“There is a story in Chinese martial arts lore about “The Peaceful Warrior,” where a young apprentice asked his teacher why if he was striving to be inwardly calm and at peace, did he need to learn the ways of a warrior. “Would it not be more tranquil and serene to be a gardener and tend the plants?” he asked. “Tending the garden,” the master replied, “is a relaxing pastime, but it does not prepare one for the inevitable battles of life. It is easy to be calm in a serene setting. To be calm and serene when under attack is much more difficult, so, therefore, I teach you that it is far better to be a warrior tending his garden rather than a gardener at war.”
Every journey starts with the first step(s)
Like they say “It´s all about the journey”, but before you need to start your journey! Martial Arts can direct us on paths & philosophies to guide us to experience and balance our Body, Mind, and Soul. After training in martial arts for some time, you will have learned more about yourself and along with the enhanced physical well being comes an enhanced mental state backed up by your gained experience. These are all incredible benefits that impact all aspects of our everyday lives, especially in (y)our daily hectic/urban lives.
Choose your purpose/goals
If you know why you want to make a change in your life and if you know in which direction your life should go, then it will be much easier to slowly start your journey qnd stay motivated. The world is full of opportunities, but sometimes too much thinking can get in the way. Changing your life for the better is about picking a destination and taking one step at a time to get there. If you try to take shortcuts, you may actually end up making your journey longer and more arduous. Getting serious about making improvements is a great start, and taking action is the next important step.
“Better be a warrior in a garden, then a gardener in a war”
We don’t always have control over when we are confronted by violence, especially in a hyper-violent world such as ours; a world filled with people who have been conditioned since birth to be violent: violent to each other, violent to other animals, violent to the environment. Such violence is the greatest hindrance of our time, the ultimate obstacle. It’s the precondition above all conditions that must be reconditioned. A warrior in a garden is a person who has reconditioned the conditioned violence within. It’s a metaphor for a person wielding courageous compassion, benevolent bravery, fearless empathy, and dauntless altruism, all in the face of a hyper-violent world. It’s a peaceful warrior who has mastered The Art of Fighting Without Fighting and thus mastered himself.
When one practices martial arts this promotes is self-confidence and empowerment in an individual. When you know you have the tools to protect yourself, you are more comfortable in different environments. The skills learned to make you more aware of situations such as identifying danger or potential danger. Unconsciously this increase in empowerment can make a person seem bigger and stronger than what they physically are as the aura they are projecting intensifies. With empowerment comes confidence and improved mental health. Human movement and performance have been a habit and establishment of people since the beginning of time. Especially when we need to be able to protect our family and the ones we love from predators in life and death situations. This human need gave rise to the birth of martial arts. On the surface, martial arts can be seen as fighting and testing one’s skill against another in combat. Yet, on a deeper level, martial arts have many benefits that can also improve your spiritual, social, and mental well-being. Martial arts can improve and change your life in a positive way. Many martial arts have origins linked to eastern cultures where prayer and meditation collaborate along with physical components in order to achieve optimal health. The understanding is that maximum physical capabilities are achieved alongside maximum mental and spiritual awareness. Following hard training will always be softer training and vice versa to create balance in the mind and body. Therefore, through martial arts practice, one learns how to not only improve their physical self but also become less stressed and more alert, energetic, and motivated for their current life journey through improvements in their mental being.
Find a Mentor/Teacher/Martial Arts School
There is nothing better than finding a good teacher who already walked the way and can inspire you through example.
Get inspired, make new friends, and get a coach who can get the best out of you. Because martial arts is not a solo undertaking and is as much a group activity, it provides practitioners with constant social interaction. By experiencing martial arts training together, we are able to build strong interpersonal relationships. Along the way in our martial arts journey, we will meet like-minded individuals who share the same passions and values as us. More than a bond in just training, we develop deep emotional connections with other practitioners that we call comrades and teammates. When you train with friends, you are constantly engaged in your group activity. Together, you’ll perform various techniques, keep each other sharp with (light) sparring, and teach each other cool new moves. Joining a martial arts “dojo” or gym will allow you to thrive in a positive environment dedicated to helping you reach your goal and become a better version of yourself. Becoming a martial artist will open up a door to many countless possibilities that you never thought were available.
Change your Morning Routine & Lifestyle
Take control of your life and fight those bad habits. Lead a healthier lifestyle. Martial arts isn’t just a self-defense discipline, it’s also great for your overall health and fitness. You’re undergoing a massive lifestyle transformation and it’s easy to get overwhelmed by thinking about the weeks and months ahead. Don’t do that to yourself.
Do not wait; the time will never be “just right.” Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along. — Napoleon Hill
The person in the mirror should be your friend, not your opponent.
Don’t defeat yourself. Stop telling yourself what you can’t be or what you can’t do. Stop being embarrassed to fail. Stop being embarrassed to fall down. Stop being embarrassed to struggle. Stop being embarrassed to be in last. Who cares if someone else is at a “higher” level than you FOR NOW. Your race is not their race. Your life is not their life. Your race is for you to run. Your life is for you to live. Stop comparing your beginning with somebody else’s middle. Stop comparing your struggles with somebody else’s strengths. Because when you do that, it makes you forget that they had a starting point. It makes you forget that they had the first day. It makes you forget that they had a journey. You’ll always feel insecure when you compare your worst to somebody else’s best. Stop looking outward to find your discouragement, and start looking within to find your inspiration.
Know, that you are not alone: Follow the footsteps and traditions of “ancient” Warriors
In difficult times, I started practicing my “forms/katas” (again), it reminded me of a lot of moments and lessons that I learned in the past, especially that the training was not only physically, but also mentally and even spiritually: It´s quite easy to meditate or do yoga in a quiet and peaceful place, but to be able to remain calm even in hectic and stressful surroundings like at work should be included in our daily self-improvement practices. The unwritten Samurai code of conduct, known as Bushido, held that the true warrior must hold that loyalty, courage, veracity, compassion, and honor as important, above all else. An appreciation and respect of life were also imperative, as it added balance to the warrior character of the Samurai: From Justice, Courage, Mercy, Politeness, Honesty/Sincerity, Honor, Loyalty, Character, and Self-Control are values that are often missed in most societies today.
“Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now, take what’s left and live it properly.” (Marcus Aurelis, Meditations)
Facing our mortality can help guide our actions today. It can reshape the kind of person we want to be.
Especially in tough times, these ancient writing somehow inspired me to not feel too alone on my journey. Like most things in life, Self-Control can/should be also practiced daily and you can even start right now or today with small steps towards a better direction for your life. With simple improvement in your daily life, you can actually practice everywhere to improve your skills for a better life.
Lesson learned: Don´t compare yourself with others! Self-esteem without external influence
Don’t compare yourself with others — compare yourself one month or a year ago. Don’t speak badly about yourself / so that the inner warrior can hear it and never speak negatively and see how your life and thoughts will change. One of the biggest impacts martial arts has on our lives is giving us unwavering self-confidence. Many people struggle with their self-image. A lot are unhappy with the way they look, with their physical and mental capabilities. As a result, confidence takes a huge hit. Through martial arts, however, we learn just what we are capable of as human beings, unlocking our potential with each training session. By consistently training our physical bodies, enriching our mind and spirit with the history and culture of martial arts, we become better people. Self-confidence is a very important part of our overall health.
Believing in ourselves is the only pathway to success, no matter what we delve in. Because martial arts will push our limits, we can discover a great deal about ourselves during training. Having a better connection with our inner-self makes us more confident in our own skin.
(A lot of inspirations and even some sentences have been summarized in this article to give interested people all over this world a small introduction to the #spiritofmartialarts — thank you “guys” for everything!)
