I'm keen to take up some kind of martial arts but, from what I've seen, most of the popular martial arts that are available (especially in my regional town) are a bit... well...
Some of them seem to be an avenue for disenfranchised men to feel like they're good at something. Which is good, I suppose - disenfranchised men do need to feel like they're good at something. It's just that they take the short side of forever to stop being "boys with something to prove in need of an outlet" and turn into "mature grown-ups who want to develop skills" - and they make everything painful in the process. I'd rather find something that disenfranchised men find boring and not "manly" enough, so they go off and franchise themselves somewhere else and come back to this after they've moved on in life (if you you what I mean?).
Others are less stressy in that regard, but they've become too much of a Western sport, and aren't really a "this will help you on your journey... and protect you from the mugger in the carpark" kind of martial art. I like the meditative, spiritual side of things, and don't want to just come to the dojo and bout while I train for a competition. And I want something that has practical self-defense applications
What I'd like is something like this:
1. I want something that is largely non-aggressive - almost a non-combative martial art. It's first and foremost a defensive system, designed to side-step an attack and encourage your attacker to send himself head-first into the floor. It won't attract the kind of people who want to be Bruce Lee, because it's a fairly rubbish fighting system (being designed to get you out and away from the fight as soon as possible), but on the other hand, if you're good at it, no one will be able to land a punch on you. And if you're not that good at it, you'll be able to take a punch with such equanimity and circumspection that no one will be able to land a second punch.
2. I want something that has a meditative element to it. Like Tai Chi, it has a series of solo flow drills that you could do for 20 minutes in the morning all by yourself to get the day going. But in terms of the actual workout you get from this flow, I want something closer to yoga than Tai Chi - a bit like vinyasa yoga and Tai Chi had a baby. On your own, you move through a graceful sequence of movement that improves your strength and flexibility but is like poetry in motion. Then, you go to the dojo and practise with others to work on how any one of those beautiful moves, applied quickly and decisively, could actually disarm an attacker and throw them into a wall (while you run like the dickens to get the hell away from there).
3. I want something that's not a boys' club that one or two girls have invaded. I know this is terribly sexist, but whenever I look at the website of a club and I see that all of the instructors are men and 80% of the students are male, I immediately think it's going to be a drag. I want something where there's a good gender balance in the instructors and participants (or even a tendency to have more women than men). In my experience, any sporting group where female participation is at a bare minimum is one where... well... disenfranchised men feel the need to prove something. Women and girls usually get really involved with groups and organisations if they feel encouraged to engage (and by that I mean not discouraged). If they aren't there in good numbers, it's often because they are being sidelined or treated like idiots.
4. I want something that doesn't take itself too seriously. Some people might want to be masters, and that's nice. Some people might just want something to do to keep themselves mentally and physically active. If someone isn't getting more advanced, maybe it's because they don't particularly want to - and that's okay. Like yoga, everyone is on their own path and there's no pressure to move up a level. I not here to win, I'm here to train, and I need to know the trainers are going to respect that. (This is, oddly, connected to the point above. Clubs that are 80% male, and in which all of the instructors are male, tend to get really antsy when someone just wants to poodle along at their own pace - especially when that someone happens to be female).
5. I want something that actually is effective against the average mugger in the carpark. Don't give me one of those martial arts where everyone is wearing a kimono and half the moves involve grabbing their lapel and sleeve and almost all of the moves require both participants to be students of the same martial art. Give me something that will work when I'm suddenly accosted by a guy in a T-shirt who only knows how to brawl.
I expect bits of what I've just said can be found in a variety of different martial arts (Tai Chi, Aikido, etc), and I don't want to be too Benedick about this ("Til all graces be in one martial art, one martial art shall never be in my grace"), but if anyone knows of an existing martial art that ticks most of these boxes, can you let me know?
Edit: In a later post, I distilled this idea even further.
