Choosing what martial art to learn is an interesting decision these days. When I was growing up there were not too many options on what we could learn. I remember trying Kungfu and something else before training in Tae Kwon Do for about three years. The rule that we had was if the class was asked to meditate or bow to an idol then we could no longer participate. I remember enjoying learning kicks, punches and going to some competitions, which were not as fun. When my daughter was looking to do something more active, I thought, let’s do martial arts together. It will be fun, I said. I’m not sure she was all that enthusiastic at first. However, after a few months, at the top of her Christmas list was sparring gear.
Before I asked her to join me in martial arts, I started doing research into local dojos in the area. I came across a few places that taught Tae Kwon Do, Brazilian Ju Jitsu, Karate, Judu and other places. I was looking for two things: one was an art form that an out of shape 40ish dad could participate in, and second something that was focused on self-defense. In my searching I found the website for CMAF (Christian Martial Art Fellowship) and what caught my attention was that the art was based on Biblical principles, used the natural motion of the body and was really close to my house.
I know that many people say their form of martial art is the best or that particular form is useless. All you have to do is search YouTube and you will find a plethora of individuals saying one thing or another. There is probably some truth hidden in all the claims and frankly, some of the videos are quite interesting to watch. That being said, I can’t claim that Cha Yun Do is the best one out there for you, but what I do know is that Cha Yun Do is devoid of eastern mysticism and completely focused on defending oneself or someone else versus aggressively taking someone down. Additionally, students are encouraged to spar not only other students at their level but others who are above their level or bigger and stronger than they are. In my opinion having the practical application of the techniques in free sparing is one of the best ways to learn.
To wrap it up, the reasons I choose to train in Cha Yun Do were the following:
- There is no eastern mysticism or new age philosophy
- All the schools are ministries of a church or para-church organization
- The skills taught are for self-defense and are focused on taking a defensive posture
- Sparring is encouraged and used as a training exercise to teach how the techniques and combinations work together
By Chris Dow | April 11, 2021