Yesterday I spoke with someone who was utterly convinced that the traditional dojo is on its way to extinction. In his view, martial arts will soon exist entirely in the digital realm, students training in their living rooms, teachers broadcasting through screens, and the essence of the dojo reduced to pixels and bandwidth. I listened, but every part of me disagreed.
To me, the dojo is not merely a structure of walls and mats, it is a sacred space, a vessel for lineage, energy, and human connection that cannot be replicated by even the most advanced technology.
Online learning has its place. I have loved Vladimir’s sessions on Fridays (with the Japanese Systema group) and Krabi Krabong lessons from Bangkok, Thailand for example. They offer access to instruction that geography or circumstance might otherwise deny. Zoom and similar platforms are valuable tools, allowing practitioners to connect, refine, and continue when travel or proximity make in-person training impossible. But these are supports, not substitutes. They can assist in deepening understanding, but they cannot ignite the same spirit that arises when bodies move, clash, and breathe together in a shared space.
There are lessons that must be transmitted through touch, through silence, through the pulse of presence itself. The subtle corrections of alignment, the shared energy of group practice, the unspoken communication between teacher and student, all of these are “living entities” within the dojo. To declare its death is to misunderstand the very nature of martial arts. A screen may carry words and images, but not spirit. The dojo lives as long as we do, as long as we continue to bow before entering, step onto the mat, and train not only with our bodies, but with our hearts.
David Orman, Instructor, Central Florida Sysytema/Central Florida Krabi Krabong
Central FL Systema 