When I took apart the system I had been taught I found two systems. I had not only learned the classical system of ten forms that my instructor had been taught, but I was learning an additional system of seven forms that my instructor had made up. I was also learning several other forms that my instructor had thrown into his teachings just because he 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 martial arts material available. The real problem is separating the martial arts into logical, little slices. Each of the slices must represent a logical perspective and viewpoint of individual arts and styles.
If we were talking dance, we would be separating ballet from ballroom from whatever. If we were talking music we would be separating jazz from blues from so on. In the martial arts we must actually separate karate from kung fu from aikido from wudan...and so on.
When you separate the martial arts into individual pieces, you must understand the differences between basics and stylistic interpretations. You must understand that the hard blocks of karate, for instance, go outward from the center of the body, and wudan type blocks are rotated off the turning body, and silat blocks are slipping types of blocks, and so on. If you don't understand these differences the arts won't be easy to learn and will remain complex
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 these differences, the arts become very easy to understand, and the mind absorbs, aligns and catalogues everything easy as pie. The martial arts, you see, are only illogical because people have created them as such. Separate tai chi into tai chi, or karate into karate, or wing chun into wing chun, and the martial arts can be learned in a matter of months, not years. - 30300
About the Author:
Al Case has examined martial arts for 40+ 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.
