See what other teachers have to offer.

[XiaoXiong]

John brings up an interesting issue. Belief can be dangerous. In martial arts it's up to us as learners to always seek to the truth and never fully succumb to unsubstantiated belief in methods. A certain faith in one's training makes it much more useful, but that faith should come from your own results and vison.

I think that what's harder to reconcile is how do you learn from someone while you disagree on points? Can you set your own beliefs aside and see what they are trying to show you? If I go visit someone from a very different style can I still get some knowledge without compromising my own perspective?

I say listen to your teachers, but believe them only so much. Ask questions and test out your own understanding. Stretch out your mind, but keep it's integrity. Skepticism has served me well in my experiences in ma.

J

[Doc Stier]

All of my teachers, without exception, demonstrated fighting skills which I was initially unable to duplicate. They each stated that they developed their skills by practicing specific training material, which each was willing to teach me, on the condition that I would seriously train it.

They also told me not to take their word for the value of the training methods, but instead challenged me to train the material as instructed in order to verify their teaching through my own personal experience. I did so, and have never been disappointed in the outcome of the training. The skills in question were developed in a relatively short period of time as predicted.

[Michael Dasargo]

I look at studying martial arts like college education:

First, make sure the college you choose is credible.

2nd you need to study GED's = fundamental fighting skills.

3rd you choose a major=specific system. Although every teacher offers a different insight, it doesn't make much sense for a beginner to go to different colleges to study the same subject.

However, it DOES makes sense for someone with a PhD. or even Masters Degree to seek out various references to improve what they know and don't know.

Mi Dos Centavos,
M.Dasargo

[johnwang]

You may have problem if you learn from teacher A and teacher B at the same time.

- Teacher A teaches you

- Don't lean, tuck the tail bone.
- Grab is bad.
- If you want to fight, get yourself a gun, you don't need to train CMA.
- CMA is to help yourself to raise.

While teacher B teaches you

- Touch head to the knee for leg lift throw, stick out the butts for hip throw.
- Grip fight .
- If you want health, run 5 miles, you don't need to train CMA.
- CMA is to help your enemy to sink.

[everything]

I've never understood the "grab is bad" idea except maybe as a training device to focus on some other aspect to develop such as "listening". Otherwise it doesn't make sense to me. Lean or no lean seems mainly dependent on the situation, not the style or teacher.

[johnwang]

If you have 2 teachers. One teacher will pull you back from a fight. Another teacher will put a knife into your hand if you need to fight. Which teacher's advice will you listen?

[JessOBrien]

Good thinking all around.

One thing for sure: go visit your teachers school brothers, and your grandteacher if you can. You may or may not be able to talk about it, but its mandatory to do it. You need to see how others have translated the information and how they train it.

I like to visit teachers. I take martial arts like a course of medicine. If I learn a new set I do it for a few months then chuck it. If I learn some new applications I work on them for a while then toss 'em. Once I've taken the entire course of the "medication" then it's done it's work on me and I get back to the core material I like best.

YOU are the product, not the style. Each system is like a sculptor chiseling you out of a block of stone. The final product is yourself, as expressed by the tools you used to transform yourself. Some people need more or less tools, it differs.

This is art after all. In sport you have a specific goal of winning tournaments or matches. Here you have a more wide ranging art to develop so the dimensions are different for each practitioner.

Jess O

[johnwang]

- One teacher teaches you, attack, attack, and attck, act like a tiger and trying to eat your opponent alive, while
- another teacher teaches you, stay calm, let your opponent come to you, don't move until your opponent move first.

If you believe in one teacher then you cannot believe in another teacher.

[somatai]

If one teacher teaches you - attack, attack, and attck, act like a tiger and trying to eat your opponent alive,

while another teacher teaches you - stay calm, let your opponent come to you, don't move until your opponent move first.

If you believe in one teacher then you cannot believe in another teacher.

are these two things mutually exclusive? it seems to me those two ideas work together, not against eachother

[johnwang]

When you

- see a beautiful girl, you either walk toward her and start conversation, or wait for her to come to you.
- walk into the cage, you either initial your attack, or wait for you opponent to attack.

How can you do both at the same time?

A friend of mine always likes to step on a girl's foot and then apologies to her. It works half of the time. Not a bad strategy at all. I was shy, and I always wait for grils to come to me. It only worked once in my life time so far.

[everything]

lol so you are saying to always initiate, in romance, and in fighting?

[johnwang]

I think the word is "Proactivity - Being proactive is about being anticipatory and taking charge of situations".