And you are just supposed to accept their narrative.  Most important is this is the result of indoctrination in a very dangerous ideology called communism. And because it is a failed and evil ideology, it is therefore the cause of the failure of the Western Culture. And the cause of hundred of millions of documented deaths in the 20th century, and now the 21st century.  Are You Teachable? Becoming teachable!

Are You Teachable?

Most important to note is that I have been teaching martial arts a very long time. And I have seen many students become very proud of themselves, their success and therefore cease to learn. Suddenly know everything! And will love to argue with the teacher, and other students about how things should be done. 

So are You Teachable? And while the goal of any good martial arts teacher is to make the student better than they are themselves it becomes interesting when the student thinks they have arrived.

Are You Teachable?

The other day I had a rather rude email from a man who stated. "are you kidding me? I am so much better at this then you!!" I read this and smiled. Most important to note is this person is not teachable. Now the email was a reply for a promotional email about my book the Complete Kyusho Jitsu Learning Guide from A to Z. 

Perhaps, he is really better at Kyusho Jitsu, Kosho Ryu, Hapkido than I am. What does this mean? My services are no longer required. Hence I terminated our relationship. Or he is a troll, being very disrespectful trying to illicit a response from me. Well, I tend to think it is the latter.

Are You Teachable?

Are You Teachable?: And with all this in mind, it becomes necessary to "fire the student." Therefore I removed all his access and all potential future access to my works. I did not reply to the email wither. There was no need.

Do you have students who are unteachable for whatever reason? Over the years I have been very tolerant of these people. But today I am not. For me time is very important and I do not like to waste it. Therefore I am very fast to terminate the teacher / student relationship, especially when one does not exist. 

What about the guy with the smart ass email reply? There is no return for him. Not because I am mean or vindictive. He has not offended me either. His opinion is his own, and not my business or concern.

But I value my time, and so I do not change my mind when it comes to this type of behavior.  Are You Teachable? The majority today are not.

Are You Teachable in Conclusion

Forget the loss of income from them leaving. 

They will pollute your school and your business and cost you far more in the long run. And for me personally I never allow anyone to disturb my peace of mind.

I hope you enjoyed Are You Teachable.

Most of all thank you for taking some time to read this article called Are You Teachable. 

Thank you for your time and have a wonderful day! Keep Learning!

Vă mulțumesc pentru timpul acordat și o zi minunată! Continua sa inveti!

Al vostru în arte,
Mare Maestru Art Mason

There is a very large percent of our world, regardless of location where the population is suffering from Cognitive Dissonance. This is a serious mental illness created in our world by media. It means to hold different conflicting believes within. [Webster dictionary definition - psychological conflict resulting from incongruous beliefs and attitudes held simultaneously]

Self Defense are you Prepared?

And you see this manifest in people who "virtue signal" to try to relieve the stress of these conflicting beliefs. And when you disagree with one of the people they become violently angry and attack at minimum, verbally. No discussion can be had when someone suffer from sever Cognitive Dissonance.

And in our times the school system, governments and even many churches are pushing ideals to create the situation. Many of those with sever Cognitive Dissonance are zombie like in their behavior. Vomiting forward the propaganda causing their conflict.

Self Defense are you Prepared? - Conflict is coming

But soon the shit will hit the fan. When is this? The moment the truth comes to them. When the Cognitive Dissonance breaks some will fall and sob uncontrollably, some will commit suicide, and others will turn violent. And it is happening today. When it comes to self defense are you prepared?

Violence on the streets escalates daily. Horrible violence in which the response of authorities calls for lies as solutions, because they want this violence. Has this not been proven in the past 2 years like the media calling RIOTS in some US cities as "mostly peaceful." While fires rage behind them. Then calling true peaceful protests violent?

And when an attacker is confronted they are joined by other "crazies" who help them injury of kill the subject of their focus.

Self Defense are you Prepared - Stand and fight?

The majority of martial arts learn to react to this by standing and fighting. And this is because they are based on competition and not the real world. Designed for the young and the strong, forgetting that we all age and slow down. 30 years ago I could kick easily over my head. Not today.

Two decades ago I put my ego aside and realized I was not prepared. And this is when I began to train in a martial art that prepare me for potential violence, not how to react to the violence. This is the study of Kosho Ryu. And the first teaching of Kosho is to ESCAPE and be safe, then to counter attack if there is no other option.

Is this not a better solution than to stand and fight? The warriors of old did not do battle for the sake of battle. Yet this idea is taught today.

Self Defense are you Prepared? in Conclusion

Your learning of these basics will continue to expand as you train. Use the promo code "crash" at the checkout for 50% off too!

2) Kosho Ryu Street Strategies: The Art of Escape. This is a book of strategies for today's current reality. Currently in the preorder stage.

However at the very least grab a copy of my FREE Kosho Ryu Video to begin the learning, and the never ending development of your martial art skills.

Thank you for reading Self Defense are you Prepared. Chance really does favor the prepared mind. 

Thank you for your time and have a wonderful day! Keep Learning!

Vă mulțumesc pentru timpul acordat și o zi minunată! Continua sa inveti!

Al vostru în arte,
Mare Maestru Art Mason

My goal in this piece, is not to place one school of thought over the other. Everyone has a right to their opinion, and all opinions, have both correct and incorrect aspects to them, depending on circumstance. Rather, I just want to share what I have learned, over my nearly 4 decades training and teaching. Let; talk more about Combat Sports and Self Defense.

Combat Sports and Self Defense

Once upon a time, I was dead set against combat sports. And I thought them to be brutish, after the wrong things, and not really self defense. I thought them to be designed to keep a contest going, rather than end an altercation. Most important to note I came up through my training, as a martial artist, not a combative sports athlete. My main area was Japanese JuJutsu based, having experienced Tang Soo Do, Karate, and Tai Chi as well. I was partially correct in my opinion.

Years later, I flirted with combat sports, and fell in love. I dove in deep, and coached/taught MMA, Boxing, and Kickboxing. At that time, I thought that these combat sports, were true training tools of any combative ability, as they were in real time, against unwilling opponents, and were the definition of realism. Again, I was partially correct in my opinion.

Over the decades, I have learned to take from both, to form my current opinion. Like any opinion, it can, and maybe one day will…. change. The more I experience, the more I know, thus the less I know, so the more I and my opinion evolve. Never the law, or the absolute truth for all to follow as gospel. Just my opinion.

Combat Sports and Self Defense

Now a days, I don’t think taking blows to the head for recreation, training, or any reason is smart and/or safe. And I also, think the chaos that exists in an altercation during combat sports, is golden for dealing with the shock factor of being attacked in a self defense scenario, and dealing with fast changing movements, and aggression. Plus I think punching someone in the head is a good and fast way to have less to fight back with when you break your hand (kicking your own ass). But I also know you can not defend against a punch, unless you know how to move in and out of range, and have knowledge of that punch as well from the attacker’s point of view.

Combat Sports and Self Defense

In the end, I think combat sports, and self defense, are different, but benefit each other. Combat sports will never teach you to end a fight quick, and get away to safety. Combat sports will train you to stay in the fight, and roll the dice longer, seeing if you can land and not be landed upon, which ups the chances of you getting hurt or killed. On the flip side, self defense training will never properly train you for the shock, speed, chaos, and determination of an assailant, as combat sports will.

Combat Sports and Self Defense

One of my professional boxers, walked around at 200 lbs, fought at 190. He could slide into striking range, and deliver a jab to the face, cross to the body, and uppercut to the chin, circle out to the side while delivering a HARD hook to the back of the ear, in one second. Think about it: Out of reach, then in reach, throw 3 shots on entry, slide out of your range and to the outside of you while hitting on the exit, and now not there at all.

One second. That’s a shit load of trouble, in a small pocket of time and space. He wasn’t a standout….that is normal ability for a pro or semi pro fighter, in the middle of the rankings. I am not God, so I can not possibly know what all self defense systems are doing. But I am confident, that many to most, don’t know how to deal with that chaos, speed, power, shock, and danger.

Flip side! Combat athletes of any ability, are not so tough anymore when their victim stabs them in the eyeball with their finger as far as it can go.

BUT!!! 

Combat Sports and Self Defense: Isn’t it fair, and logical, the think that folks should train both sides of the coin, to be able to deal with both? Whether or not we chose to train both, we can not control the reality, that both sides exist.

Friends, today’s attacker is likely well trained. At the very least, we should train for that possibility. You can’t defeat what you don’t know. If you know nothing about fire, can you put it out? My opinion, is the best way to handle an altercation if it escalates to physical is:

1. Get out of there
2. Get something between you and the attacker
3. If you are now forced to engage, aim to get back to either step 1 or 2, as he is more angry and determined now, and his friends have given chase, etc.

Now, here’s a question. Can you run? If some huge angry monster of a dude, says “I’m going to tear you apart”, and is 5 feet away, can you get out of there? Are you fit enough? Combat sports will train that aspect, self defense, not so much.

Or, if he grabs a hold, can you do quick one or two movement shit, that gets him to let go? Self defense will train that aspect, combat sports not so much. 

Combat Sports and Self Defense in Conclusion

I think traditional martial arts, has the concepts, to deal with any size/strength attacker, fast. And, I think combat sports, has the concepts, to deal with the heat of the dance.

Train safe. Learn, and train some more. When you get to the finish line, understand you are lost in the woods. The more you know, the more you don’t.

But that’s just one old man’s opinion. Thank you for reading Combat Sports and Self Defense.

Yours in the arts,
Kyoshi Dave.

Thank you for taking time from your day to read Kyoshi Dave' article called Combat Sports and Self Defense! And remember to checkout our History of the Martial Arts page. 

Also checkout my Kyusho Blog!

Thank you for your time and have a wonderful day! Keep Learning!

Vă mulțumesc pentru timpul acordat și o zi minunată! Continua sa inveti!

Al vostru în arte,
Mare Maestru Art Mason

However her world was that of a beginner, in a house full of Black Belts, and long time Black Belts at that. 

She had some natural ability, but became very hard on herself because what was easy for us, was difficult for her. She made Blue Belt before the relationship ended. And I believe Black Belt Syndrome was part of the reason for the end of the relationship. But this is not the only time I have seen this.

Black Belt Syndrome

Regular students can develop Black Belt Syndrome.  How does this happen? Some students are in life "high achievers." They can expect more from themselves than is realistic. And I have lots many students over the year because of this.

How does this happen? Most often because the instructor see potential they show/teach the student too much to soon and this causes frustration. I have also witnessed cases where instructors and especially assistant instructors let their ego get out of control and show off to the students. This is always a bad idea and will often lead to students leaving without notice.

Bad Goal Setting

I have been guilty of this! Many years go I had a student who had very little to no natural ability. But he possessed drive, dedication and perseverance. And because of this he became an outstanding student, and developed some excellent skills. And he had his goal set firmly on Black Belt.

But after many years when he reached this goal, he walked out the door. At Black Belt he realized he knew very little yet, and was not prepared for this. Bad goal setting. 

Black Belt Syndrome in Conclusion

And make sure to checkout our Martial Arts History page!

Thank you for your time and have a wonderful day! Keep Learning!

Vă mulțumesc pentru timpul acordat și o zi minunată! Continua sa inveti!

Al vostru în arte,
Mare Maestru Art Mason