How I Chose a Martial Arts School

Lately I have been trying to understand kata. I got a really interesting response at this link: Repetition of Kata and Forms. It is a really interesting answer. Since this is in response to his post, you may want to read that first before going on.

In his response, Kellog askes this question of martial arts students:

I would personally like to hear from students because this is where the initial decision is made - and often it is made for them without their reflection on the long-term consequences of training.

Anyone is welcome to join at the link in order to answer the question. You can also send your response here if you would like me to forward your answer.

Personal Reflections on Selecting a Martial Arts School

The way I came about choosing my first school and teacher in the martial arts could be a book. It would not be that interesting of a book though, so I will try to make it short. What I should tell you right now is that I am not known for being brief.

Reflections of Childhood

I had been wanting to take karate for years as a child. My Mom was not so in favor of it though. She thought that karate was dangerous. I did things like swimming lessons because Mom says that practically "all" American's can swim. So by the time I actually could join a martial arts school because I had the funds to pay for it, had time to attend regularly being out of college, and was not traveling all the time, I was well into my adult years. By that time, I had done years of yoga, was involved with the metaphysical center, and was well on my way to becoming a Reiki Master. I was also sharing and teaching a little in the psychic arena. This definitely affected my view of what I wanted to get out of the arts.

When I "grew up" I did all sorts of things that my Mom thought was dangerous. I became certified in scuba diving, went skiing and participated in all sort of sports. It is really funny though. Since I grew up in the country, there were all sorts of activities I performed as a child that were potentially more dangerous than any of those things. The neighborhood game was Blitz, which is basically football without a ball. When you hit the ground, you have to stay there. The last person standing for the team, wins for the team. I operated large equipment and machinery and was called upon as part of a team when animals got dangerous. (If you have seen the statistics for those poor farm kids on injury, it is pretty darn high.) I was on the danger team because I was small, compared to the large men, had a reputation for being fearless (which, of course, is not true...) and could be counted on not let go of the ropes because I got scared, and I could leap into and over places no one else could. I was also on the gymnastic team which helped a lot in this activity. Thinking back, I have no idea why I would have done this. I certainly would not now. So I guess, if anything, I got smarter over the years.

Gains and Losses

My goal in choosing a martial arts school was to finally have a sport I could perform for my lifetime. I finally got too big to be a gymnast by eighth grade becoming even taller then the men on the team. I went to dancing but then dancing started turning too gymnastic with people doing flips and spinning on their heads. Although I am a strong swimmer and even worked out with a military frogman, I had to be careful about chemical exposure. I found out it was not great for me swimming in chlorine all the time. Some health problems cleared right up when I stopped this. By this time I was working out in a gym regularly and ended up not having anything to specifically train for and I missed it.

Positive Experiences

I had several friends that were in the martial arts. At one college graduation ceremony receiving special honors I sat next to my friend Walter. I was amazed at what they said about him because he never told me he was a Master in the martial arts. I turned to him and whispered, "I should beat you up right here." We both started laughing. He is a very nice, unassuming person and no one would ever have guessed. There were a lot of people in the arts that I have come across or that are my friends and I could see that they really lived (secretly) inspiring lives. I did not necessarily want to train the way they do though or expose myself to some of the dangers.

Distance, Teaching, Contact and What the Maitre d' Said

I did not want to be in a full-contact school or participate in activities where I would be regularly "choked out" of consciousness. At the time I was being paid to think at work, so I felt I might need those brain cells. I looked at schools for injuries and spoke to students to see how they felt about their classes. Meanwhile, I got the local paper. There were a few teachers from schools that could not stop fighting in local restaurants when they came across each other. I love my restaurants, so I did not want to participate in a school that would take me out of my social life. Believe it or not, that eliminated more schools than you would think. Some schools were simply too far away. There are schools with teaching requirements that I cannot meet because of career demands. For the best success, I wanted to attend some place closer so that I could go regularly but would allow me to be away when I had to.

Spirit and Personality, Hard and Soft

One of the schools I visited had a native American teacher that I really took to for some reason. Because of his background and variety of learning, he taught both "hard and soft." Not only did I get a chance to do more chi kung, but I could experience tai chi and do more energy work. Sometimes he would bring up some of this native ways and compare them according to his perspective. I learned sparring and did karate drills. We do not just experience the physical part but we are taught a little of the history and philosophy as we learn and apply the lessons. His teacher disallowed fighting in restaurants too. (He wanted to go visit the other guys when they were arrested and behind bars awaiting bail to see how they were doing. His teacher told him he better not.)

Special Considerations

The school had a special women's class. I thought that would be nice since I never had been in a karate school before. It gave me a ice comfortable feeling to start with. I was quickly moved from that class though and I found the other classes just as nice. The other students were gentlemen for the most part with any exceptions being nipped in the bud.

So my decision was based on a lot of information. I think there are still more that I left out... some of which involves sensitive matters that I would rather not mention. Mostly, it was an art I thought I could practice for my lifetime since I wanted something that I would not grow out of. There were a lot of older people still practicing as an example to me and I liked that. Then it was a blend of internal and physical practice giving me more experience for my healing and spiritual learning and also offering something to my physical life. It was a darn good workout and kept me in nice condition. It pointed out weaknesses that I would not have noticed otherwise and I could change my gym workouts to balance out these factors. The classes also offered something to my mind with a long history and wonderful philosophy.

The Challenging Work of Discovery

That is probably the end of answering the question about how I selected a school. I should probably add that my first teacher was a bit of a wild man and often did unexpected things. He was a bounty hunter for one thing. He always kept me on my toes. At one private class, it was only he and I in the school. He gave me specific instructions on how to block. I blocked and blocked, he hit me over and over again. I was becoming exhausted. Finally, my arms were starting to fail and I was really being pummeled. I kept saying, "Enough!" but he kept on going. My arm started to fall and I pushed him back by his face somehow and said, "Enough." I don't know how I got in there but it was definitely against the instructions. He got angry or acted angry and really started pummeling me and screaming, "DON'T DO THAT AGAIN!" I tried to block for awhile longer but finally my arms were so tired one flopped accidentally on his head. No one was more surprised than me that I hit him and then came another surprise... He knocked me through the wall.

I have actually gone through a few walls before but I had never been through a wall like this, so I did not really know what to expect. I passed through the plaster easily making a whole body print but the harder outside structures held firm against my back. I felt a few fast in and out vibrations from the wood and bounced out of the wall. I could see I was going to hit my instructor again as I got flung out of the wall so I tried to pull my weight down. There was not enough room and I only managed to pull my weight down enough to whack him with my full body weight. Maybe he was only acting angry but there was now a whole wall to repair and plaster everywhere. He was roaring and threw me down to the floor. He grabbed my legs as they flew up and started running with me across the room sliding my back across the floor. This gave me the distinct impression that I was about to be flung into another wall. I don't really know why, but I put my arms up for the one second of strength they had left and yelled, "Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee!" He suddenly dropped my legs and I then yelled something that my little niece taught me. When you just had an experience so great and you would always like to do this wonderful thing, you simply yell, "AGAIN!" He turned suddenly to look at me and my arms flopped back down to the floor. The weak short recharge was quickly spent. I was exhausted and could hardly move. He started laughing and said, "You are intrepid!" The next class started piling in and then stopped suddenly looking at me still on the floor, my teacher bent over laughing, and the cartoonish body print in the wall.

My teacher left the body print in the wall and never patched it up. I became a legend about that. Everyone talked about out of all the people to leave an impression on the wall, it was me. This teacher left, moving across the country leaving with my hole in the wall still standing and a new teacher arrived. The new teacher had us line up and had some questions for us and was telling us what to expect. One of the first matters was the wall. "Who did this?" he asked. There was some nervous shifting of weight and I was not exactly sure what to say. "Ummmm.... that is... me.... (small gesture towards the wall) but.... it was an accident." There was stunned silence and I saw his look of surprise and he stared at me with his eyebrows up. The silence went on for awhile. "You know... I couldn't have done that by myself... right?" He never said anything much more about it really, but occasionally did made a vague reference or joke about it and finally had the wall patched up. Although I don't think you need to worry if this story makes you hesitant. Most people don't get the opportunity to be thrown through a wall at school.

I suppose the lesson here is you don't actually have to know what you are doing to be a legend. Ok... so that is not really the lesson here. Did I learn something else from this experience? I think it was the first time I really had the opportunity to see my natural fighting style, although I did not recognize the energy until years later. Although I was in what seemed to be a confrontational event, it is the energy of humor that came through when I was being squeezed hard and far over my head. It has nothing to do with hitting people or being an enemy.

I actually like to spar and normally it is against people whose company I enjoy. It is as fun as a game with fast decision making like speed chess. Although I don't normally find sparring to be confrontational, I do find it is a learning experience. I have had many breakthroughs in the ring although many more of them have been outside anything that can be considered combat. Some of them have been amazing to little me.