end of the day, always look for a good school or teacher! Do not rely on the internet for instruction. There is no equivalent to good old fashioned on-contact training.
This is by far not all of the things that we can do with the internet, but I think this may be helpful for starters. Always keep in mind your safety and the safety of others. The internet is also just a tool and it is not a ‘gospel’ that you should follow to death. I wish these tips may help us in this time of dread and isolation. Have a good Martial Lock Down!
K.A. Cinco
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