Patterns – Why Do We Practice Them?

Many modern Martial Arts including Tae Kwon Do involve the practice of Forms/Katas/Patterns which are sequences of techniques performed in a flowing manner, but the question is… Why do we practice them? Very often when someone hears the word ‘pattern’ or ‘form’, they think about doing random sets of movements and therefore don’t realise the potential of the techniques taught, it is because of this that many modern Martial Arts are frowned upon and the average student looks to learn a style that is purely dedicated to a freestyle combat sports which omits forms from is teachings.

For many students that do practice patterns, they are simply seen as part of a curriculum to pass the next grading and earn a new belt, it is labelled as a case of ‘learn this pattern, pass the grading and then learn a new pattern’ and for many students including myself back in a day, it was the thought process at the time, until some light started to shed its way in and the patterns started to become more than just sequences that you learn because you had to. It wasn’t until I was shown why we practice the movements that I realised the potential behind them.

The patterns taught here at Family Martial Arts are the same as they were made to be after Tae Kwon Do was first inaugurated back in 1955, the applications of the techniques within the patterns have been placed largely on an emphasis of ‘blocking’ an attackers movement, sometimes against more than one attacker, and counter striking. With this in mind it is like trying to block someone who is about to power through with a punch or kick, the attacker maybe much heavier or taller, making it difficult for a slighter man or woman to defend themselves this way. However at the Family Martial Arts School, we look a lot more outside of the box.

When you learn a pattern at Family Martial Arts, you will learn to help your body coordinate itself through the practice of stances and perfecting the timing of hand and foot movements, you will develop focus and accuracy of techniques through constant practice. You will generate power using body position and the chambering/measuring for techniques making them more effective, but more importantly you will learn to use the techniques in practical self defence situations. Patterns within our curriculum become regular routine to help you push towards everyone’s common goal of progressing to the next grade, but at the same time they teach you effective ways of applying the techniques, the instructors encourage the student to be patient when learning new things so they develop and have a better understanding and will happily work with you to learn your techniques and patterns to improve them to the best standard you are able to achieve.

 All of the techniques you will learn either start with a chamber or a measure of some type, this means to cross the wrists or prepare your body to execute the technique with the most effect. We teach techniques against confrontational situations and we treat the movements as ‘strikes’ rather than ‘blocks’ regardless of the name of the technique, this helps the students to understand how to make their techniques mean something. Other benefits of learning patterns at Family Martial Arts are that once you begin to learn a pattern, the techniques within them are practiced regularly with the same technique often used to demonstrate various applications for self defence situations. Students develop a sense of responsibility and dedication by automatically wanting to make their patterns better through improving the stances, timing and accuracy therefore trying to prove their hard work ethic to the instructors which also further enhances their own self confidence. There is always something new to learn or improve about a pattern whether you know them all or have only just started with us. Ultimately it builds confidence in your ability to defend yourself and trains you through repetition to perform a technique more easily under pressure, which again makes them practical self defence applications.

Patterns are not just part of the grading syllabus, they are a means of keeping you safe, developing further motor skills, and by learning them with us a Family Martial Arts you are guaranteed to succeed and gain further knowledge about why we practice patterns.

Good Luck and Happy Training

By Michael Morgan-Lewis

Chief Instructor, Family Martial Arts Black Belt Schools – Maidstone