Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Becoming Bruce Lee and Purposeful Practice

Before we go on we want that you understand the beauty in martial
arts.  There is a certain beauty that comes with being a Bruce Lee or
a Muhammad Ali or a dancer whose movement inspires.  Calasanz believes
it is in the movement of these wonders that inspires us.  It all comes
from knowing yourself and understanding why it is that you are being
so watched by an audience.  It is because movements produced with such
confidence and synchronization are captivating to those observers.
The sheer balance, and control of a human body demonstrates its
capabilities, potential and beauty.  This is something that attracts
the eye and is difficult to ignore.

Beauty in martial arts does not come from knowing thousands of
techniques or their potential effectiveness.  It arises from the
controlled and proper execution of these techniques.  In practice it
is most helpful to observe yourself in the mirror, it allows you to
see yourself and correct your movements to make them more and more
beautiful.

Mindless execution and repetition does not produce true development.
It is the calculated, disciplined and deliberate execution of
techniques and movements that allows for a real improvement in
proficiency.  Observing one's movements visually gives the user
something so they might critically asses and evaluate their own
standing in order to make developmental corrections.

Practice your moves, but not mindlessly.  Correct them with the
purpose of making them prettier and prettier, striving to make them
so.  As you look in the mirror and watch yourself, you will know how
they look.  If the body looks contorted, writhing and out of line, a
correction is necessary.  If the body looks poised, stable, balanced
and strong the movement is beautiful and correct.  You will know this
yourself.

At any moment that you let anybody control that for you, that is when
the knowledge and beauty of what you are doing will be lost.  When you
come to study the Calasanz system think of learning something that you
can take home with you.  It brings you to the point of not just
understanding the techniques and exercises of any martial system, but
more importantly to the point of understanding your own body.  By
reaching this level of understanding you can train the exercises and
techniques to look good and beautiful doing them.  In understanding
your body in this way anything you participate in in daily life will
be improved.

Train to elongate your muscle.  Work out with the purpose of
developing a nice posture.  All of these things can be improved under
the Calasanz system and training Physical Arts.  The techniques are
applied to more than just American Boxing, Kickboxing, Karate, Kung Fu
or other martial systems.  They are applicable to universal movement,
general motion, everyday action.

When you train to become a competitor things change within the mind.
Your view is to train hard and hurt people.  Looking at Muhammad Ali
or Bruce Lee their movement looks so natural and beautiful, the
harming of their opponents is almost a secondary component.  The
fruits of their training are apparent.  In the ring they are as
graceful as ballroom dancers.  They are killers but still look good.
Sometimes you must be born with that, but if you are not so endowed
training is where you gain it.  First you must gain posture,
coordination, technique, rhythm, balance, and control.  After
acquiring these you can develop flexibility, strength, sensitivity and
power at alarming rates to become a Bruce Lee, to become a Muhammed
Ali.  You will know yourself, you will be yourself.

Inspired by Calasanz
Written by Alan Wedell

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