In working with practitioners who've only ever done Liberation Martial Arts (LMA), I've been pleasantly surprised by the fresh perspectives they bring to martial arts.
During a conversation with one practitioner, I posed this question: Why do punches seem easier to execute and anticipate than kicks?
Their response intrigued me. They began by noting that our arms are more actively engaged in our daily activities, making them familiar and easier to perceive. However, they delved deeper into the role of perception. According to them, our eyes naturally focus on the chest and arms because they are at eye level. These body parts are frequently involved in our interactions and movements, constantly being modeled before us. Through experience and early education, we're trained to interpret them (body language). We come to martial arts already trained by our environment.
In contrast, legs reside below our eye level, and their movements often go unnoticed, leaving us less familiar with their patterns. We usually don't interact with them or think about them. Because they are furthest from our eyes, they are less embodied than our arms. We think of legs as something that is touched by our hands rather than something that is us.
In LMA, we prioritize teaching footwork and kicks first precisely because these movements are the least familiar and embodied for new practitioners.
Since this practitioner only knows martial arts through the lens of wayfinding, they see movements as means of navigating space and recognize how material conditions influence our physical actions. By embracing this perspective, the interconnectedness of perception, movement, and environmental factors within the realm of martial arts ceased to be a mystery.
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