Weapons I Train With

I have just recently begun training with different types of weapons.  Many people believe that weapons are no longer important to learn, because they are impractical for modern day use, but what they don't realize is that training in weapons increases every aspect of your body.  It helps your stance, timing, power, agility, balance, many things that are hard to feel just using bare hands and bare feet.  Once you put a weapon in your hands, it allows you to feel, to truly feel your power.  I used to swing around baseball bats like swords when I was a kid, any stick instantly became a javelin for me, a slim rock was easily a throwing weapon, a dart without fins was a ninja throwing weapon.  I think I am not unique in my feeling about these things when I was young, yet as I got older I forgot the majestic feeling these simple items gave me.  It unlocked my imagination, made me feel connected to something other people don't acknowledge anymore. Now that I am training with real weapons, it's like all that childhood wonder has come back, but I can apply my life experiences with it too.  I mean, you have to have child like wonder when you are experiencing new things, especially if that thing is a form of art.

When I train with weapons I try to turn off my mind.  I don't go through books and videos and tutorials, I don't have someone standing there behind me yelling at me when I make a mistake, it's just me, the weapon, and my imagination.  I go based on feel, everything is on feel.  I can feel where to hold a sword so it balances correctly, I can hear when I strike with true power from the sound it makes on the bag, I can listen to the sound of my nunchaku with my eyes closed and deep inside me, that little kid filled with wonder, that little kid who watched power rangers and jumped on the furniture because the show was too exciting at all times... that little kid in me is living a dream and in that moment, I look up to myself.  Nothing has ever made that little kid inside me more excited then when I picked up a sword and decided, "I'm seriously going to learn how to use this."  Because of that, everyday I surprise myself.  I'm filled with wonder and excitement, it's a humbling feeling.  Something so basic, it's just a stick, but that stick represents all the things I gave up for so long.  I never took martial arts when I was a kid, I watched Dragon Ball Z and Power Rangers.  That was the extent of my experience with martial arts and I'm extremely grateful for that.  Because I never learned it as a child, I am fortunate to have no bad habits, it's something that I can appreciate at its highest level, I can respect it.

What's the point of me telling you this?  The point is quite simple.  If you want to master something, be passionate about it and go in with a complete empty mind.  Turn off everything you have ever learned on the subject and just go with your natural instinct.  Turn off your brain and let your primal instinct take over.  Once you can feel how to truly hold a weapon, how to stay balanced, how to run, how to fall, how to roll, then turn your brain back on.  Think up situations for new ways to use a weapon, imagine every scenario, turn on your imagination, fight whatever foe you want and develop your own inner fighting strength.  Each and every one of us has this raw power inside begging to come out, everyday your body is just waiting to go into that primal mode and we try to satisfy that urge with fake crap.

Whew, well that is my theory behind how I train with weapons and why I feel they are so meaningful.  As of today 7/17/2013, I currently own and train in the following weapons:

• Nunchaku (Left and Right Hand)
• Bo Staff
• Katana (Left and Right Hand, Two Hand Grip)
• Wakizashi (Off Hand for Katana)
• Tanto (Left and Right Hand)
• 3 Section Staff
• Throwing Knives (Right Hand for now)
• 10lbs Kettle Bells (Punching)
• 16oz Boxing Gloves

As I earn more money and advance my training further, I hope to expand my weapons training to other generations/cultures as well.  I would love to train in Medieval weaponry as well as Archery, but that will have to come with time.  I will put my routine down in another page on this blog I believe, so you can get a better idea how I train with each and I will go into detail with each weapon and why I feel it is so important to train with each.  If you have any questions about what my personal favorites are or what I would recommend trying first, feel free to message me and I would be more than happy to tell you!