What it Means to Be a Martial Artist Part 1

Martial Artist is one of the most misunderstood labels thrown around in the world today.  It generally means either being an overly ego sensitive "tough guy" or being some sort of acrobat or someone that likes star wars too much.  Real martial arts (武术 wu shu) always has meant "war/combative arts".  It is about achieving self mastery and longevity of health using combat as a vehicle and purpose for your practice. Generally when martial training is pursued as a vehicle to achieve health and self mastery it is considered 功夫 gong fu. Martial Artists in short are dedicated to practicing gong fu throughout their lives.  Gong Fu is more of a way of life than it is merely a form of fighting methodology. More explanation follows in the shared audio file.