There is one thing, and one thing only, that stops a martial artist from achieving his goal in the martial arts. That one thing is termed simple and merely...distraction. To the degree that one is not distracted, to that degree he is successful, and to that degree he achieves the True Art.
When one learns the martial arts one learns these strange patterns called forms. On the surface, the form is nothing but an encyclopedia of technique, of having a curriculum which will teach him higher and higher ranges of art, and lead him to deeper and deeper depths. It is under the surface, however, through the refusal of distractions that one must seek the True Martial Art.
When one can refuse to let his attention wander in the middle of the practice of kata one is cultivating his discipline. When one concentrates only on the unique moves within the kata, and does not allow himself to be led astray, then he is enhancing concentration. The end result of these endeavors is to be able to keep awareness in the martial universe, and not in the universe of trees and bushes and rocks and twigs and such.
The bits and pieces of the form, the technical applications, are the middle ground of refusing distraction. This area, applying technique to a willing opponent, bridges from perfect thought inherent in the form to the perfect idea even in the middle of chaos. When one holds to the physics of combat, holds to his mental concentration, holds to the truths he has learned about his fellow man even in combat, then one is approaching a distraction free existence.
It is in the fact of freestyle, however, that one must find his ultimate refusal of the distractions of the outer world. One must focus on the opponent, refuse the belches and chirps of a random world, and build the truth of his own awareness. When one lives as if in a tunnel with his opponent, and can hold to the construction of that tunnel no matter what, then one is in the True Martial Art.
These three arenas, kata, technique and kumite, are the true gladiatorial property of the True Art. To the extent that one refuses to be distracted, that one becomes pure in the focus of awareness, to this extent one enters the True Martial Art. The real key, to all this, however, lies in the achievement of one singular and important fact.
The universe goes backward. It is not the debris of the universe that offer distraction, it is the knowledge that one must not go towards a distraction free existence with effort, but, rather, but relax so that no distractions can find purchase in the soul. It is the emptiness of the universe, perceived by the individual free of internal strife, that makes up the Path of the True Art.
Al Case has 4O years training in the martial arts. you can pick up a good and free ebook on how to become distraction free at his site, Monster Martial Arts.
