DISCIPLINE!

 By Phillip Starr

It's said that a life of martial arts is a life of discipline, but just what does that mean? In my view, there is only one real discipline and that's self-discipline; the willingness to do what must be done to achieve a particular goal. It requires a strong spirit and personal courage. It means training even when you feel tired or when your muscles ache.

I tell other instructors that they can certainly maintain a disciplined class but students doing repeated reverse punches and front kicks when they call cadence and students doing them when training on their own are two different things. Forced discipline isn't what it's all about. A student must develop a strong self-discipline. Otherwise, he's just exercising.

The discipline of training tends to be carried into one's daily life. This is as it should be. To resist it; to maintain discipline in class and leave it at the door of the training hall when you leave is rather pointless; the discipline of training is intended to be carried over into daily life.

Personally, I believe that a strong spirit and self-discipline are closely intertwined. One cannot really exist without the other. As one develops and becomes stronger, so does the other.

And as one unknown author put it, don't forget that the first discipline is showing up for class!