The Genesis of REAL Martial Arts
REAL Martial Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico
www.realmartialarts.org
The genesis of Real Martial Arts is that it is designed for real people who may have to deal with uncomfortable situations or violent encounters in the real world. We focus on skills that will be effective in a real world violent attack and other stressful situations.
These skills include empty hand skills such as striking, deflecting, grappling, standing and on the ground. We cover skills for ranges that include contact where a person is being grabbed and hit, close distance where striking and hand held weapons are often utilized and projectile distance where firearms and other means of delivering a projectile to a target are common.
Our teaching approach is different from what is commonly seen in martial arts schools and combat sporting gyms. People learn better and remember more when there is a creative element of self discovery involved. Ideas, concepts, principles and feelings are all integrated into our teaching methods. Learning becomes a mind-body experience that allows for integration of knowledge and skill in a holistic manner. This type of discovery allows for anchoring of new information into the system as a whole.
It is just like in school. If all you did was remember a bunch of information for a test you likely forgot most of it two weeks later. If you created a science project or wrote a poem or painted a picture that is a part of you and will stay with you the rest of your life.
Training in martial arts is similar. Students are often taught to replicate their teacher, to remember moves and techniques that have little meaning as a way of learning. Some styles have hundreds of these and students have to remember names, sequences of movement, attacks and the appropriate response all in the name of moving up in rank. What is interesting is when you see most of these students spar or fight they use very little of these complicated movements and resort to basic skills that work.
In REAL Martial Arts we have no ranking system and students are told not to replicate the teachers. Students are encouraged to feel it out.
What feels natural to you?
How does your body want to respond?
OK, lets develop those natural responses and movements and see how they work.
These are things you will hear in our classes.
Students internalize the skills through their own filters and abilities. They gain understanding of their inner responses to stress, fear, human interaction and conflict. They have the opportunity of self discovery and learning from the inside out. The results are uniquely theirs and no one else will respond exactly the same way. This creates an internalized understanding of what is happening and how to use their natural abilities to their highest advantage.
Skills are different from techniques. A technique is a certain kind of strike or block, maybe a kick. Techniques are also a series of movements that are applied in a very specific manner against a specific attack. A skill is understanding the trajectory of a strike and how to use movement and deflection to change the direction of the strike. Skills are adaptable and can be used in hundreds of ways to address the immediate situation. Techniques are often static and applied under certain conditions that will never be replicated in the real world. Skills allow for adaptation and change, they grow as the knowledge of the student grows.
Skills and knowledge go hand in hand. As the body learns to feel the movement the mind understands what is happening. This integrated approach of body-mind learning is integrated into everything we do at REAL Martial Arts. Facilitating the learning of our students is our highest priority. We encourage exploration and personal input, not replication and mimicking of others.
Our students learn about themselves and how to handle stress in a beneficial way. They learn about their natural responses to events outside of themselves and how to solve problems to their advantage.
REAL Martial Arts is much more than a martial arts school. We help people develop skills that they will use in all aspects of their lives through the training methods and the study of martial arts and combat science.
For further information contact:
Raven Hicks
REAL Martial Arts
Santa Fe, New Mexico
505-913-0199
raven@realmartialarts.org
www.realmartialarts.org
