The Dojo Is Not The Street !

A dojo is, to all intents and purposes a classroom, a place of enlightenment, somewhere to study your martial art, practise movement and technique and share your experience with others. However, the dojo is not the street.

No matter how many martial arts classes claim to teach 'street self defence' in essence you are usually getting a watered down version of the martial art offered by that particular school and paired with the instructors own belief on what is required outside the dojo in a 'real life' situation. There are many martial arts instructors throughout the world, who are highly skilled and proficient in their chosen art, who have never experienced the 'fear' and 'danger' of a REAL life violent altercation.

It amuses me somewhat, when visiting certain martial arts forums on the world wide web, when you read posts claiming that this martial art is 'the best' for combat and that martial art is no good because it is not 'real'. You get phrases like 'No holds barred' and 'no rules' martial arts. If there is a combat area, ring or cage with a referee, then it is not, nor ever will be 'no holds barred'. Even for this type of popular sport as in all MMA (mixed martial arts) contests there are rules that both fighters have to abide by. Often an opponent 'taps out' meaning that when a lock, choke or technique becomes unbearable they 'tap' to indicate to their opponent and the referee that they can no longer continue. The referee then stops the fight. Therefore, these types of contests are controlled by a third person ie the referee and are not a 'no holds barred' contest. If you take a 'no holds barred' contest literally, it will mean that the protagonists fight on until one is either incapacitated or killed; no holds barred means no rules. This would never happen in any organised sporting arena, especially in this litigation crazy health and safety era.

There are many martial arts that are competitive and therefore, during sparring or competition, the element of adrenaline is introduced to the equation. Being able to control the adrenaline flow during competition is paramount if you are to perform to your maximum potential. However, the adrenaline flow that pumps during a real altercation is what I would refer to as the 'Fear Factor'. It is a natural reaction that heightens the senses and prepares the physical body for a 'fight' or 'flight' scenario. If you can control it then you will have more chance to react naturally and instinctively to such a situation. If that reaction is that you run away in the face of a potentially violent altercation then you have succeeded in avoiding confrontation. If you panic and start hyperventilating you may not be able to function in a normal physical way. None of this can be re-created in the dojo, as it is impossible to introduce the element of reality. The dojo is a place of safety no matter how hard the sparring or training becomes.

In a competitive martial arts contest, even though the adrenaline of competition is flowing, each of the contestants know that the other will be conforming to the same set of rules as laid down by the organising body. On the street, you do not have that luxury, as physical altercations are wildly unpredictable and can include the use of weapons or ordinary objects adapted for use as weapons. There is also the possibility that there will be more than one assailant. The street has NO rules.

In an aikido dojo you practise movement, technique, breathing, internalisation and blending with a partner and all of these things assist us in our general health and wellbeing. Techniques are practised repeatedly in a ritualised format to help the student learn to eventually react to different movements without having to think; to have a clear mind under pressure, a state of Mushin. The only missing element in the dojo, in any dojo, is 'reality'.

As a person who has worked on the street in law enforcement for over a decade I have witnessed how different people react under pressure, both civilians and police personnel. Sometimes, the most capable exponent in the dojo is the one that cannot handle the element of realism on the street. Martial arts give us the tools, knowledge and capability to react effectively but ultimately it is down to the individual and how they utilise those tools.