The Heart and Soul of Karate | The Purpose of Training in the Martial Arts

There are many good reasons to practice Karate and the martial arts… but what would you say is the heart and soul of your training?

Here’s my answer. Let me know yours!

The Heart and Soul of Karate

The heart of the martial arts is self-defense. Your training should strengthen your commitment and capability to protect yourself and the ones you love.

But the truth is you don’t need Karate or Jujitsu or any martial art to hurt someone.

If your cause is righteous—and you give yourself the permission to injure someone—striking, squeezing a neck, picking up a weapon—is simple.

So, if hurting someone is simple, if fighting is natural even, then what is the purpose of training in the martial arts?

Control.

Control is unnatural. It is not simple. Control must be learned.

Look at children. They scream, they cry, they fall. It takes years for them to control their bodies and emotions. And even as we grow up and mature, wild impulses continue to poke and prod at us throughout our lives.

That’s where martial arts can help. Martial arts is a tool for taming your wildest impulses.

Your fear. Your fury.

Your instinct to run. Your desire to fight.

Your urge to protect. Your drive to destroy.

Taming your impulses and harnessing your power is essential for building a successful and happy life. It is also the purpose of training. Your training is a loyal friend pushing and pulling you in the right direction. Trust it.

On your journey towards control, you will face four challenges…

The first challenge of martial arts is to control yourself.

Your body. Your emotions. Your thoughts, decisions, and actions.

Life is full of obstacles that will constantly disrupt your breathing, balance, confidence, and decision-making. But these disruptions only occur if you allow your self-control to break.

Maybe you’re a black belt. Maybe you can break a brick with your head. But what happens if someone insults you or slaps you in the face? Do you shrink, turn away, and risk going to the hospital? Or do you explode, unleash your anger and risk going to jail?

An uncontrolled response on either extreme can ruin your life. That’s why the first challenge is to defend yourself from yourself… literally, self-defense.

So, make it a goal to build habits that put you in control and keep you in control. Control your posture. Control your breathing. Control your focus.

In training, be honest about what’s working for you and what’s causing problems.

Know yourself, own yourself.

The second challenge of martial arts is to control someone else.

In the beginning, you can practice martial arts alone through forms, pads, and solo drills. But to meet the second challenge, you need a partner—someone who can oppose you. Why?

Because the essence of self-defense is to control someone who is out of control—someone who is trying to control YOU.

Through the exercise of sparring and grappling, you not only struggle to control a partner, you struggle to control a different version of you. The pressure of competition will crack your confidence and reveal a new set of impulses.

How do you handle failure? Victory? Judgement?

In your practice, the goal is to maintain physical and emotional control at all times—win or lose. Outside your practice, the goal is to maintain the same control, even in the face of insult or injury.

Sadly, some students back away from the second challenge and limit partner practice. They allow fear, discomfort, and ego to shut down their development.

Other students feel threatened by competition and become more aggressive. They rely on anger to make them feel powerful. They fail to see how unimpressive it is to be reckless. Without realizing it, they build their confidence on being out of control.

If a student fails to see the advantage of being calm and methodical in the face of opposition, they will also fail to reach the third challenge.

The third challenge of martial arts is to control someone without causing pain or injury.

Yes, on a basic level, martial arts is the study of stopping an attacker by causing damage. But as you progress, martial arts becomes the study of how to stop an attacker WITHOUT causing damage.

Remember—even an untrained person has the potential to hurt someone. A trained martial artist has an increased potential to injure someone. But a master of martial arts has the the skill to either injure someone or let them go unharmed.

It’s only through attaining this power of choice that we become fully empowered human beings. At this level, we can become both creators or destroyers. We can be warriors or peacemakers. We are capable of action or restraint.

It is only when we have attained the power of choice that our decisions become meaningful. But to achieve the power of choice, we must have total control.

Control is the soul of Karate.
Total control is the soul of martial arts.

Of course, the world is a chaotic place. Our powers are limited here. Our hearts and minds can be equally chaotic.

If we wish to instill order and structure where none exist, we must train not to just be fast, strong, and tough, but to be patient, even-tempered, and fair-minded.

We may never control all of the world, or all of ourselves, but through training, we can crawl a little closer to our maximum power. We can float in the chaos feeling confident and comfortable where others only feel helpless and hopeless.

Finally, as you maximize control of your power, you will face the fourth challenge—

The fourth challenge of martial arts is the pursuit of wisdom.

Wisdom is the study of how to use your power and when. It’s the study of making the right choices in any situation.

The pursuit of wisdom demands a clear mind, pure heart, and relentless spirit. It is not easy. In fact, it’s the challenge of a lifetime.

But it’s a worthy challenge. So, don’t give up, my friend.

Keep training. Keep seeking to control the chaos without and within. Keep fighting for a happy life.