There is a Right Way

Caveat: This article is mine and mine alone. I the author of this article assure you, the reader, that any of the opinions expressed here are my own and are a result of the way in which my meandering mind interprets a particular situation and/or concept. The views expressed here are solely those of the author in his private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of other martial arts and/or conflict/violence professionals or authors of source materials. It should be quite obvious that the sources I used herein have not approved, endorsed, embraced, friended, liked, tweeted or authorized this article. (Everything I think and write is true, within the limits of my knowledge and understanding. Oh, and just because I wrote it and just because it sounds reasonable and just because it makes sense, does not mean it is true.) 

Please make note that this article/post is my personal analysis of the subject and the information used was chosen or picked by me. It is not an analysis piece because it lacks complete and comprehensive research, it was not adequately and completely investigated and it is not balanced, i.e., it is my personal view without the views of others including subject experts, etc. Look at this as “Infotainment rather then expert research.” This is an opinion/editorial article/post meant to persuade the reader to think, decide and accept or reject my premise. It is an attempt to cause change or reinforce attitudes, beliefs and values as they apply to martial arts and/or self-defense. It is merely a commentary on the subject in the particular article presented

More often than I care to admit it is not about a right way but rather about the way a person wants it to be. We want violence to be non-existent. We want the system we practice and train so hard at to be effective. We want our system to provide us the “Way” to a better self. What we want is not always what is right.

We want our striking system, like karate, to be effective and yet I have come to understand that except in social situations for social reasons the striking system, like karate, is not really effective for self-defense, fighting and/or combatives. One reason is in striking systems, like karate, we gravitate toward a social condition acceptance that to strike is the most dangerous and effective way to stop our adversary’s. In truth, as I have come to understand it, it is not all that effective. In reality the right way is a combination of various ways to stop a person, i.e., impacts, drives (pushes), pulls, twists, takedowns/throws and compression - a variety of different techniques (tactics and attack methodologies) that accumulate into a more effective way to stop the threat. 

I can only theorize about how the martial system, like karate, became so ineffective in self-defense. I can attribute its continued ineffective practice to the “My Way vs. Right Way” thinking and belief but I also suspect that it began, for karate, in the very early nineteen hundreds when the push, a very concerted effort, to implement it into the educational system where it was “Watered Down” to suit the perceptions of adults as to teaching “Children.” 

That model, I suspect and as told in previous articles, was adopted by the current practitioners and then taught to adults where the more terse and easily taught educational version was then taught to the anxious and impatient American Military. This easily translates into the strike dominant practice and teaching of martial systems, like karate. 

When I consider what it really takes to properly defend, fight or apply combatives of empty-handed systems where the actual tactics and attack methodologies of impacts, drives (pushes), pulls, twists, takedowns/throws and compression, etc. are best for stopping a threat then I can begin to accept the age old story of how martial systems of Okinawa, like karate, had (we say today have and call them secret techniques - poppycock) other aspects such as impacts, drives (pushes), pulls, twists, takedowns/throws and compression, i.e., ground work, pressure point techniques, etc. 

This “Right Way” of learning, teaching, and practicing of a martial system, like karate, still has to overcome the accepted belief that striking arts are the most effective way to stop a threat with empty-hands or hand-to-hand techniques. It then justifies, promotes and highly recommends that the current martial system, like karate, must bring back into the system those removed tactics and techniques that were removed for educational implementation, for children, so that it once again becomes effective for self-defense.

Last and not least there is one more aspect that seems to have been forgotten, misplaced or simply ignored that MUST be a part of any martial discipline system to be effective for self-defense, fighting and combatives - the adrenal stress condition reality-based training scenario’s. The biggest hurdle is making the leap across the chasm that is a natural part of human existence, the ability to handle and use the adrenal chemical dump for effective defense above the instinct of freeze, flight or fight. This part, until in recent times say the last ten to fifteen years, has been kept in a dark room except maybe for the professionals who live, work and apply such things in their professions. 

It is time to turn on the light, turn on that spot light and direct it onto these important aspects of defense of violence and conflict so that we become knowledgeable and effective while maintaining the integrity of the self-defense square. 

There is a “Right Way” and it means that “My Way” must step aside, sometimes, to achieve the “Right Way” of doing things. 

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