Yoda can stick it

One of the things I really hate about martial arts is the tendency to try to incorporate mystical bullshit into instruction. It always comes off as some Jedi-wankery.

You're thinking too much.

Feel, don't think.

Let yourself just react. No, you're doing it wrong.

Use the For... Oh wait. No, they don't say that one.

First off, I've rarely been accused of thinking "too much" over the course of my life. Indeed, overthinking is rarely my problem. So I find it funny (and really annoying) when I'm told that while trying to figure out how to actually apply a lesson in a scenario.

"Feel, don't think" is usually just a lazy way of saying "you're focusing yourself on the wrong thing", like thinking of your attacker instead of how to react to your attacker, or something like that.

This Yoda bullshit works fine in a Lucasfilm. They can lift spacecraft with their minds, throw lighting, and use energy swords that slice through plate steel. I'm not being taught to do any of those things.

Mysticism is annoying under most circumstances. I find most mysticism to simply be a little act of smoke-and-mirrors tossed up by people who lack the ability to properly explain their viewpoints (or who choose to obfuscate their viewpoints). When it comes to an actual bit of instruction, I find mysticism to be completely unacceptable.

It's hard to say that to a black belt's face and expect to retain my teeth, though.

*sigh*