[I:http://www.sixpackabscode.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/AlCase26.jpg]There is only one thing that holds a martial artist back from reaching the True Martial Art. That one thing has one name…distraction. To the degree that one is not distracted, to that degree he will realize his goals, and to that extent he reaches the True Art.

When one learns the martial arts one learns these training routines called forms. On the surface, the form is a dictionary of applications, of having a curriculum which will teach him higher and higher ranges of art. It is under the surface, however, through the refusal of distractions that one must apply himself in searching for the True Martial Art.

When one can refuse to have his attention wander in the middle of form one is cultivating his discipline. When one focuses only on the moves within the form, and does not allow himself to be sidetracked, then he is building concentration. The end result of these endeavors is to be able to keep awareness in the universe of the form, and not in the universe of trees and bushes and rocks and twigs and such.

The pieces of the form, the techniques, are the middle ground of refusing distraction. This area, applying technique to a willing opponent, bridges the perfection of the thought into the perfection of idea even in chaos. When one holds to the physics, holds to his concentration, holds to the truth of his fellow man even in combat, then one is approaching a distraction free existence.

It is in the fact of kumite, however, that one must find his ultimate refusal of the distractions of the real universe. One must devote all his focus on the opponent, refuse the gas and tinklings of a random world, and build the truth of his own awareness. When one lives as if in a tunnel with his opponent, and can hold to the construction of that tunnel no matter the situation, then one has found and is living the True Martial Art.

These three ultimate but separate arenas, kata, technique and kumite, are the arena of the True Art. To the extent that one refuses to be distracted, that one becomes pure and true in concentration and awareness, to this extent one enters the True Martial Art. The real key, to all this, however, lies in the achievement of one important item.

The universe travels backwards. It is not the flotsam and jetsam of the universe that offer distraction, it is the knowledge that one must not actively go towards a distraction free existence, but, rather, relax so that no distractions can take hold in the soul. It is the emptiness of the universe, perceived by the unimpeded individual, that makes up the Path of the True Art.

Al Case has 4O++ years training in the martial arts. you can pick up a good and free ebook on how to become distraction free at his site, Monster Martial Arts.

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