Real Martial Arts are dying. The truth is there is probably only a small percentage of the world who really know what martial arts are about. It will probably always be so.

i guess its a good thing i don't give a rat's ass what anyone else thinks then.

Hello Ads:

<<I was simply trying to show that if the hands were to start relaxed by your sides, the ready position would more commonly be seen as a technique.

Shame on me, (need to spend more time carefully watching the links)! Ours do...

Jeff

Hello student of life:

<<and i hope you [sic. any of us] dont go looking for altercations for test runs,lol.

Can a get a group AMEN to this one!

Jeff

amen brother!!

i mean, just because others are abandoning "Traditional" arts dosn't mean i will. i'll just keep praticing kata.

Hello:

In the new year I wanted to re-examine some of the things that I had found curious (sic. added to my favorite folder)

What do your "ready" positions/rituals look like? Is there a function to it/them beyond pretty symmetry and pure symbolism

Jeff

Hi Jeff, Happy new whatever it its.

My ready position interpretation depends on which form and system of study I'm doing at the time.

In my Isshinryu I see all movement as having application potential, likewise I see all non-movement in similar light. Of course where the same (or similar) openings are used from kata to kata, their potential use remains constant. Whether I would choose those answers depends on the attack I'm countering.

For some of the Chinse kuen (forms) I study the Ready Position is really another form, sort of a pre-form, and at times as complex or more complex than the form itself. Thus filled with application potential. I suspect most of those openings were originally created for public demonstration.

For my Tai Chi studies there is not a ready position. You are not in the flow, you enter the flow and eventually you leave the flow. The flow is the application potential.