It’s not about being violent, it’s self defense

Getting punched in the face is a sobering experience. But it also teaches you that you are stronger than you think. But many people don’t want to go through that process of pain

We as human beings don’t like getting hurt. We are naturally averse to pain and instinctively shy away from it. The paradox of combat sports/ systems whatever is that a lot of good strategies are tending to counter intuitive to some degree.

People very easily confuse karate as a violent sport. It isn’t a combat fight sport which promotes violence. Rather karate is for self-defense purposes. Even Karate means empty hand self-defense art.

 In the beginning the ability to defend against an attack falls back to free fighting techniques. Defense relies on the easiest and perhaps favorite techniques. The advantage here is having been attacked in class, a confrontation on the street is not a new situation. Distancing is second nature. Reaction become automatic. As one progresses the underlying techniques found in kata begins to take hold and the response becomes more spontaneous and effective. There is an old proverb that:

“Sweat more in training to bleed less in battle”