My intention for creating Dragons Gate Martial Arts is to create a martial philosophy that can be applied to any art, sport, activity and life. It will also act as the parent company and face of my martial arts expression. As with many martial arts, it will encompass Mind, Body, and Spirit. I have always been fascinated with dragons and what they represent. The initial philosophy is that when you are faced with an obstacle of any sort, it is like a door, window or gate. You can choose to go through it, not to go through it, open it and look in, turn and run, prepare and step through boldly, but whatever the action it is yours to choose. The dragon represents our ideal. How would the ideal me, the magical perfect being that we each can be, take action? How big is the gate that you face? If you want to become a black belt in a martial art, you will face a series of gates. In the short run, you must find an art, go to class and practice. In the intermediate phase, you will have to figure out how to balance training, work, family life, and mental/physical obstacles. The long term gate you must pass through has to do with your ultimate purpose. Each of us must decide what it is we want out of the art. There are a variety of choices to make there too! Areas to consider: Self Defense, Fighting/Sport, Fitness/Fun, Combat or Spiritual/Physical/Personal Growth. There are no wrong answers in why to choose a martial path. But it is really important to know what you want to get out of it. If you truly want to learn “self defense” then don’t go to a school that focuses on point sparring. If you want to be in good cardio shape and work on flexibility and control of body, a school that focuses on forms might be perfect.
This is my first entry on my personal journey of discovering Dragons Gate. A note on the name is that it is plural dragons. As in more than one. We each in us have a variety of dragons. We are each just one, but many at the same time. Each dragon has a different role: at home we might be a father/mother, we are also a brother/sister, we are all a son/daughter, at school a 5th grader or teacher, a business owner/employee – we each have many different roles and dragons in our daily lives and part of training is recognizing what actions that dragon needs to take.
More next time!
Be Well, Train Hard, Embrace Your Dragon
Seth Allen
