10 dangers that martial arts training can protect you from

 

Dear all

Apologies for the long radio silence during Covid. It’s been a challenging time for us all, and I did disengage from martial arts training during that time, which is something I never would have expected to happen, if you’d asked me a couple of years ago.

This was partly because I moved a long distance to Wales in early 2020; and also because I somehow just couldn’t engage with the idea of online training, especially with any new local club that I had no prior relationship with. During this period, I found far more value and enjoyment in outdoor bootcamp sessions and other group exercise classes, and have focused on these in lieu of formal training. 

As things finally start to ease, I have somewhere to train again now, and it’s wonderful to be back. I didn’t feel able to write about martial arts in any credible way, while I’d disassociated from all practice, but can now feel the spark reigniting again. Like all of you, I just hope we can get back to “normal” now, although sincere credit and admiration to those of you who kept up your commitment and study throughout the hardest times of lockdown. 

Today’s article is a simple celebration of the benefits and blessings of training. I’m feeling it more keenly than ever right now, and wanted to list, honour and appreciate these good things . . .

Kai xx

 

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People who don’t practise martial arts tend to think that the training is all about protecting yourself from violent street attacks. Thankfully for many practitioners in reality, this is something we don’t tend to face. However, training can still be extremely protective in our lives. Here are ten serious dangers that your training may safeguard you from . . .

 

1. Physical ill-health

Of course martial arts training can’t save you from all illnesses, and it would be wrong to claim this. But it can have many health benefits, including weight loss, mobility, strength, flexibility, cardiovascular health, reduced blood pressure and so on.

As we get older, we worry about disease, but in fact one of the biggest dangers we face through aging is the increase risk of falling. In the UK, falls are the most common cause of injury related deaths in people over the age of 75. Exercise to improve your strength and balance (such as martial arts) may therefore be one of the most important things you can do to protect yourself in later life, with additional implications for women who can be prone to bone density loss as we age.

2. Mental ill-health

Again, it would be wrong to claim that martial arts training is a panacea for all mental health conditions. However, it can improve areas of our psychological well-being including confidence/self-esteem, self-determination, emotional stability, assertiveness and good mood; and reduce anxiety, depression, fatigue and/or aggression

Martial arts training can also have massive benefits for students with PTSD symptoms. I’ve written about this at length before, and have more recently come across another facet of this, in researching the benefits of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for military veterans with PTSD:

Another potential explanation is that BJJ can be viewed as a problem solving opportunity for the practitioner that may instill a resilience that translates to life outside the gym. It has been suggested that a self-defense curriculum may provide an enhanced exposure therapy-like experience.

Allowing veterans to repeatedly practice problem solving and successfully resolve difficult, uncomfortable struggles may promote re-learning how to be effective in adverse circumstances. Perception of being capable of contribution to the resolution of a traumatic event may lead to fewer symptoms of PTSD.

Another point is that you literally have to focus the whole time. So martial arts training can feel like a very active, live form of mindfulness, with all the benefits that brings. I’ve heard martial arts training described as a “Holiday from your mind”. You literally have to be in the present/moment, or your partner might just “get” you!

3. Loneliness / social isolation

This links to point 2 above.

It’s well known that levels of social isolation and loneliness are rampant these days. And the impact of Covid lockdowns has been to magnify this off the scale for many people. Being part of a training club/community of like-minded people, collectively striving towards self-improvement, can be a wonderful way for some to feel connected, and assuage this pain.

In addition, martial arts training can force us to socialise in a more intense way than other activities. Here’s another intriguing point from the same article cited under Point 2:

Social withdrawal is an avoidance strategy that is associated with development of PTSD. A potential benefit of BJJ is that it forces its practitioners to engage in social interaction; the only way to practice and learn is to have training partners to grapple with. 

4. Ennui / boredom

Ennui is a French word for boredom, but arguably has richer, more poetic connotations than the English word.

I’m using it here as distinct from clinical depression, which would fall under Point 2. This is a different benefit – the ability of martial arts training to brighten our life, and add colours we may never have discovered otherwise. I’ve just finished reading the very lovely novel: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. Without wanting to give away spoilers, the heroine ultimately finds meaning in her small, dull life by discovering a far wider range of emotional response within herself than she ever had been aware of at the start of the novel

She had touched the vastness of life and within that vastness she had seen the possibility not only of what she could do, but also feel. There were other scales and other tunes. There was more to her than a flat line of mild to moderate depression, spiced up with occasional flourishes of despair.

5. Day-to-day verbal conflict and power plays

For many of us in the Western world, the threat of physical violence is thankfully negligible. However, for anyone with a job, family, group interest, social media account or any other basic form of social interaction, it’s impossible to avoid some level of verbal conflict, organisational politics or other interpersonal tensions.

And martial arts training can certainly help practitioners deal with everyday conflict scenarios. Quentin Cooke’s anthology, A Way to Reconcile the World presents many true stories of Aikidoka using their training to stay calm and avert potentially dangerous situations, or “blend” with adverse events such as illness.

Conflict Communications by Rory Miller is more of an instruction manual grounded in the author’s real-life experience of managing violent situations, and applying the same principles to day-to-day conflict:

Why did your boss ignore a suggestion that could save millions of dollars? Why do you have the same argument again and again with your spouse? When someone insults you, why do you get angry? Why do bad guys beat up the weak?

As Miller explains:

Strangely, working with violent, dangerous people is not that different from working with run-of-the-mill angry, annoyed, or selfish people.

6. Closed-mindedness

Ray Dalio writes:

Closed-minded people don’t want their ideas challenged. They are typically frustrated that they can’t get the other person to agree with them instead of curious as to why the other person disagrees.

Meanwhile

Open-minded people are more curious about why there is disagreement… They understand that there is always the possibility that they might be wrong and that it’s worth the little bit of time it takes to consider the other person’s views….

Closed-mindedness can be a dark curse, narrowing our hearts and minds down. In many ways, we’re constantly pulled and tempted towards this state, for example through the exhausting “echo chamber” functionality of some social media, and our own social circle. But martial arts have the power to constantly shake us up. To give just one example, I’ve written about their potential to help dissolve racial tension here.

7. Sloppiness/Chaos

The archetypal battle between good and evil can also be seen as a metaphor for the conflict between order and chaos in our own lives. Jordan Peterson explores this topic relentlessly – and he’s an outspoken champion of the need for self-discipline to keep the chaos at bay (although he also notes that a level of chaos is essential to ward off sterility in our lives). He writes

Clear rules and proper discipline help the child, and the family, and society, establish, maintain and expand the order that is all that protects us from chaos, and the terrors of the underworld, where everything is uncertain, anxiety-provoking, hopeless and depressing.

Many martial artists will recognise this gift in their training. We reap rewards from an ongoing practice, which asks us to routinely set and work towards goals; follow a structured programme; develop self-control; observe etiquette; show respect; and internalise other values/rules.

8. Insomnia

This may not be true for all practitioners, but is definitely true for some.

Insomnia is a common condition, estimated to affect 10%–30% of the population worldwide. Its symptoms include finding it hard to go to sleep, waking up several times in the night, feeing tired and irritable during the day, and finding it hard to concentrate during the day because you’re tired

There are several well-known remedies, and at least three of these can be gained through martial arts training – namely physical exercise, minimising stress and spending less time on devices. On a personal note, I can certainly vouch for the power of training to induce deep, revitalising sleep. 

9. Self-limitation

Yoga practioners often talk about the concept of the “edge”. It means exploring and experimenting in your practice, to understand the precise boundary of your own physical, emotional and psychological boundaries, i.e. what you can and can’t do.

You then practise “on the edge” by pushing yourself just a little further than is comfortable. The idea is that if you don’t do this, your practice may not achieve much. But if you push yourself too hard, you’re being aggressive, and may harm your body. So it’s as much about knowing when to back off, as knowing when to push yourself.

There are clear parallels to the martial arts here, which very much encourage us to work “at the edge”. Like yoga, martial arts also brings you in touch with your own physical, emotional and mental limitations, and enables you to work around the edges, learning to handle frustration, and pushing your boundaries a little further all the time,

Yoga teacher Mel Skinner writes:

A lot of playing on the edge is also about understanding our resistance. If we are afraid of hurting ourselves, looking silly or are experiencing an emotional reaction to opening the body in a new way, then we can hold ourselves back when we are actually capable of moving further forward.

Practising on the edge can mean challenging our beliefs about ourselves and the world. This may be as simple as the belief that a certain asana is impossible for us, or that we are only capable of so much, but one thing’s for sure, a regular yoga practice will keep you questioning more.

10. Violence??

I’ve put this point with question marks, because regular readers of this blog will know that I’m sceptical of the idea that all martial arts training is suitable preparation for real-life violence. For example, a lot of training doesn’t fully acknowledge the effects of adrenaline on your mind and body in a “real life” incident, as opposed to a training situation. Furthermore, a lot of training claims to be effective in the face of attack, but teaches techniques that don’t actually work against a larger / stronger / genuinely resistant / aggressive opponent.

However there are other ways that martial arts training can protect you from violence, even if the techniques itself are sometimes a red herring.

Firstly, it can train you to think more carefully about your personal safety, and avoid unnecessary risks. When you’ve experienced what it feels like to be genuinely pinned to the ground or otherwise immobilised, it can give you a more realistic sense of your own vulnerability than someone who’s never experienced that. Your training may also improve your situational awareness, and prompt you to think about things like escape routes.

Secondly, it may give you a more confident and less vulnerable physical demeanour, which would be protective in itself.

Both these factors may help safeguard you from being vulnerable to violence, and at best, your training may also give you the mental and physical skills to ward off an actual attack.

Conclusion

None of the benefits listed here are unexpected – as practitioners, we’re probably very familiar with them all. But what’s changed for me in the last year or so, is a far deeper appreciation of what’s at stake, and how it shouldn’t be taken for granted. None of us has a crystal ball, and we don’t actually know what will and won’t be possible in terms of training, in a year’s time, or five years or twenty – either from world events, or our personal circumstances. 

I hope you enjoyed this reflection on and celebration of your art, and please let me know below if I missed any further points!