| Yes, absolutely Sifu. Many of the things that we learn as Martial Artists is to cause damage to people. Quite a few can also be used to heal or help them. The two are very closely related. The more you know about the body, the more you can affect them, in both positive (healing) and negative (attacks).
With the meridian lines and pressure points, many people will only focus on using them to disable an opponent. This is only a very small part of what they are capable of. The more you learn about how to use them in a beneficial way, the better you will be at using them for defense. I believe that this is a must for advanced level students to give them a better understanding of what they are actually affecting when they use their attacks. Plus they will better understand their own bodies and be able to tell when they are on the verge of causing injury due to over working themselves.
From a training point of view, there is always the risk of causing injury to your fellow MA on accident. It is very beneficial to know how to lessen or reverse such things.
As for CPR, I think that everyone will benefit from learning that. Especially MA instructors. Our school has been lucky that we have not had anyone seriously injured due to something in class, but we have had a couple of heart attacks in our Tai Chi classes, that were completely unrelated to class. Having an instructor that is able to keep their head, take control of the situation and immediately starting CPR helps show the students that MA is not just about hurting people.
So YES, teaching healing arts in my opinion is essential to creating an excellent martial artist.
The goal of (most) Martial Arts is to better yourself and others. You cannot do this by only learning to cause injury. You need to know how to prevent injury, and deal with injuries.  |