Have you ever come across people, friends, family, or work colleagues who seem to be calm, quietly confident, approachable and likeable only to discover later that they study or used to study martial arts?
Martial arts are learnt for many reasons: combat sports, self-defence, competition fighting or training for law enforcement or the military. As a young lad, martial arts was something to be seen in the movies. And, looking back, I was more akin to the Cobra Kia than Mr Miyagi.
My outlook on the value of martial arts changed after witnessing a fight in the school playground between two ‘friends’. The speed at which the fight was over was an eyeopener, albeit on a superficial physical nature. This altercation made me re-evaluate martial arts. Seeing someone in real life moving as a movie star had me in awe.
Is this what martial arts is all about? As a young man, it really got me thinking. Learn a martial art and I will be ready to take on and fight the world.
Reviewing the fight now, with more maturity and life knowledge, I understand that a real martial artist would have tried to de-escalate the situation and walk away. Making the right decisions at the right time is something martial art will teach you. You learn a lot about yourself and your ego when on a martial arts journey.
Physically engaging with someone can only be vindicated as a last resort if you have no choice or your life or physical wellbeing is in danger. Only the ego wants to get involved in a physical altercation when it thinks it has been insulted or wronged in some way.
But martial arts are so much more than the physical. Throughout the course of your life, problems will occur, struggles both physically and mentally will be a challenge that needs to be overcome. By mental health issues, I am not referring to problems that would require hospitalisation or doctor’s intervention, more lack of motivation, horrible self-talk and feelings of lack of self-worth. Training in traditional martial art (TMA) can help you focus on the task at hand and not get waylaid by other thoughts, the same way that daily meditation can help calm your mind. If you have had a stressful day, training even for a short period can give you that mental break to help ease your stress and help you recharge.