One of the most influential figures in traditional martial arts is Masutatsu “Mas” Oyama, the founder of Kyokushin Karate. In his search for ultimate truth - the meaning of “kyokushin” - Oyama Sensei made several pilgrimages to the mountains in his youth where he would stay for months at time. While he had some support from friends who brought food and supplies, Oyama stayed in a spartan little shack and trained every day in all kinds of weather. Strength training, punching and kicking trees, doing kata and meditating…a lot. No other students, no friends or family, no trophies, no creature comforts. Just himself, the elements and certainly loneliness. This is one of the most harsh methods for subduing the ego. Oyama’s dedication to the pursuit of his art lead to his legendary status as a karate master.
The longer you stay in a martial arts dojo, the more you see people come and go. However, there also tends to be a “core group” of individuals; people who stick around and make it through the first few months. If you are in a good school, the longer you are there, the harder it gets. A teacher is worth your time and tuition will recognize your determination and appear as though they are trying to break it…and you. Instead of getting better, it often feels as though you’re getting worse. That’s because you’re being challenged, not only by the sensei, but also some of the senior students who have all had the same experience. Anyone can learn a martial but not everyone has the determination or the incentive to stay. And that has a lot to do with how much time people are willing to devote to training on their own.
I was very fortunate in the fact that I moved around a lot during my military career. That meant not being able to stay at the same school for more than a few years. There were times when I was away for several months and had no one to train with. At other points, my job responsibilities made it very difficult to train consistently at a dojo, so I often found myself training alone. I would get up early, go to the base gym and practice basics, do some bag work, maybe some kata, etc. Some times I’d go to the woods and use trees for striking targets (not recommended) or practice swinging a wooden sword or staff while running on a public path (also not recommended). But I never stopped training. Those early years were pivotal in my staying in martial arts as well as building the discipline to purse other goals. Determination is easy in a group; individual motivation, not so much.
We’ve all known people in school who don’t need to spend anytime studying, right? Folks who can get everything they need from class and still get straight “A’s”. My personal theory: these people are aliens. Anyway, most of us had to hit the books if we wanted passing grades. Unfortunately, a lot people approach martial arts training the same way. They believe they can get everything from class and don’t need to practice on their own. This is why, in my opinion, many fail to grasp the true value of martial arts training even if their respective schools eventually award them a black belt. You see, a good teacher knows whether or not you are training on your own. All martial arts training is based on patterned movement. Hence, the more you practice the pattern, the better it gets. And if you really want to…lose weight, get better grades, make the promotion, realize your martial arts goals or perhaps get closer to God, then you have to…diet and exercise, study, work, train and pray…on your own. This is where discipline comes from.
In developing our system over the past 20 years or so, I’ve always known that there had to be methods for self-training. We draw from several arts including jujutsu, aikido and karate. Grappling arts are necessary for close-quarter combat because most real confrontations end up closing the distance very rapidly. In the street, in an alley, or in your house, there’s no room to dance in a ring, so you’d better have some type of grappling skillset. But these arts require a partner, someone who provides honest feedback by giving the appropriate level of resistance. And while there are some ways you can improve your skills without a partner, you need to throw and be thrown a lot. Karate, however, offers a slue of training methods and personal challenges that you can do year-round, by yourself. The only limits you have are the ones you place there. Five minutes, 10 minutes, an hour, whatever you have is fine. Practice a few kicks, work on your strikes, do some kata. But practice every day, even if you only have a little bit of time. You’ll be surprised how karate training influences everything else.
Self-discipline is a lonely road. Like Mas Oyama Sensei, we must find a way to unplug ourselves, push ourselves and train, meditate and/or pray…alone. People who depend on others for their happiness or success have a limited pool draw from. In order to find those things, we must first search ourselves and that means doing the work when no one is there to see us do it.
It is a road “less traveled by,” but a valuable one nonetheless.
Dave Magliano
Tatsu Dojo
Jissenkan Budo
Dojo Cho
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