I was reading an article the other day in a martial arts mag. The article was about the new “at that time” 3D computer generated videos being presented on YouTube. I read the article because it seems that everyone has spent time with U-tube sensei. I have been noticing over the many years of being in a brick and mortar dojo that students spend their time viewing the multitude of video on the web to get their personal incites on all martial arts.
I personally applaud everyone that is that interested in looking at all ways to fulfill the want of knowledge in the martial arts. I personally have found that reading about the ideas of martial arts is a fun way to stay connected when I am not on the mat.
So this leads me to a conversation that I had the other night with some of my students at the end of class. Like I said earlier, I am for all students quenching their thirst for all that is martial art via books and video. Where I do draw the line is that all students need to understand that this kind of knowledge is not the same and never will be what you get in a brick and mortar dojo. To start with the one on one relationship that you get with the student and instructor can never be realized with U-tube sensei. The friendship of other students in and out of the dojo is not in a book. The actual feeling of being the Uke in a technique can never be realized watching. The self confidence to know that you can truly perform the prescribed technique after the class is over. None of these and plenty of other reason will not come from just reading books and watching videos.
Something else I was mentioning and that is for every day that as a student does not train and substitute time on the mat for U-tube sensei or books can never be gotten back. So my message is; don’t give up one minute of real training in a brick and mortar dojo for U-tube sensei or books. You can never get back that time on the mat lost.
Swederska sensei
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