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Jade Dragon School of Kung Fu and Qigong

Which is the best martial art to study?
That depends on what you hope to gain from your martial art. Most martial arts will give you an increased level of fitness, more self confidence and the ability to defend yourself to a point.
First of all decide if you wish to study a combat sport or a traditional martial art. The majority of martial arts taught in the west are combat sports where you pitch yourself against an opponent in the ring. This gives you the confidence to feel you could successfully fight outside the ring with the techniques taught to you. A traditional martial art is very different. Here the emphasis is not on competition but on real life survival skills based on thousands of years of study. All combat sports have taken a selection of techniques from traditional arts and they test this selection in full combat with an opponent - with the appropriate rules and protective gear to prevent serious injury. In the traditional arts no rules or protection is needed as the emphasis is not on competition but on mastery of the self through mastery of a complicated series of movements and skills. Obviously I believe this is the best system to study for me but your aims may be very different to mine. However, this art is so comprehensive that I have never felt the need to try any other form of martial art.

Advantages and disadvantages

Combat Sports
Advantages	Disadvantages
Quicker to learn as fewer techniques to master.	Less comprehensive, most specialise in just one aspect of combat eg. judo - throws, taekwondo - high kicks.
Ring fighting gives confidence of martial skill.	Ring fighting is not always a good parallel to street fighting where there are no rules or protective gear.
More common so easier to find a good class near you.	Ring fighting often promotes an aggressive attitude.

Traditional Martial Arts
Advantages	Disadvantages
More comprehensive so a much wider range of skills on offer and less chance of needing to go elsewhere to become a 'more rounded fighter'.	Requires more time and dedication to learn.
Learn skills that have been tested over thousands of years in real warfare.	More difficult to test your own skills under real-life simulations as there are no rules, protective gear and the techniques are more advanced and, potentially, more dangerous.
Traditional martial arts tend to teach much more in the way of self development skills such as meditation, breathing skills, healing abilities and more that are traditionally passed down through the particular style or system.	Not so common so more difficult to find a class that suits you.

How long will it take for me to master this art?
Confucius once said "there is only a beginning and further practice". How long it takes you to 'master' this art is simple - it will take you the rest of your life. This system is so comprehensive, contains so many techniques, forms, meditation skills, weapons practices etc that there cannot ever be an end. You're aim is not to master this art but to allow this art to show you a pathway on which you can master yourself. On the journey you will discover many fascinating things about you and the world around you. You will learn to live a much fuller and richer and certainly a healthier life, free of unnecessary tension, fear and negative self image.

Do I need to be very fit to join your classes?
Not at all. From the very first lesson you will learn techniques that you can use straightaway if you need to.The exercises you will learn are specifically designed to train your body to perform the skills and techniques to the maximum effect using the minimum effort. Many of our exercises may be very different to what you would expect and often it is the people who are generally considered fit that struggle the most to change from their perspective of fitness to ours. When people ask "are you fit?" they usually never specify what they are asking you are fit for. A marathon runner is unlikely to be able to bench press their own body weight and neither a marathon runner nor a weightlifter have the right kind of conditioning to master a traditional martial art. So don't worry about your level of fitness just come along and enjoy the classes.

I have always wanted to learn a martial art but am worried about being thrown around the room on my first lesson.
When you first start to learn a traditional martial art there are a number of basics that you need to master. These include being able to stand correctly, sink your centre of gravity and use your arms effectively. During every lesson you will almost certainly learn at least one or two new techniques and be shown how to use them singly and with a partner. However, this is a very controlled contact and you will not emerge damaged in any way. There will, obviously, be small amounts of pain when using the techniques on each other but these are part of the natural "growing pains" of learning a martial art. There is no competition between students only cooperation and the classes are run in a friendly, family atmosphere.

Please feel free to contact me on info@jdkf.org if you have any questions about the school that aren't answered here.