Profiting from your training

Really, how do you profit from it? Well, I'm sorry to say, but the answer starts with "it depends"... First and foremost it depends on what do you want from being involved with this whole martial arts and fighting/combat thing. I have already discussed one's motivation elsewhere on this blog, and that is usually fine to begin with, but in order to stay with our training we also need some sense of satisfaction and accomplishment, right?

When there are no external "symbols" of progress (yeah, belts/grades and similar "carrots" to chase) it can be easy to lose sight of all the benefits practitioners may be reaping from the regular practice. Heck, when there ARE those extrinsic rewards, they will often distract you from seeing what truly matters.

It's all relative 

Remember why you first came to that club or training group? Was it for conditioning, fun, self-defense, discipline, sport? Well, did you get any of that, and if so, did it make you feel good? If yes, then you have already got something very valuable from training. 

Still, there may be, and probably is, more, but you ought to take a deeper look into the overall situation. Let me tell you my take on it.

I have been recently asked what is the most precious thing I got from close to three decades of doing martial arts. It got me thinking, and to my surprise, the answer came to me rather quickly and with firm certainty - meeting so many great people along the way and becoming friends with some of them! Had someone asked me back then about my expectations, I certainly would not have even dreamed of getting to know so many people, located from Australia, China, Philippines, through Russia and most European countries, all the way to USA and Canada, and even from South Africa to Siberia. 

Just thinking of all the great and mind-growing conversations and interactions wit hall of them makes my heart warm and my face smile, not to mention all the brilliant training I had along the way. Even in this day and age of technological means that allow us to be anywhere at any time, it is still my years of martial training that "guides" me in choosing those places and times. 

And let me tell you - it was all worth it, so I'm looking forward to the decades of training to come!