A way of life

By Udena.R.Attygalle

Why do people take up martial arts? To learn how to fight? To achieve the black belt tag? The " Mirror Magazine " decided to find out more.

Manjula learns Free Style fighting under instructor Anton Charles. The major component of his art is kick boxing. Says he, " Before I learnt martial arts I was afraid of even kids my own age. I wanted to be somebody like Van Dam". Yet after 2 years of training he has a different view, " now I don't want to fight ,I don't have to prove anything , I don't do wrong so there is no reason why anybody would want to fight me". The most important lesson martial arts had taught him is controlling and understanding situations. "Martial arts has even taught me how to earn more money!" he says. 

Chaminda Perera, a training coordinator at the Jaic Hilton, learns Fei Quan Do under instructor M.Hassen Khalid. ( Fei Quan Do is an art developed by Hassen Khalid using his experience in Karate ,Taekwondo Tai Chi Chuan etc. ) For him the fighting aspect of martial arts has little appeal. " I do it to relieve stress and as a form of exercise," he says. 

Meanwhile an Indian priest now in Sri Lanka, who did not want to be named because of the taboo against priests practicing martial arts in Sri Lanka, said " I enjoy Karate as it is good form of meditation". Instructor Hassen Khalid who has taught Buddist and Muslim priests said that these students were very interested in martial arts.

Tanzy Ranasinghe (14 ) meanwhile has been learning Fei Quan Do for 4 years but most of her friends don't know of it (yet !). She wants to keep it as a surprise " so people will think I'm just another girl but if necessary I can show what I'm made of". She had always loved learning flying kicks and all those jumps. For her the most important thing her brush with fighting arts had taught is concentration.

Duminda Nishantha, now a lecturer in Electronics and also the Karate instructor at the Moratuwa campus, after 10 years of experience in Martial Arts has come to a stage where " the cultivation of mental and physical strength and the development of personality and spirituality are the main reasons for keeping at it". He too had started out with the intention of learning how to fight. 

He pointed out that after his training in martial arts his reaction to fighting is " tactical and protective". "That is, in a fighting situation I know how to avoid getting hurt and also bring the fight to an end without hurting the other person too much" he explained. The most important thing he had gained is the "ability to live with others without confrontations" . "As a lecturer it has also helped me to understand my students better" he added. 

R.A.K.P. Ranaweera another Electronics lecture with around 9 years of experience says, " for me the mental and spiritual satisfaction I get from practicing martial arts is the most important thing". I use the learning skills that I learnt at campus and explore the possibilities that martial arts offer" he adds. Both Ranaweera and Nishantha train under Wado-Ryu Karate instructor Douglas Peries. 

A much debated aspect of the training of a martial artist is weights training. Mr. Hassen Khalid says, " no weights training for martial artists". But he recommended power training as a useful alternative. "Power training will develop the speed and power in your strikes".

Instructor Anton Charles was also of the same view. "But practicing punches with weights wrapped around his forearms had helped tremendously to improve the power of his strikes" he shared. 

What of street fights? Mr. Khalid had this to say, " If you ever get involved in a fight with a street brawler" he advises, that "you knock him out in one or two blows. If the fight develops you will be in a lot of danger". 

Mr. Khalid also advises "patience is the prime requisite of a good martial artist". If some one pinches you pinch him ,if someone shouts at you shout back and if someone hits you hit him back but don't hit a man because he shouted at you." 

Tai Chi Chuan instructor Dr Nimal Jinadasa says "Martial arts is the mental attitude of a warrior." He points out that in most instances of confrontation, physical or otherwise, we end up bowing down mentally to the aggressor. Martial arts teaches us not to give up that easily. 

Mr. Douglas Pieris says "a martial arts student even though he doesn't do well in academic or school work would none the less be a good citizen as he derives mental, spiritual and physical satisfaction from the martial art". 

He adds " a martial art teaches the student at first to be aggresive and then gradually teaches him to control this agression and in the end the martial artist becomes a subsided person".

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