The "Language" of Martial Arts
I have long thought of my martial art as a language. If every stance, punch, kick, guard, parry, or block is a letter, then a whole striking or blocking movement is a word, a defensive technique is a phrase, and a form or kata is a whole sentence (some of which are Dickensian in length). I need to train to make every punch, kick, etc. right, just like I need to form every letter correctly when writing, then build up from there to the more complex elements. Just as I can arrange my letters into a word, I can arrange my fundamentals into a complete attacking or defending movement, and just as there are some natural letter combinations that we see over and over again, there are some natural kinesthetic combinations that we see throughout our martial arts movements. For example, in English the letter Q is almost always used in conjunction with the letter U. In martial arts, a straight right punch is almost always used in conjunction with a waist crunch, turning the torso so that th