Benefits of Studying the Martial Arts
Though the Martial Arts are ostensibly about methods of self-defense, its study can cultivate benefits that extend far beyond fighting. Just as with any undertaking, you will get more out of the martial arts the more effort and dedication you put into it. However, even casual practice can bring about many of these benefits. Should you venture further into the world of martial arts practice, you will discover deeper and more profound benefits that affect every part of your life.
The Fragility of Life and the Value of Restraint
Martial arts are comprised of systematized methods of damaging and dismantling the human body. Even the most esoteric and “soft” fighting systems contain techniques that, when applied with their original design, can cause immense harm to a body. Other systems are blatant in the lethality of their techniques. One of the most sobering parts of martial arts study is the realization of how easy it is to damage the human body. Even a relative novice can wreak havoc on another person in a fight. In the hands of an expert, these techniques are immensely dangerous.
To learn martial arts is to intimately understand how fragile the human body is. It also instills an imperative about the application of these arts: to have such knowledge and proficiency requires complete restraint in their use. The more you appreciate the somber and dire consequences of their use, the less eager you will be in their application. Restraint is the cornerstone of responsible martial arts.
Developing the Body and Attuning it to the Mind
Despite the vast differences that exist between many of the varieties of martial arts, they are all fantastic avenues of physical cultivation. Martial arts proficiency requires a holistic approach to physical development. A complete training program promotes strong muscles, body flexibility, and cardiovascular capacity. Moreover, as all martial arts are arts of motion, they foster great coordination between the different parts of the body. Therefore, expert martial artists are so often renowned for their sense of balance and stability.
Martial arts training comprises a significant mental component which is often expressed as a sort of “moving meditation”. This is mental cultivation combined with physical coordination – a synthesis that martial arts practice achieves better than any other undertaking. The result of such a practice is to attain a high level of physical gracefulness and stability in motion.
The Process of Learning
All Martial arts systems are designed to be learned in a progressive, systemic manner. Advanced techniques and concepts are built upon basics and fundamentals. These training methodologies are fantastic examples of how expertise is cultivated upon repetition, progression, and experience.
For a martial arts technique to be useful in a fight, it must be programmed into the mind and body – it must be second nature so as to be called upon instantly when the need (and opportunity) arises. For this to happen, even complex techniques must be broken down into component motions and repeated. Such repletion is accompanied by mental practices that assist the programming of the technique into the muscle memory.
If you have completed learning a martial arts system, or even just progressed into the intermediate stages, you will have gained a unique perspective on the process of learning. Techniques that were once difficult and cumbersome to perform become effortless with sufficient practice and progression. Such an understanding provides insight into how we learn new things. This understanding is what makes it easier for martial artists to approach learning a new skill with confidence.
Discipline and Habits
Discipline is perhaps the most famous benefit of martial arts training and is what you will often see advertised on the windows of dojos. Martial arts practice requires endless repetition and conformity to distinct motions and postures. Traditional schools also employ a great deal of regimentation in how classes are conducted – from ceremony to manners to drills. This harkens back to both the military and Confucian roots found in these martial arts systems.
Confidence
Like discipline, self-confidence is a common benefit of martial arts training. However, this is not type of confidence that you might expect. It is not about being able to confidently walk through a dangerous part of town or pick a fight with a larger opponent. This is a childish interpretation of courage.
Martial arts expertise imparts mature courage. It is based on a healthy and realistic assessment of your own strengths and weaknesses. It is the sense that no matter what the challenge, you will be confident in your ability to deliver your best effort. This is done with the understanding that you are not invincible, and that success is not guaranteed. The only guarantee you can give is that you will give 100% no matter what. This is the confidence of a mature person. Martial arts go a long way in cultivating this trait.
Conclusion
Martial artists possess a greater sense of resilience than their sedentary peers. Someone who has endured martial arts training for sufficient years can put many of the challenges of life in a new perspective. Asking for a date or a raise is much less daunting and discouraging for someone who has cultivated the resilience of a martial artist. An angry boss or attractive stranger is much less intimidating than facing down someone trying to punch you in the face. In addition, martial artists understand that failures and setbacks are part of the process of growth. As with proficiency in a fighting style, success and mastery are rarely achieved spontaneously, but through extended processes. This is the genuine gift of the martial arts.
The Martial Way is a powerful and rewarding way of living derived from the martial arts. To learn more about the history, development, cultivation, and application of the Martial Way, check out my book NOBLE ECHOES: Gifts from the Martial Arts for Modern Life. Available in paperback or Kinde e-book.