“Martial arts is a practice for not only strengthening your body, but for your mind as well.”
One of the foundations of every traditional martial art is respect; respect for your classmates, your instructor, your training space, your training tools, this list could go on and on. If you don’t have respect when you join a martial art, you learn very quickly you won’t make it far in training. Martial arts is a practice for not only strengthening your body, but for your mind as well. There’s a very humbling part of training that isn’t found in most other activities: you actively train techniques to harm another person. In fact, we usually try out those techniques on partners in class, and before we do anything, we bow to each other.
In the Tang Soo Do school I grew up training at, we always were told ‘Karate begins and ends with respect’. When we bow, we keep our hands at our sides and bow until the back of your neck is exposed. This is the ultimate way of showing respect and in itself is a feat of humility; by allowing the weakest point of your body to be exposed you’re acknowledging you are there to help each other learn and grow in a relationship with complete and utter mutual respect.
There are some instances where a less-formal bow can be appropriate, such as bowing to a sparring partner in competition. Here, you may want to keep your eyes up and on the opponent, therefore some people at tournaments will look their partner in the eyes as they bow. This is also a strategy in the chess game of sparring: remember there is the mental aspect of the match as well, such as ways you can use your body language to incite some reactions you may want.
In other styles, the way they bow varies greatly, but it is always done with utmost respect. How do you bow or show respect in your martial art?
