People gravitate to the Martial Arts for a number of different reasons. Some are obvious, like physical fitness and learning how to defend yourself. Others, however, are less tangible but just as valid. Martial Arts can be an extremely powerful tool for improving your attitude and increasing positivity in every aspect of your life, both in and outside of the studio.
Training in Martial Arts is far more holistic than merely going to a gym three times a week to run on a treadmill or lift weights. The martial arts demand mental, physical and even spiritual fitness. Mastering Martial Arts techniques can have a very uplifting effect on your attitude and, to some degree, even reshape your view of the world around you.
At top quality Martial Arts facilities, there is little room for negativity. Students are encouraged to check their problems at the door. Though classes are about learning fighting and self-defense techniques, to a high degree they are also about generating positivity and uplifting student’s attitudes.
Martial Arts require that students push back the limits of their own boundaries and grow in ways they may have never thought possible. Along with this personal growth comes a re-evaluation of views of ourselves. Many students find that, over time, they are much more stronger, more capable and more flexible (both mentally and physically) than they previously imagined. Achieving this revised view of one’s self image through Martial Arts can have an enormously positive effect on self-perceptions and outward attitudes.
As students continue to study, learn and grow Martial Arts, they train their minds to see the world in new and different ways, sometimes out-growing old attitudes and adapting new ones. Bruce Lee was fond of saying that in Martial Arts the students efforts are not directed towards some imaginary opponent but rather to an outdated version of themselves. Consider Martial Arts as a trial by fire. By training hard, students throw themselves into that fire and forge stronger bodies, improved attitudes, and new views of the world around them – and their roles in it!
Thankfully most students will never be called upon to use the Martial Arts they learn in street fights or self-defense scenarios. It’s clear that self-defense alone isn’t the reason most people stay in the Martial Arts for years and years. The obesity-busting, whole body fitness that comes from training. The reliable, stress-relieving fun with nice friends with similar goals. The uplifts to their attitudes, with courtesy, support, positivity, and fellowship. The steady application of goal-setting and achieving skills in academic and career pursuits with winning results.
The list goes on and so does the intensely fun, uplifting, motivating, and rewarding practice at your local Martial Arts schools! By learning to appreciate one’s own physical and mental struggles in training, a sense of respect for the struggles faced by others starts to develop, leading to more considerate behavior.
Students inevitably find out that there is always someone “better” than them – at free sparring, board breaking, performing moves, etc. and to always either win or learn. They learn to appreciate their teachers, parents, peers, and other people and things. This new framework for viewing and acting often leads Martial Artists to stand out as leaders and contributors in their social circles, classes, workplaces, families, and communities.