What Does it Mean to Be a Martial Artist?

by Paul Ross

Is it flying kicks and loud yells? Is it mystical eastern religion and philosophy? Is it domination of others? Is it invincibility? Do martial artists have magical abilities to fly, read minds and heal all ills? Does a black belt mean the martial artist has become wise? Can a martial artist be evil?

To practice a martial art simply means... practicing a martial art. We choose martial arts over non-martial arts because something about the idea of "martial" appeals to us. We practice arts that deal with violence. Ever wonder why that is? Most martial artists that I have come across do not get in fights. So why are we practicing something that seems to be practicing fighting?

* There is the self-defense aspect. All of us would like to think we can defend ourselves and our loved ones if necessary. 

* There is the physical fitness aspect. Getting in shape. Look around you. A martial art can help you get in shape, but obviously not everyone gets in shape from the practice of a martial art.

* Health reasons. This is related to the above reason, but the difference is that the concern is for long term health benefits - not the appearances that getting in shape is usually geared towards. They are not mutually exclusive reasons.

* Esoteric reasons. You see the "monks" on the kung fu movies and they seem to have attained something that is cool. Remember that those are movies. Monks in real life are a bit different. Their coolness is not from martial arts, but from the practice of whatever theological methodology they practice. And they are committed to that methodology all day, every day. As Americans I doubt we are willing to commit so seriously.  

* Kicking butt whenever we feel like it. Believe it or not, there are some martial artists that practice to be able to kick butts. This is not necessarily a bad thing. If you are interested in competition, particularly the UFC variety, you had better be able to kick butt. And there are those who use the martial arts training for criminal or sadistic purposes. There is nothing in the practice of martial artists that would preclude that type of behavior other than the diligence of the school in not teaching those kind of folks. And it can be hard sometimes to spot them as a teacher. Sometimes people change after they have begun training and start using martial skills for less than ethical reasons. 

* Some of us practice martial arts for the fun of it. But even then there is another reason we have chosen martial arts instead of square dancing. Any group activity can have the physical fun and social networking of martial arts training.

* Some of us take up martial arts because we have self esteem problems. We are looking to find a way to prop up low self-esteem and self-confidence. The practice of martial arts is not the only way to do this, but it does work quite well. If you stick with it. Being able to continue training and learning new skills does wonders for self-confidence. Each "level" you reach in your training is further proof to you that you can indeed do things you didn't think possible. 

Facing Yourself

In the end, no matter what your reason for choosing to train in martial arts, the only reason to continue training is because it helps you to explore and discover new aspects of yourself.

You are confronted with difficulties and challenges that bring out pieces of yourself you didn't know were there. Sometimes those pieces are dark parts of your being that you don't like very well. Even those parts are valuable and can be trained to become positive aspects of your character. And we all have dark parts that we don't like.  

You face fears in your training too. Maybe not your deepest fears, but you do face fear. And in the process you begin to learn how to deal with fear. You learn that fear can be a positive thing too. You learn that fear does not have to cause you to freeze up. Fear is there for a reason. Sometimes we discover that being afraid is a vicious cycle that can be broken. Facing fear and working with it lessens its power to send us into spirals of more fear.

And we learn to face failure. We learn that failing is a necessary part of not failing. We never learn anything without failure. Failure is what teaches what does not work. Failure is only a "bad" thing if we don't learn from it. Doing the same thing over and over just leads to the same results over and over. This is good if you like the results. If you don't, practicing martial arts encourages the practice of looking at the results and consciously changing the way we do things to change the result. And we get immediate feedback in martial arts.

So... The practice of martial arts is a practice in self-growth and discovery. There are other ways to do this, but we have chosen martial arts. Don't worry too much about it. Just commit yourself and keep training. So long as you stay on the mats and keep training the positive aspects will come.

About the Author: Paul Ross is a third degree black belt in both Aikido and Kenpo. He has operated a martial arts school in Jackson, CA for over ten years.