Pure or applied?
Published: Fri, 04/18/14
I had an inquiry last week from someone looking for a venue in
which to teach kick boxing in Crewkerne. It has already become
clear to me that sharing the centre in Crewkerne makes a lot of
sense. I would like to teach probably two evenings a week and one
or two Saturday's a month and then it would be great if other
teachers held a variety of classes there. So rather than it being
exclusively a Stav centre it will be a Community Martial Arts
Centre with Stav represented. I would like it to be a centre of
excellence catering to a variety of needs and interests. With
several instructors and their students present guest instructor
courses could be well supported. Martial arts training can be
provided for men and women of all ages and children. There should
be crossover training too with instructors encouraging their
students to broaden their knowledge and skill base by training
sometimes in other classes. Those are the discussions I have been
having with the two other instructors who may be interested in
holding classes in Crewkerne. The next thing is to finish doing
the place up and get it looking right. More on that another time.
Over the past few days I have been looking at the various aspects
or manifestations of martial arts. Theatrical, sporting,
professional, self-defence, philosophical and mystical sort of sums
it up. However I am still left with the question, is there a
'pure' form or basis to martial arts from which these six
categories come as 'real world' expressions? Can one teach
a pure form of martial arts without needing a practical purpose or
a cultural context for it? I don't think there is a clear cut
answer to that, or rather I don't think you can ever get to a
point of pure practice or completely abstract expression, not and
have what you are doing make any sense anyway. All that can be
achieved is a deeper understanding of the principles of what you
are practicing and a greater awareness of how those principles may
be manifested to best effect in the world we live in. There can be
no final result, just an ongoing process and if one is still
practicing martial arts after 40 years and still keen to teach then
it is the fascination with that process that keeps you going.
So if you want the opportunity start or develop this process for
yourself I would suggest you attend the 'How to train in
Stav' course on 17th of May in Crewkerne see
http://iceandfire.org/wetraining.html
regards
Graham
PS Self-defence is mainly a matter of being aware and being
careful. If you are sorting a situation out by actually hitting
someone then something has gone seriously wrong. So all that most
people need to know about keeping themselves safe is contained in
Peacock Kung Fu, available in print, ebook or Kindle from
http://www.iceandfire.org.uk/lit.html the Kindle version is less
than a pound but if you take on board the advice it contains it
could be the best investment you ever make.