What does your martial art do for you

[tshadowchaser]

What has the martial arts done for me?
Lets see, I have met some of my closest friend through the arts.
Some of my fondest memories are from experiences and people ( now pasted away)
Some of the things that have hurt me emotionally and made me wary of others came from my experiences in the arts
The arts have reinforced my general outlook on how I look at and treat others in all aspects of life
I have learned to deal with people of all heritages and life styles form all over the world, many of whom did not speak the same language that I do
I have learned that those closest to you may be the ones that stab you in the back if it can make them look better or increase their ego
I guess I am saying that the martial arts has been one of the things that has had a very large influence on who and what I am today

 

[qi-tah]

I started martial arts about 6 years ago 'cause i was having raging anxiety and panic attacks at the time and needed some heavy duty cardio exercise to combat it. I found Capoeira and this fulfilled this function for a year, 4-5 days a week for several hours at a time. Unfortunately it also wrecked my knees to the point where i had trouble walking :-( I then took up internal CMA as i had heard that it might help to fix my dodgy knees!

And now, five years later? I still have dodgy knees (though vastly improved from 2001), but more importantly, i am tapped into a MA that has been passed down through generations of much better men than me (not hard, since i'm a woman, but you get the gist...), a skill that i can practice for life, which will help to keep me healthy, which allows me to look into the mirror of my own aggression and know myself better, which feels beautiful and fun to practice and which i know will absorb all the skill i shall ever have and still have things to teach me. Oh, and maybe one day i shall be able to beat ppl up using it, but by that time i hope to be living a supremely peaceful life.