THE TENETS OF MARTIAL ARTS
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There are 6 basic tenets in most martial arts. Tenets are basically general guidelines for how one should live. It doesn't matter if you do Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ), Muay Thai, Boxing, Wrestling or Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) these tenets will help improve your life both in and out of the Academy. The basic tenets of Martial Arts are as follows:
Courtesy
Integrity
Perseverance
Self-control
Indomitable Spirit
Victory
Courtesy
As a martial artist, you learn to respect or treat others as you would have them treat you. Courtesy at the very essence means being nice or respectful to others. This is one of the very foundations of being a martial artist.
Imagine someone learning attacking techniques that can hurt, maim, or even kill someone, and imagine this person as someone who has no regard for human life. This person would be a very dangerous person!
With courtesy a person learning martial arts, can be of value to society by respecting life, and defending others from harm.
Integrity
Integrity is another crucial tenet of a martial artist. Integrity means that ones word is their bond. It also means that one does the right thing whether someone sees them or not.
When your word is your bond, it means that when you promise you will do something, you do it, come hell or high water. Doing the right thing whether someone sees you are not means that you are honest with yourself and others.
Thus someone with integrity is someone you can depend on. Subsequently, a martial artist is someone you can depend on.
Perseverance
Perseverance means that you never give up even if you fail.
Say that you are working on your college degree, and you fail to graduate because you failed to pass a required class. Someone that has perseverance knows to keep trying until they have achieved their goal--in this example graduate.
To properly persevere, one needs to understand why they failed, and what they may have to do different to succeed. Only then will they make another attempt. Otherwise it is like walking into a wall over and over, when it would have possibly taken a couple of steps to the left to find a door.
Perseverance helps a martial artist achieve their goals.
Self-control
Self-control is also a very important tenet. A martial artist would be a very dangerous person if they cannot control their temper or their inner desires.
When it comes to temper, self-control may take practice. All ones needs to do when finding oneself on the verge of getting angry is stop, take deep breaths while quietly counting to ten.
It is also self-control that keeps one from doing things that might be very tempting; for example, say that someone dropped their wallet. If you were unemployed and didn't have any money, it is your self-control that will prevent you from simply taking the wallet and running away with it. A martial artist will pick up the wallet and return it to its rightful owner, regardless of their financial situation.
A martial artist needs to have self-control.
Indomitable Spirit
In war, Indomitable spirit means that you fight on even under overwhelming odds. In the movie "300", the Spartans had awesome indomitable spirit having fought off thousands of Persians in defense of their homeland.
Today, indomitable spirit means taking risks, setting goals, and going for those goals. Successful people like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett didn't get there by playing it safe. Both took risks, set goals, and went for them, resulting in both being some of the wealthiest people on the planet!
As a martial artist, one should strive to succeed on any venture they may pursue. Indomitable spirit is what helps get them there.
Victory
Victory is the last martial arts tenet. No, it doesn't mean winning. It means having a winning or positive mental attitude on anything.
For example, when you are trying to do something, your mind will typically suggest to you that whatever you are doing is hard; then you start vocalizing that "it is hard and difficult". The act of doing this tells your brain to effectively not try that hard anymore because it is too hard and difficult.
Say for example, you force your thinking so that instead of saying "it's hard, it's difficult", you say instead "I can do it, it just takes practice!" This very change will have an impact in your mind and your mindset. It will help you achieve what you are trying to do.
In order to a martial artist to achieve their goals, they must have a positive mental attitude, or else negativity will set in and make a task more difficult that it is.
Conclusion
A true martial artist lives by the above 6 tenets--courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control, indomitable spirit, and victory. It doesn't matter if you do Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ), Muay Thai, Boxing, Wrestling or Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), these tenets to live by will help make training better for all involved and carry over into healthy, happy, and productive life.
You don't have to be a martial artist to apply these tenets. If you do, you and society will be better for it, but training in the Martial Arts WILL help you build these tenets.
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At Kings Academy "We do what others won't so we can achieve what others can't"
Kings Academy of Martial Arts is the premier Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Academy Servicing Great Western Sydney with classes in BJJ (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu), Muay Thai, Boxing, Wrestling and MMA (Mixed Martial Arts)
