Approach to Students
Physical Training Traditions (PTT) exists to research, teach, promote and preserve various types of physical training from around the world.
The arts which form the core of our curriculum begin with basic body conditioning and extend into the branches of traditional martial arts, yogas and healing modalities from around the world and also “reconstructed” arts.
The qualifications of the teachers (some come to study and some to share, and some to teach professionally) involved in PTT include at least 10 years instruction under a genuine and authentic tradition as well as other work in arts of healing and training. By “genuine and authentic” I mean having learned in the apprenticeship mode under a teacher who can prove they actually carry a lineage of teaching form a distinct history and teacher. I do not include here “teachers” who have invented their own arts though there is a place for that too. PTT does not teach “mixed martial arts”. It teaches very specific traditions that are time- honored and have proved themselves in battle and personal self defense. It does not teach “sport karate” or “kickboxing” or combat arts designed for the competitive ring. There are students from these disciplines involved in the classes as are police and even at times monks and other clerics. I emphasize both the philosophical and tactical aspects of the arts but put the tactical aspects first in the training. Once the student has a “handle” on the tactical aspect-that is they can do drills with a partner with some understanding-I then begin to introduce the philosophical, religious and esoteric ideas which stand behind any Way of Power which eventually can lead to a genuine Understanding of a given Art. But I must emphasize here, from the craftsman’s point of view-these arts are not arts of form they are TACTILE RESPONSE ARTS. The forms reflect physical applications which come out of physical responses which are trained.
Many teachers, particularly in the Chinese Martial Arts teach “form only” or “form mainly”. Unfortunately, this has resulted in a great deal of frustration and illusion about how these arts work and why they work. Many times students in the Chinese tradition are put on what I call “the ten year program”. In other words the teaching is spread out to fill ten years. Often students are never shown applications or applications are held back so the teacher can maintain the tactical “upper hand”. This is still the rule rather than the exception. It allows the teachers to maintain mediocre skill and still control the students in the class by physical threat. While this may work with the glandular system of adolescents, for thinking adults who no longer need the boot camp mentality- genuine applications must be taught and drilled with other mature adults who are kind and gracious enough to tolerate the process without abusing one another. A popular student control method is to hit the student or otherwise abuse them if they ask a tactical question-the make them do the form again over and over, without really answering the question. Many reading this have encountered this as I have. I stand against this. I believe a real martial art can actually be taught clearly without student abuse. This does NOT mean the applications will not “hurt”! Nor does it mean the study of martial arts needs to be abusive. It means the hands-on applications can be tempered so the student can feel it and understand it but have no hard-core damage. Sting yes, pinch, hurt, bump but no “venting one’s spleen” on another person please! And again here, unless the teacher is vigilant- an element of abuse can be introduced by themselves or a student. Now if there is a bully in the class then obviously he has to be gotten rid of…
It is interesting that the Chinese martial arts, as they have become diluted, especially Tai Chi Chuan, have also become popular in the U.S. While teachers lecture about “health” the students often never even learns to step out of the way of a punch! I’m not sure how “healthy” that is. I have found these “practitioners” can talk the most abstruse theory though! Particularly about the concept of “Chi” or “air – energy”… It is an old problem which the better Chinese teachers I had called “Speaking-Talk Boxing”.
Students at PTT tend to come from the ages between 15 and 50. I encourage the younger students to work harder on both reading material connected to history and psychology as well as physical conditioning – especially up to the age of 25 while the brain is still finding the skeleton and the joints of the body ossify. After that the forces of life, relationships, careers and other things, filter in and training and study has to be relegated to a more limited time. I also encourage students to move on if the training does not seem to suit them. I have sent a student who wanted anxiously to learn knife techniques- which at that time I taught later- in the curriculum-to an Escrima (Philippine martial art) teacher- because he had that need. Several younger students who have come to me wanting to be more acrobatic- I sent to a Capoiera (Brazilian martial art) class. This for me, is karmic. Personality is highly individualized and one must find the food one needs. And I believe if the teacher is not a “match” one should move on! Don’t waste time! Life is precious! I have students that come every week, every month, twice a year, every few years…most keep in touch and I consider my students my friends and my peers. I do not run a school with a pyramid social structure. Any student can speak with me- at pretty much- any time. The students do not have to speak to a senior student or “older brother” student to talk to me. Technically speaking an advanced student is more advanced because he/she are further in the curriculum. I do not include age and maturity level here. The technical aspect has to be hierarchical and pyramidical. You cannot learn poetry without knowing the alphabet! This however, does not reflect skill or understanding. Some students, having long preparation from various disciplines- pick up the material I teach very fast and move quickly upwards, through the curriculum. I am grateful for these students as the traditions need all the help they can get! It is up to the carriers of the Traditions, whether Martial or Philosophical – to prevent students from needing to “re-invent the wheel”! I believe the teacher does not need to deliberately place obstacles in the students’ way—the student brings them along with them and they are entirely built in to the psychology of the student! It is as sure as your airport baggage which “should be with you at all times” etc! If I teach carpentry I have to deal with specific tools and the impartation of specific skills to hammer a nail, cut wood, construct and build wisely. The physical skills of martial arts are no different. Personality enters into the teacher-student equation but for me is secondary to simply getting the ideas across and the skills with them. I believe it is wisest to interfere as little as possible in the lives of students. The freedom of their Will or Soul is sacred and to me inviolate. If they ask for advice I give it, or if they seem to be hurting themselves I say so. Otherwise I make every attempt to teach them as though they are an arrow with an inherent trajectory which neither of us may be clear about! Hopefully, with time a clear direction can be discovered through training and questioning and observing and interpreting the phenomena of life and personhood. But how little we know of ourselves! So we must look and train and try to understand ourselves and hopefully others too…
Students are encouraged to learn quickly and easily and also encouraged to teach and explore. I teach with the intent of producing happier students, good practitioners and good teachers. And I “let them go” but I do like to keep in touch with them because I get pleasure when I hear of their successes in life.