When I took apart the system I had been taught I found there were two systems within it. I had not only learned the traditional system of 10 forms that had originally been taught to the fellow who taught me, but I was learning an additional system of seven forms that my instructor had made up. I was also learning several other forms that had been thrown into the mix just because my instructor thought they were valuable.
This happens quite often throughout the world of the martial arts. Ed Parker, of Kenpo fame, for instance, began his career teaching simple karate forms. When he ran out of forms to teach he started putting vast amounts of kung fu into what he was teaching.
Now the problem is not one of not enough material, there is endless material out there. The real problem is separating the material of the martial arts into logical slices. Each of the slices must represent a logical look at a style or system.
If we were talking dance, we would be separating hip hop from square dancing from whatever. If we were talking music we would be separating country from bebop from so on. In the martial arts we must actually separate tae kwon do from shaolin from jujitsu from pa kua...and so on.
When you separate the martial arts, you must understand the difference between basics and stylistic differences. You must understand that karate blocks, for instance, go out from the tan tien, and wudan type blocks are rotated off the turning torso, and silat blocks are slipping types of blocks, and so on. If you don't understand these differences the arts remain complex and are difficult to absorb.
If you don't understand these differences then you are mixing arts, and different ways of moving the body, and different ways of using energy, and so on. Thus, a peach becomes indistinguishable from an apple from an orange, and so on. Thus, the arts become a mush which the mind refuses to digest.
Understanding the differences between the arts, however, the arts become very easy to absorb, everything aligns and catalogues everything easy as pie. The martial arts, you see, are only illogical because people have made them that way. Separate Pa Kua into pa kua, or karate into karate, or Choy Li Fut into Choy Li Fut, and the martial arts can be learned in a matter of months, not years. - 31497
About the Author:
Al Case has analyzed martial arts for 4O++ years. He has written dozens of articles for the magazines, and founded Matrixing Technology. You can find out how to separate arts and make them pure by picking up his free ebook at Monster Martial Arts.
