When you think about martial arts training, you automatically think of training to fight. But it actually is training for life.
Training for life? How so?
Think about this: The skills you learn in your martial arts training are skills that easily transfer to the rest of your life.
What do you learn? Self-confidence, patience, listening, self-control, respect, responsibility, setting goals, sticking with tasks, teamwork. What do you need in your training for life? The very same qualities.
When you begin your martial arts training, you learn quickly to pay respect. First of all to your trainer. Bowing, standing when told to stand, kneeling when told to kneel, listening when told to listen. These are all ways to show respect. And they are all qualities you develop in your training for life, as well.
Patience is the quality of waiting for the right time. Whether it’s waiting for your turn to show how much you’ve learned or waiting for the right time in a sparring match to punch, patience is a requirement of martial arts training. It’s also a requirement of training for life. Everyday life demands you have patience. Learning patience requires practice. It is both a skill and an art.
Continuous training in martial arts requires stamina, too. The ability to keep going when you feel like you’ve given everything. It’s the ability to overcome one more barrier when you think you’ve hit every barrier you possibly can. Training for life is the same. Everyone has struggles and issues to face. They often come one after another. Developing stamina in your training helps you continue facing and overcoming obstacles as they present themselves in your daily life. Having stamina keeps you from getting overwhelmed and discouraged.
Setting goals in martial arts training will help you with goal setting in training for life. Keeping your long-range goal in sight, but reaching each smaller goal on the path and rewarding yourself for it are the same things that help you in life as they help you in martial arts.
Shifu Raymond Ahles at Blue Dragon School of Martial Arts is ready and able to help you in practicing the basics of kung fu and in learning the skills that will help you in your training for life. Contact him at 201-385-3130 today and get started or started again!
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