Belief in magic …

The martial arts landscape is full of ‘magical thinking’. 

I have seen more than my fair share of it over the years. From the not so bad - but still bad - idea that because I do kata or forms I can defend myself in an actual fight. Yikes! To the idea that because we have learned a ‘move’ or ‘technique’ once in class, somehow it is now stored in some part of our brain and will be recoverable as and when needed. Yikes! Or the most crazy - ‘no contact’ knockouts … OMG! Delusional!

Real fights are … well, real. That’s the difference. There is a physical element to them that we need to become used to. And there are the psychological aspects - fear management, etc. You can’t think yourself out of fear - you have to act yourself out of it. 

Yep. All that.