8 Lessons I Learnt from Martial Arts

The term “Martial Arts” derived from latin, meaning “Art of Mars”, The Roman god of war. Martial art is basically various forms of combat practices developed or practiced in various Countries, regions or ethnicity. There are million forms of internationally recognized or localized martial Arts. Martial Arts has many more benefits apart from self-defense.

Myself, being a practitioner of Taekwondo (Korean Martial Art) for 3 years during my teenage and as a District-level gold medalist, district-level instructor & referee and as a State-level player, I found many benefits beyond self-defense. It has been almost 17 years since I left martial arts practice, but it taught me life-long lessons. From my personal learnings and experiences, today I would like to share why and how, learning martial arts is important and can shape a child’s personality.

1. Adaptability– One of the important lesson taught by martial art is adaptability. The ability to understand new circumstances, adjust to those circumstances or to develop new techniques according to the circumstances, is all adaptability about. Every level of belt earning or graduation teaches a new lesson and techniques.

Every championship I have been and opponents I have encountered, had different specialities. Once you understand your opponent and his/her technique and adapt to new techniques, you will survive the game.

2. Acceptance – We all human being at some or other point or even most of the time, we ignore to accept the reality. The reality might be in terms of anything, in-terms of someone’s nature, some old rules, outdated techniques or even outdated knowledge. Martial art teaches acceptance. It teaches you to be open minded and ability to accept feedbacks. Not only to accept but to take the feedback in a positive direction.

Every time I had been to various places for my championships and whenever or whatever levels I have lost the match, it made me realize whether I did not change my strategy due to lack of acceptance, or I did not accept my instructors feedback with an open mind. I remember every time during a match whenever I have heard & followed a strong voice behind me commanding me how to play at that situation, which kicks to blow, and what strategy to follow the entire game (attack or play defensive), I have always won that match. And whenever I have not accepted my instructor’s feedback, I have lost the match every time.3. Self-Control – The ability to control one’s emotion positive and negative both, resisting short term temptations to meet long term goals, is called self-control and grit. Martial art always teaches to practice the art with self discipline and winning over the enemy with strategy than to overpower the enemy with strength. And in the arena, even if your enemy hits you bad, you need to tackle it only in a strategical fashion. You can’t afford to lose your temper and abuse and lose self-control. Martial art is always about thinking before taking any action.Self control practices are difficult but once learned, makes one become much more successful in practical world.

4. Focus and Introspection– Generally, by martial art, people think of it as learning fancy techniques and doing things in style. But, in real sense martial art is all about knowing your own self and focusing on your own strength. Every player has his/her own speciality, but rather than getting carried by fancy ways, one must focus on own strength with simplicity. Also, when a player goes to fight in the arena, they hear lot of good or bad things in the background, but the key to win is The Focus. Focus to understand your opponent, focus to hear only your instructor and your inner voice, and focus on the game.

And, same way in real life one need to just focus on oneself rather than judging & blaming others. This is how martial art shapes up the foundations of life.

5. Discipline/ Diligence/Grit

Knowing few moves and names is not martial art all about. It needs everyday practice. Practice beyond class hours, without master. The more you practice, the better you get your moves, understand the techniques, and build the stamina.

I remember my childhood, whenever there used to be a championship, the countdown used to begin 3 months before that. Apart from regular classes, I used to wake up early before school hours, with my cousins & sibling who also used to learn martial art, and under supervision of my dad used to go for morning jogs, exercises, practice my moves & kicks.

In same fashion, in real world too, only 20% job is about intelligence, major part is all about diligence and self commitment. If intelligence is there, but lack of diligence will take you no where. But, without intelligence and with diligence people can still do wonders.

6. Patience

The ability to stay calm and composed under unfavorable and hostile situations, and to wait for the right opportunity to overcome them, is called Patience.

Many times inmartial art, one gets the bad start in a game. But, the key to success is to look into the opponent’s eye and read his strategies, and wait patiently till he makes a mistake and you blow the right kick/ make the right move. BAM and you win the game!!!

Similarly, in real life too, no matter how well equipped you are during a hostile situation, you still need to wait patiently to grab the right opportunity.

7. Responsibility The ability to act independently and make decisions without authorization is called the Responsibility.

“With great power, comes great responsibility.”

In martial art, no matter how strong, powerful and skillful you are, you are not supposed to do a public display of it irresponsibly. There was this first lesson given by my Guruji, regarding martial art i.e., the 3 Fs (Flight, Fright, and finally Fight) to follow before using martial art skill anywhere. It meant, initially before getting into any brawl, it is always suggested to avoid the fight by either moving on (Flight) keeping cool headed or warning the person about wrong doing. If the situation doesn’t get under control, warn or show objection & anger (Fright) against the action/harm caused. And finally, if you still cannot control the situation, you need to Fight (with full commitment and focus) for self-defense and for the right of weak and the needy people.

Responsibility makes a person strong enough to own up the consequences of their actions. Mostly, people never try to own up one’s mistake or failure in reality. Once a person learns to take own responsibility, it gives foundation for the whole life. Overall, it makes them more balanced person and successful person in long run.

8. Humility & gratitude

No matter how powerful is someone, no one is invincible in this world. Neither was Ravana, nor Hitler. Be kind, return to the world and society whatever you got from them; respect everyone is the basic mantra to get the taste of real success.

Even in martial art, it is always taught to bow (pay respect to) your enemy, instructors and judges even before beginning the match. Also, irrespective of you lose or win the match, finally you have to bow (be respectful & kind to) your enemy and elders.

You might win or lose the match or any battle of life, but humility and dignity can take you long way in life.

Though, I could not pursue Taekwondo further, but the life lessons that I learnt from it, helped me to overcome many difficult times in my life and these take aways will be with me forever.

I would like to thank my dearest Dad for being so futuristic, almost around 20 years back, for encouraging me to learn Taekwondo along with my studies. Also, giving me freedom to travel various places for my championships. I can’t thank him more for being so open minded and allowing me to excel, especially in the region (and era) where (and when) Taekwondo/martial art was mainly male dominated art and people used to raise eyebrows against it.

Even though, my blog talks about the benefits of Taekwondo, its my firm belief that associating oneself to any form of sports teaches many valuable lessons of life.

Please do share your feedbacks/ suggestions and experiences. See you soon!!!