Martial art etiquete

Posted on Jul 03, 2009 under Uncategorized | No Comment

Etiquette defines what the best behavior is for any event, situation or setting. This extends to situations of daily living such as dining out, sending out invitations to a birthday party, laying out a formal table setting, giving gifts to your business colleagues etc and also specific settings like attending a 50th wedding anniversary party, etiquette for meeting royalty, etiquette for visiting a foreign country etc.

A similar unique situation for which specific etiquette has been defined is doing martial arts.

Martial art etiquette number one is to show respect to your instructor and fellow students. Respect is very important in martial arts as the student-teacher relationship is considered crucial to the learning process.

When learning martial arts, etiquette demands that you be ready to embrace certain aspects of a new culture. Martial arts are a centuries old tradition with techniques and practices being transmitted through generations. Hence martial art etiquette is that you be prepared to follow certain practices that are new to your culture.

Martial art etiquette also suggests that you try and learn more about the background and history of the specific art that you are learning. This could be anything from Karate to Taekwondo and Kung Fu.

Martial art etiquette also requires you to devote yourself to the art and being dedicated. This means that you have to make the time to practice and practice till you prefect the technique. Martial art etiquette is also to never question what the instructor teaches you in terms of methods and techniques and also any critique that he might have as he is the teacher and you are the student.

While you show respect to your instructor, martial art etiquette is that you don’t worship them as God. Understanding and believing that your instructor is as human as you, will help you set and achieve your martial art goals better.

Martial art etiquette recommends humility. It is important that you be humble and modest when learning the martial arts. The best thing to do is to be an observer in the beginning and assimilate as much as you can. It doesn’t help to be outspoken and you should ask questions or start discussions only when you know you will come across as informed and intelligent.

While martial arts are often considered a religion by themselves, it isn’t so. If you’re taking up martial arts, martial art etiquette doesn’t require you to give up your own values or religious beliefs. Of course you may find answers to certain questions but it doesn’t take away from your own core principles or value system. You probably joined martial arts as a way to learn self defense or for purposes of exercise and there is no need for you to make your class into a cult.

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