Internal Martial Arts, External Martial Arts, Hard Style, and Soft Style – What does it all mean?

We hear these terms so often, to describe so many different kinds of martial arts, that they begin to lose all meaning.

After many years of studying martial arts, I’ve formed specific definitions of my own. In the spirit of making terms precise enough for everyday use, I offer them to you.

I’ll start with hard style and soft style:

Darsana Martial - Hard & Soft Style The terms hard and soft, when relating to the martial arts, imply a way of dealing with your opponent’s force. In essence, hard styles meet their opponent’s force with force, using solid blocks, strong postures, and powerful attacks fueled by strength, mass, and speed. Soft styles on the other hand attempt to blend with their opponent’s force, using fluid movements and timing to avoid, deflect, and redirect their opponent’s attacks.

What is “Martial Arts”?

If we put aside style or system, if we forget about ancient or modern, east or west, and instead simply focus on the nature of human movement, the nature of fighting, and the nature of mental, physical, and spiritual development – what is the result? The result is a process of training through which an individual can realize their greatest potential. That is what martial arts means to me.

This is not to say that there is nothing to learn from a specific style, or that one should discard traditional martial arts for modern methods. My point is to seek the universal, underlying truths which bind all martial arts together.