Psychological benefits from martial arts

oldboy

Hi Lads and Ladies,

I've been mad to start a martial art for years, keep putting it off and chickening out for various reasons, mostly just chickening out.

I'm keen to take one up as a way to keep fit and learn to handle myself but I'm curious about it helping with other areas in my life ? I'm not looking for a miracle cure, but I am curious as to the other benefits you can get.

- Concentration and focus ? Have any of you found yourselves better and more focused at things you apply yourself to after training for years ?

- Self confidence, self esteem & pride. A friend once told me that he became who he was because of the confidence TKD gave him, just achieving his belts and winning his first amateur competition fight turned his confidence around. He was never physically that confident a guy growing up.

- Patience, respect, and ability to accept criticism. Again are these areas that he says he has now realised he had very little of before.

Is it the same for most people do you guys think ?

Thanks in advance

dave80

oldboy wrote: »

Hi Lads and Ladies,

I've been mad to start a martial art for years, keep putting it off and chickening out for various reasons, mostly just chickening out.

I'm keen to take one up as a way to keep fit and learn to handle myself but I'm curious about it helping with other areas in my life ? I'm not looking for a miracle cure, but I am curious as to the other benefits you can get.

- Concentration and focus ? Have any of you found yourselves better and more focused at things you apply yourself to after training for years ?

- Self confidence, self esteem & pride. A friend once told me that he became who he was because of the confidence TKD gave him, just achieving his belts and winning his first amateur competition fight turned his confidence around. He was never physically that confident a guy growing up.

- Patience, respect, and ability to accept criticism. Again are these areas that he says he has now realised he had very little of before.

Is it the same for most people do you guys think ?

Thanks in advance

all of the above and more, just give it a lash and youll never look back, there is loads of MA clubs that run classes for complete beginners

Pride Fighter

oldboy wrote: »

Hi Lads and Ladies,

I've been mad to start a martial art for years, keep putting it off and chickening out for various reasons, mostly just chickening out.

I'm keen to take one up as a way to keep fit and learn to handle myself but I'm curious about it helping with other areas in my life ? I'm not looking for a miracle cure, but I am curious as to the other benefits you can get.

- Concentration and focus ? Have any of you found yourselves better and more focused at things you apply yourself to after training for years ?

- Self confidence, self esteem & pride. A friend once told me that he became who he was because of the confidence TKD gave him, just achieving his belts and winning his first amateur competition fight turned his confidence around. He was never physically that confident a guy growing up.

- Patience, respect, and ability to accept criticism. Again are these areas that he says he has now realised he had very little of before.

Is it the same for most people do you guys think ?

Thanks in advance

Martial Arts are a great thing to get involved in. When I was in Secondary School I quit for 18 months and noticed myself being unfit and lacking drive and motivation. When I returned to training my grades and attendance in School shot up and as a result so did my confidence generally. I found that to get the benefits of MA you have to be very patient as sometimes you will not see tangible improvement in training for months so keep that in mind for your future involvement in the arts. Good luck to you:) and start training ASAP.

ColinJennings

It is great for you. Go try it. Don't be intimidated, it is great craic too.

deegs

Can I just make the following change to your post?

oldboy wrote: »

Hi Lads and Ladies,

I've been mad to start a martial art for years, keep putting it off and chickening out for various reasons, mostly just chickening out.

I'm keen to take one up as a way to keep fit and learn to handle myself but I'm curious about it helping with other areas in my life ? I'm not looking for a miracle cure, but I am curious as to the other benefits you can get.

- Concentration and focus ? Have any of you found yourselves better and more focused at things you apply yourself to after training for years ?

- Self confidence, self esteem & humility. A friend once told me that he became who he was because of the confidence TKD gave him, just achieving his belts and winning his first amateur competition fight turned his confidence around. He was never physically that confident a guy growing up.

- Patience, respect, and ability to accept criticism. Again are these areas that he says he has now realised he had very little of before.

Is it the same for most people do you guys think ?

Thanks in advance

DeVore

Chickening out?? Jesus, get a good dojo (not just the first in the yellow pages) and go for it! There's nothing at ALL to be chicken about, you arent going to be thrown to the black-belts as sport you know :)

I dont have the experience of others here but I did 2 years when I was in my late teens and I found it was terrific for several reasons.


I had a violent temper. I wasnt a chav or a thug or anything, but when I lost it, I lost it bad and went straight for the fists first. I would just trigger and go f*cking nuts. I was always in the right but always OTT and waaaay out of proportion once things kicked off.
I found that karate helped me enormously, not to win those fights (I was such a nutter I won them all anyway) but to have the mental discipline to simply walk away or defend myself in such a way that suddenly the other guy realised he had an appointment or something.... elsewhere. My sensei noticed this in me and told me I had a trigger which was (no joke) when I was slapped in the face (something that still makes me rear up).
He trained me to take hits and not get angry, to take the anger and make it work for me not the other way around. When I was well along in my training I noticed that I could walk away from situations because I just knew I could mash the bloke and also that I didnt HAVE to. That pretty much changed my life I guess, I'd hate to think where I would be now.

Pride, self confidence and humility: Ok, I have an abundance of the first two. MA taught me humility in several forms. How to lose with grace and almost more importantly how to WIN with grace. When an arthritic 87 year old japanese man can snap a kick to your head, hold it inches away from your ear before you even block and then lecture a class on the kicking technique, you start to think "you know what, theres still a lot I can learn here "

Respect: I've always been a fairly respectful person (thanks mum and dad!) but it certainly was helped by MA. Accepting that someone is so far ahead of you in anything (especially MA) that they deserve the term "Sensei" and that you should respect their talent is a long lost art
Finding a Sensei who returns that respect is paramount imho. I studied under a man who had the utmost respect for his students, beyond the call of duty. It always shocks me when I hear of students being maligned but thankfully its a rare occurance.

Patience too come from repeating the same kick, the same punch, the same form over and over and over (x50 ). I dont want to get all Mister Miagi on you here but there really is a zen thing that happens when you train in this way, if you are open to it.

Finally something you didnt mention. I call it the Body-Brain connection. I'm sure there are other, more accurate, descriptions! When I was training, my mind felt like it belonged in my body. It wasnt the control tower desperately trying to, you know... jerk my body in roughly the right direction! It was a part of the body and I moved and acted and thought all in one. Its hard to describe but you feel like your brain isnt floating 10 feet behind and above your body like some 3d perspective game!

Positivity too, you will find you are more positive about life in general I will bet. I have no medical reason to believe that but I would put money on it!

Try it, go along and watch a few dojo's (good ones wont mind you coming in for 5 minutes I bet, just be respectful). You'll love it I bet.

DeV.

fitz0

oldboy wrote: »

- Concentration and focus ? Have any of you found yourselves better and more focused at things you apply yourself to after training for years ?

- Self confidence, self esteem & pride. A friend once told me that he became who he was because of the confidence TKD gave him, just achieving his belts and winning his first amateur competition fight turned his confidence around. He was never physically that confident a guy growing up.

- Patience, respect, and ability to accept criticism. Again are these areas that he says he has now realised he had very little of before.

Since I stopped doing MA for various reasons, I have felt these things slowly slipping away from me. Lately I get angry over little things that I was calm about when I did MA. If I can go back to training I would hop e that I can get these back, I was so much better off then.

DeVore

I'm exactly the same Fitz0. I'm trying to get myself back to that point but I have my own demons to slay first.


DeV.