For the Skeptical Martial Artists

I’ve been posting a lot about emptiness lately. For all of the beginners and skeptical fighters out there, it may sound like a bunch of philosophical bs. Fair enough.

What the internal martial artists do better than most tree hugging meditators is they find the zhong-ding-a-ling much sooner. They concentrate on the concrete physicality of these practices. They quickly realize they need root and balance – and the better they can feel their bodies the better they can use them. I approached all of Bruce practices this way.

The problem I’ve seen is throwing the baby out with the bath water: that is, you can easily lose track of the real purpose of these practices and their deepest, most profound roots.

So, for me, being able to knock someone out has never been the goal.

But for all of the martial artists who approach these systems like they are nothing more than vague, bad scientific descriptions – you’ve tossed the baby. I’ll also add that finding the space from which yang and yin come from is the holy grail of being able to feel and use your body to knock someone out.

It isn’t the end all, but if that’s all you care about, keep going. You won’t be disappointed.