It is great that you have a desire to learn the arts you are trying to pursue on your own. Jason Brinn is logically correct when he says you can train on your own.
You must accept at some point you absolutely will need to train in a class under a qualified teacher.
If you can't find the art you have a passion for, train in something else... just get started. The teacher you get might be persuaded into bringing a master in the arts you love in for seminars. Or perhaps s/he knows one more locally not as well-known but available.
It would be very easy to tell you yes, you're surely doing well or hey, that's awesome. And that very well may be true. But training almost anything with an instructor in person is almost always preferable.
Sorry, I simply must echo the sentiment as well.
As for the dreams, they may be nothing but inner conflict resolving itself, it may be something else. Of course the responsible thing to do is talk to a shrink. They aren't just for "crazy people." The unbiased outside opinion is most valuable and can be a great asset. Don't freak out unless the dreams positively disturb you or you can't sleep out of fear of dreaming.
Good luck to you.
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Thing is, I don't think Jason is "logically correct". I think he's giving flawed information based on individual case studies that do not reflect the realities for the majority, as well as having a different idea of what would be considered "success" in this field. To address his post:
Ok - not sure why I am going to open my self up to this but I hate to see something I feel is wrong with out saying something so here goes.
You can totally SELF TRAIN.
Well, yeah, you can self train... but the thing is, what are you training in? Because it certainly isn't the specific martial art you think it is. And that's the real point... if our young poster thinks he's training himself, without instruction, in a specific martial art, he's deluding himself. The only way to learn a particular martial art is to be guided through it by someone who already knows it. End of story. You can become a decent fighter, develop your own ideas and concepts, and so on by yourself (the level of success can vary wildly, and will most typically be of the lower end of the scale), but to train in a martial art is to take on the lessons of those who came before you, with them there to guide you should you go off the reservation, and provide the next step of training when you are ready for it. Without knowing the art in the first place, you are not able to say why something is done one way and not another, and you don't even know what the next step is, let alone when you're ready for it. So when it comes to learning a martial art (specific), no, you totally can not self train without instruction. And no, books and DVDs are not instruction.
It's not the best method usually but it is not impossible. I have known MANY and there are plenty of examples today of people SELF TRAINING and getting much better than others who took the traditional route.
To learn a particular martial art, yes, it is impossible. To learn a skill set to enable you to fight, okay, that's not impossible, although if that's all you want (to learn "fighting techniques"), then it doesn't matter what system or style you do... but that's not the case in this (or any of a hundred other examples and threads here and elsewhere). In this case, we have the OP stating quite clearly that the arts he wants to learn aren't around... in other words, he wants a particular system. And you cannot teach yourself that, as, fairly simply, you don't know what it is to teach yourself in the first place.
I feel the real issue is to make sure what you are doing in your self training is safe. Get some guidance from someone or at least use methods of training that are generically agreed upon until you reach a level where you can go into whatever you want.
Hang on, you're saying it's possible to self teach martial arts, but you should get some guidance from someone to ensure the way you're doing it is safe? How is that different from getting some guidance to make sure you're actually doing it correctly in the first place (which should be a safe method anyway)? But, for the record, "generically agreed upon" training methods are something I'd disagree with... for one thing, the range of martial systems have very different requirements, which means that there aren't really universal methods of training in the first place.
Train what you love and believe in. If that means training on your own then so be it - don't train something you don't like or agree with just because you can get a teacher doing it. Life and the school of hard knocks can be your teacher if you listen.
What? The only way that works is if you're looking to just learn "fighting". Again, if you want to learn a particular martial approach, you need someone who knows it to teach you.. you can't just stumble upon it. So while I agree that, if you don't want to learn what's on offer nearby, don't learn it, that is far from saying that you can then just do what you want and think it's the particular martial art you want it to be. If your heart is set on a particular system, and there's no teacher around you, your choices are to recognize you can't train in it, or move somewhere where there is a teacher who can guide you. If the idea of giving up something, moving, or anything similar is too much sacrifice, or inconvenience for you, then you simply don't want it bad enough. That's fine... but don't delude yourself into thinking that makes what you're doing real, correct, or even vaguely related to the art you're wanting to train. In this sense, the real question for our OP is: How bad do you want it? You may have to make a big choice... such as to Get a New Wife. (
http://www.koryu.com/library/dlowry7.html)
Trust me young man - you ARE NOT going to find many people who will agree with me or any here for that matter I'm guessing. I have trained over 30 years, had many schools and trained fighters and I am telling you that you CAN self train.
Please. Your thirty years doesn't mean you're right, Jason... especially when others with as much time in, or longer, all disagree with your basic conclusions. And not just in this area, I might add.
Be smart and use common sense. Body conditioning IMO does NOTHING to help in any way measurable. It is really a waste of time and only ends up hurting your body. Train to be fit, fast and flexible and you will outdo the 99%.
Seriously?!? Jason, it really seems sometimes that you are always only looking for the easiest, least uncomfortable way to approach martial arts... you have MMA guys who don't spar, you don't think there is any benefit to body conditioning, you think that the students should dictate what is taught.... Seriously, I wonder what you've done in your thirty years....
