Change in priorities

[Kickboxer101]

So when I started kickboxing my main goal was to learn to be able to defend myself in case I ever needed it. Now that's not as much a priority. I mean yeah obviously I still want to be able to but now I enjoy it more for the fitness aspect than the actual learning to fight aspect. Don't get me wrong I still the technique stuff seriously and practice to make sure I do it right but yeah I just changed how I felt and was wondering if anyone has had that like changed how they viewed training and if their goals changed

 

[Bill Mattocks]

So when I started kickboxing my main goal was to learn to be able to defend myself in case I ever needed it. Now that's not as much a priority. I mean yeah obviously I still want to be able to but now I enjoy it more for the fitness aspect than the actual learning to fight aspect. Don't get me wrong I still the technique stuff seriously and practice to make sure I do it right but yeah I just changed how I felt and was wondering if anyone has had that like changed how they viewed training and if their goals changed

When I started training in Isshin Ryu, I wanted to learn some self-defense and get in better physical condition. Now, some years later, I have found different reasons to train.

I have found a home in my dojo. My dojomates and my instructors are like family to me. I feel bad if I cannot be there to train with them.

I look forward to volunteering my time to help others in the dojo. I see the young children grow up in the dojo, in some cases quite literally from little tykes to young men and women, and progress in the art, and become good and decent people. I love that.

I have found a more philosophical core to myself through my training. I am beginning to explore the dō and not just the jutsu of my art. There are implications that for me spiral up and down and in all directions, informing my life at nearly every level. I eat and drink karate; I breathe it. The arc of my life is becoming the path of the martial artist, and by that I do not mean the warrior or the fighter. My karate is not great, but my spirit is willing, and my thoughts are of the art, not always so much the expression of that art.

I hope that doesn't sound too mystical or hocus-pocus.

Budo, kado (flower arranging, literally the way of flowers), chado (the way of tea), shodo (the way of calligraphy), all of these are related in the Japanese philosophy. They are all not just an act or a skill or an operation, but a way of life. Karate-do is also a way of life - for those who wish to follow that path. That is the path I am currently involved in examining.

 

[Flying Crane]

Yup.