What Martial Art?

I think there is a lot of good info here. yeh, you are right a hard and soft style is right up your ally, youve kinda looked past the hype and want to practise them for what they have traditionally been. traditionally most of the arts always had both, because both side worked of each other, and if we went to rural China and and saw the way they have been taught, father to son, for generations, then they would have both elements but be veiwed as one. but thats a long way from where we live right? how many 15 year olds want to learn how to breath and move at slower paces then their grandpa, not many. they cant see how that is gunna help them kick azzzz. so the softer side of things has been droped, unfortunatly. warterd down, like Kali said. so its being in the position of knowing what you really want to do, but having no direction go in. bronx is right with an intergrated Kung fu style as a good option, but its only intergrated because its been seperated. apart from what everyone has already recomended all i can say is maybe check out www.geoffthompson.com, it mightnt seem like what you are looking for at first but hes one off the best people to listen to in this field. i think its more a matter of finding a teacher more than anything else now. thats like a t-mag amongst flexes. and that just takes alot of soughting through everything. has this been any good? i kinda feel as though i havent answered your question.?.

No…you helped get me pointed in the right direction AND confirmed some thoughts I had, Chin…I think that my direction will be some form of Shoalin Style Wushu (or Gung Fu or “Kung Fu”) that is intergrated.


The thing that is coming through loud and clear from everyone is YOU HAVE TO FIND A COMPETENT INSTRUCTOR, irregardless as to what discipline you choose! Thanks! Mufasa

One martial art being missed whose sole purpose was the physical, spiritual and mental development of a human being. Judo. I suppose many of you wouldn’t have guessed that as most people who seem concerned with “spiritual” development are more attracted to "“mystic” arts such as kung fu. The truth is (IMO of course) that without physical development your spiritual side will always be lacking. Practicing something like tai chi can often be quite good for you - just don’t mistake it for anything practical - yoga is probably better suited to your needs if the benefits of tai chi match up for you.

Many martial arts instructors push the idea that fighting is not their focus and therefore sparring is not needed. While some truly believe this be aware that many will say this because they can’t fight and this would expose them. You don’t get much spiritual development when hiding from reality. An art like judo makes use of the physical (grappling, throwing) while at the same time working the mental (technique, strategy, history) and the spiritual (perfection of technique - ippon is perfection and how you win a judo match, the concept of facing one’s mortality through competition). Hope this helped - I’ve seen lots of “spiritual” martial artists in my time and I’ve found one thing in common with virtually all of them - the development they are most worried about is in their bank account. When compared to a Olympic judoka who has sacrificed much of their life to the betterment of judo (please note almost all judo instructors make no $$ from teaching) you can guess who I think you’ll get spiritual development from.

Cool post Geoff, Judo really is a bit of a hidden treasure in the martial arts hay.

Enlightenment™ is just keeping your stupidity under control.

How do you know when you have achieved enlightenment, do you get a certificate, do you get to go in TV?
Answer: there is no achievement, its all process, you don’t ever ‘become enlightened’ you just are, anyone who tells you otherwise is trying to SELL you something.

Why do you believe the "best in a street fight", can't be a discipline for lifelong physical and mental health, who sold you that idea?
It's how you approach it man, its your attitude that matters, whatever it is, who's selling you this load of nonsense that one style is more 'spiritual ' than another, washing the dishes and scrubbing toilets can be just as 'spiritual'
Church is not 'someplace you go', its wherever you go, wherever you are, church is again, an attitude, no one has a monopoly on godliness.

If you like these answers you can buy my book for 19.95 at...

Jeet Kune Do is not a matter of seeking knowledge or accumulating stylized pattern but discovering the cause of ignorance. -Jun Fan

Thanks Chin. The funny thing is I don’t really do much judo anymore - I’m mostly into the bjj/vale tudo thing. Judo is awesome and the character I’ve seen it develope in many of the practicioners is admirable. The few world class judo players that I know are some of the nicest guys I’ve ever met, not to mention total ass kickers. Unfortunately Coyote is right about people trying to sell you “enlightenment.” I have found that often the best m/a instructors are only a moderate commercial success - something I attribute to their desire to teach properly and their focus on the martial arts rather than business.

Not sure if you’ve chosen a style yet but check out Kajukenbo. It’s a fairly new style, okinawan karate jui-jitsu, kenpo, and chinese boxing. Fairly “hard” style but can be applied softly. I’ve studied this style going on 10 yrs now and love it. But someone already mentioned one good point…theres not such thing as a better martial art, it all depends on the artist…Use the internet to check out different styles…you can find just about anything you want…

Whenever someone asks me what they should look for in a martial art I always say the same thing. There are 3 prereqs - instructor, students and location. The instructor is the most important facet, this is the guy whose controlling the tempo so chances are if you respect him and his approach then it’ll be a good class for you. The students are important as they’re proof of the instructors teaching ability. Unless it’s a pretty new class there should be a few senior belts around, observe what they do and chat to them about their own goals and how long they’ve been training. You’ll get a great insight into the type of people who train there and what attracted them in the first place and of course, how long it took for them to reach their level. The location is important just because if it’s a hassle to get to training, then that’s one more hurdle in the way of actually getting there. My instructor actually picks me up before training so I very rarely miss a session. Hey, it’s hard to blow him off when he’s right there saying ‘c’mon let’s train!’.

To actually try to answer your question though, I’m not sure if there is a martial art that focuses on all of the aspects you’re looking for. You’ll find bits and pieces definitely, but I dunno if you’ll get everything you’re looking for in one. The closest i know of that fits what you’re looking for is what a buddy of mine does. He trains in wing chun (this is in Australia so the address is probably a bit useless to you) and before the class they do an hour of tai chi to help focus, relax and get into the groove of things. I reckon this is a great idea, I often train with him one on one but I haven’t been to his class because of time constraints. But this is a pretty good melding of soft and hard I think, makes for a long class though (2 1/2 hrs). After an hour of tai chi though, I personally am up for anything so it’s a good way to get started.

My personal style - jujutsu definitely does not develop spiritual enlightenment, we may know how to kick arse but we don't talk about lofty things, we just concentrate on kicking arse. I've noticed that (generally speaking) japanese styles seem to concentrate more on defeating the opponent, whilst chinese styles have a more personal development approach. Yes there are many exceptions to this but on the whole that's how it seems to me. But get around, check out a whole bunch of places and talk to the instructors, you'll find someone teaching something that's exactly what you're looking for. I don't think you'll get 'the whole package' of what you're looking for, but you'll get a piece of the puzzle, put that together with the other parts of your life and i think you'll be well on your way to your own 'spiritual enlightenment'.

Hope that helps.