Your First Lessons in the Martial Arts

First, you can't just talk about the Martial Arts, you have to do them. To talk about is like thinking about, to know is to actually do. It is the difference between the definition of the word 'wet' and actually going surfing.

Thus, if you talk to people about the martial arts, if you watch movies about the martial arts, if you read books about the martial arts, it doesn't work. The only thing that works is to actually find a teacher and learn them. To put on a uniform and step onto the dojo floor and find out how they really work.

Interestingly, they don't work the way they work in the movies. Bruce Lee makes it look so cool, but he had two arts, one was a movie art for the camera and creating the WOW in the audience, and the other was designed for combat. These two arts don't even resemble each other, they are greatly different.

When you walk onto the mat for the first time you will find you are entering a wonderful world of mystery. You will have butterflys in the stomach, you won't know what to do, and you will actually be a in a state of awe. You will learn to tie the belt, bow, and how to conduct yourself in this strange, new world.

The fun starts when the instructor shows you your first moves. Everything you do is going to seem unnatural, weird, but it is really just unfamiliar. You'll do everything wrong, you'll even be confused by such simple concepts as right and left.

Eventually, you'll be able to do those shadow moves, and you'll face a real opponent. Oh, Lord, you have to actually hit somebody, block somebody, throw them to the ground! How in heaven's name are you going to accomplish this feat without injuring him or you?

Time flies. You practice, and persist, and all those weird moves are going to start to make sense. The techniques and forms become understandable, workable, and are even able to be applied in the great chaos of freestyle.

And you learn that the most important lesson you will ever learn is...you won't learn anything if you don't start. What's that old proverb...a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. And the single step you took, into the karate school and onto the mat, will end up being the most significant and important step you will ever take in your life, for this is the step that brought you discipline, good health, confidence, and the ability to take on and defeat any problem in life.