Who should do martial arts and who shouldn't?
Who decides who is suitable for training in Budo?
The answers to these aren't straightforward.
When asking these questions it's important to first ask what budo training is for and what a person can get out of Budo training.
There are many reasons for someone to participate in Budo. Some of these include:
- Improved health
- Improved strength and agility
- Confidence
- Discipline & will-power
- Understanding & knowledge of ‘self’
- Life perspective
- Calmness of spirit
- Self-defence skill
- Reduced angst
- Reduced stress
- A Purpose
- Feeling of accomplishment
- Reduced victim-mentality
- Control over fear
- Selflessness (reduced ego)
- Stronger self-determination
- Better posture
- Better balance
- Responsibility over self
- A sense of honour
- An honest heart
- Reduced need to 'prove' anything
- Reduced need to be 'better than others'
- Clear mindset
- Better endurance
- Better focus
- Higher awareness
- Consideration of others
- True sense of respect.
Every instructor has a certain point of view regarding the use of martial arts and what they think their students should be getting out of it. It depends on what the instructor's focus is. As this focus determines what the students will be getting out of training. Therefore it really depends on who is teaching that determines what type of students they attract.
I discussed in my post called 'Your Budo', about how some instructors are more interested in making their class more 'successful' as a business rather than improving the quality of the students.
This is when the student's become 'consumers' and 'customers' rather than something more like 'trainees', or 'apprentices'.
As 'consumers' the students training frequency becomes more important than training 'quality'. As a result, students start to think that they are doing what is required simply by turning up.
These instructors have a need to have more and more students in each class, so need to appeal to a wider range of people. It's gets to a point where they will accept anyone as a student, regardless if what they are teaching is suited for them or not.
As far as I see it, a good instructor that has some sense of integrity should be able to turn 'unsuitable' students away.
I know that this might seem to sound a little bit "discriminatory", but allow me to clarify.
Things like race, gender, physical attributes and/or disabilities have no bearing on martial arts and are never a reason to deny training to anyone!
Having said this, an instructor (or club) that only gauges the suitability of a prospective student based on their ability to pay for the training, isn't an honourable instructor and lacks a sense of integrity. An attitude of 'Budo for Everyone' might sound open and all-inclusive, but that's not really the aim of this attitude. Saying that "everyone can train" is actually all about have more and more people bringing their money.
While it is true that everyone is physically capable of participating in Budo training, unfortunately not everyone is able to truly be a Budoka.
The thing that determines your capability in Budo has nothing to so with being able to physically do the techniques or not. It's all about your mindset and your attitude.
YOU determine your capability for Budo. You decide if your suitable for Budo training. It's entirely up to you if you're going to be open-minded and if you're approaching your training with the right attitude.
The simple fact is, while everyone could do the actual training, not everyone is suitable for Budo and probably won't get very far with it (sometimes in spite of attaining certain grade ranks).
Suitability is determined by the mindset of the practitioner. It's a simple fact that some people don't have a "martial mind" and struggle to understand the concepts involved. The majority of people don't have a martial mind before they start training in Budo, but it seems that some adopt it eventually and other's don't.
An honourable instructor must decide who they should be teaching and not just blindly teach any student. It is possible that your students aren't after the same outcomes as you.
What if a person turns up at your dojo (willing to pay for training) but after a month or two you realise that they simply aren't there to learn the lessons you are teaching. Do you continue to string them along? Even though they'll never understand what you want them to learn and they'll never get from you what they want to learn.
Is it not best to suggest that they find an instructor that will have views that line up with theirs?
Many of the techniques learnt in the martial arts could be used to kill a person if used by the wrong person.
What if a person turns up at your dojo (willing to pay for training) but after a class or two you notice they are displaying many of the signs of a sociopath (or even a psychopath)?
Do you keep teaching them potentially dangerous techniques and skills? (by the way, if your answer to this is "yes," you shouldn't be an instructor... or a martial artist).
To answer the questions posed at the top of this post:
Who are the martial arts for? The Martial Arts are meant to be for anyone. Any person who want's or needs to benefit from the positive lessons that some from being a Budoka.
Who should do martial arts and who shouldn't? A person who is capable of understanding the concepts of Budo and is capable of adopting the "martial mind". It is an unfortunate truth, but some people simply don't have the mindset for it and must change how their mind 'ticks' before they will progress very far with Budo.
Who decides who is suitable for training in Budo? Each individual student determines their own capability to be a Budoka. Only the student themselves are in control of their mindset and attitude.
Having said this, there is a responsibility on the instructor to determine if their students should be taught. The instructor must have the integrity to act if it is clear that the student shouldn't be training a in Martial Arts.
Comment below to share any thoughts or opinions you might have. J
Thanks for reading.
Derm
ϾDerm
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