Training Partners - Fighting on the Path of Benevolence
Take my arm, practice breaking it. Take my neck, practice choking me unconscious. Martial arts training offers a level of intimacy between practitioners that few activities can rival. Where else can you find someone who may be willing to offer you one of their favourite limbs or sacrifice their general physical health for your self betterment? Trust is the bond that makes the reciprocity between training partners possible. To illustrate, look at the scenario when two training partners practicing ankle lock attacks. My assurance that no harm is going to come to me as I offer you my foot is reciprocated as I, in return, receive your ankle to perfect my attacks. Martial arts training is an analogy for any healthy relationship. Training partners exercise a system of give and take; practitioners form a relationship of codependence and mutual reliance. An odd paradox emerges, only through kindness and benevolence to my training partner can I become more violently and aggressively proficient towards my adversary.
