Sparring with the Self

Martial arts training provides many opportunities for learning. Students can not only learn to strike, block, throw, and pin an opponent, but they can also learn ways to deal with problems in everyday life. Many of these lessons can be frustrating, and even painful, but if the student persists, he or she will gain life skills as well as martial arts skills.

Sometimes during sparring training, students are asked to practice defending against an attacker's strikes, without hitting back. The attacker moves in with a constant barrage of punches, kicks, and fakes. The student is asked to maintain a good stance, focus on the attacker, and avoid being hit.  He or she can use footwork, blocking, ducking and slipping, but no striking. This is a difficult drill, but one that is important for developing a student's skill and confidence. It also teaches a skill that is useful in everyday life.

Bushintai-Do students practice self-defense techniques.

Eventually, all martial artists learn to handle this drill with ease. The goal is to relax as much as possible, and react only as often and as much as is necessary. The student must use evasive footwork, but also rely on blocking. If a strike gets through, the student must learn from the mistake, but not dwell on the failure. In the beginning, many students find this difficult. Their reactions are as different as the individual students, but tend to fall in to one or more of the following categories:

Category One - The Runner: This student does not trust his blocking skills enough to rely on them, so he runs. He is achieving the object of the drill, not getting hit, but does it by avoiding the striker as much as possible. While this can be a good strategy at times, the Runner needs to learn to stand his ground sometimes, and practice his blocking. Sooner or later, an attacker will catch up with him. In standing and blocking, he takes a chance on getting hit, but will learn so much more about self-defense than he would by just running.

Running from problems in real life does not solve them. It is good to be able to avoid problems, but there often comes a time when it is best to stand and face the problem head-on. The more often a person does this, the easier it gets, just like in sparring.

Category Two - The Jammer: This student reacts to every strike and fake with such force and intensity that she over-commits and creates openings in her defense. She must learn to relax, wait, and only react to the strikes that would really hit her. When she does react, she needs to learn to keep her blocks short and controlled. She must learn to only use as much force in her blocks as is necessary to stop the strike.

Many people react to real-life situations in the same way. Any kind of minor insult or criticism is met with anger and over-reaction. Just like in sparring, this strategy can cause more problems than it solves. The Jammer needs to learn which threats need to be dealt with and which can be ignored. And when dealing with a threat, the Jammer needs to learn to not over-react.

Category Three - The Doubter: Some students defeat themselves before they even get started, by thinking that they will probably fail. This kind of attitude usually causes the student to perform at a much lower level than he is capable of.  In sparring, the student has to learn to trust his reflexes and his training. Instead of thinking negative thoughts about failure, he needs to concentrate on the details of the task at hand. He will sometimes fail to block a strike, this is part of sparring. When he does fail, he has to forget about that one and concentrate being more prepared for the next one.

The doubter defeats himself in life as well as in sparring. Self-doubt causes him to achieve much less than he is capable of. He has to learn to have confidence in himself. When faced with a difficult task, he needs to concentrate on completing the task, not on what will happen if he fails. He will sometimes make mistakes, that is part of life. When he does fail, he must learn from the mistake and then move beyond it.

Conflict and challenge are unavoidable parts of life. By learning to handle the conflicts and meet the challenges in martial arts, we all can learn to handle them better in everyday life.

David Quinlan, Founder

Bushintai-Do Programs

Milton, Vermont