Blog: Why I practice Internal Martial Arts

[Patrick]

Just a reflection of why I still practice IMA. It is MY personal opinion and may not reflect yours.

So I have been investing quite a lot of years into my Yi Quan practice. From a self-reflective perspective regarding my character I do not consider myself the same “person” as I was when I started this practice. Back then I wanted a martial art that seemed similar to Bruce Lee´s Jeet Kune Do and yes, Yi Quan seemed similar at that time…at least in regard to principles. I was a frustrated Karate practitioner and looked for something deeper and something which offered more freedom. The first two-day seminar I visited blew me away, the teacher talked about many health principles that reasoned with me and seemed to possess usual skill in an exercise called Pushing Hands. I was not able to move him but he was able to move me without much effort. I was so impressed that I decided to move to the city where he lived, enrolled at university and started to learn from him privately. After a few years I realized that my perspective and experiences did not match those of the group, so I strayed away from them. I had my ups and downs, but the art of Yi Quan had become a part of me and, to this day, I still practice it privately. Like I said, what impressed me most was the unique health perspective and the unusual power. I truly believed that the practice of Internal Martial Arts was superior to anything else regarding health practices and once I would have acquired this unusual power, I could also prove how good this art would fare in fighting...

More: http://dhyana-fitness.at/wordpress/why- ... tial-arts/

[GrahamB]

Nice blog. The nativity of youth and the wish to believe in 'magic', caught up with the passion for martial arts, gives way to the more sober realisations of adulthood over time, and the opportunities to actually produce some real 'magic' of your own through hard practice, even if it is not the same thing you believed in when young. I think this is the story of everybody here

[Patrick]

Thank you Graham!

[RobP3]

Nice blog. The nativity of youth and the wish to believe in 'magic', caught up with the passion for martial arts, gives way to the more sober realisations of adulthood over time, and the opportunities to actually produce some real 'magic' of your own through hard practice, even if it is not the same thing you believed in when young. I think this is the story of everybody here

+1 Nice blog

[richardg6]

"I realized that my perspective and experiences did not match those of the group,"

My experience is similar. A kind way of saying the frustration outweighed the benefits so rather than going it alone step out and look for a more rewarding group or partner. Otherwise we regress.

[Patrick]

Thanks guys, appreciated.