Karate Changed My Life
I like to share about my personal experience of doing karate, how we can connect karate to our lives, and how it has changed my life. Karate and other martial arts are essentially about the opposite of violence, but many people mistakenly perceive them as violent and do not believe they can be beneficial. More importantly, it’s about knowing how to live your life with your feet firmly planted in the ground and finding inner peace.
I started my karate journey on September 23, 2017. Now it has been almost 5 years. There is a reason why I joined karate, and it’s an unforgettable reason in my life. Since that day, positive things have happened in my life day by day, until now.
There are many benefits to learning karate. Here, I am going to divide and share the benefits into four parts that I experienced. They are self-confidence, discipline, physical and mental strength, and self-defense.
- Self-confidence
A boost in self-confidence is one of the most recognized benefits of karate. It really helped me increase self-confidence and other attributes. It excels at promoting self-confidence and self-esteem when practiced. and it also promotes a balance between humility and confidence. There are endless opportunities for achieving goals and developing self-confidence. Through the repetitive work on different techniques, I slowly saw improvements in my movements, and through the practice sessions, I engaged in positive sparring sessions with my team-mates. It helped me gain immeasurable confidence in my physical and mental abilities. It also helped me gain the ability to defend myself in any compromising situation. The knowledge that I gained about taking care of myself and my family provided a major boost to my confidence. Especially, it gives me the confidence to do my college presentations, to do projects, and to achieve every goal in my life.
- Discipline
When it comes to discipline, one thing always comes to mind: what my sensei always says: “Discipline First, Techniques Second.” Literally, each student must bow when they come into class. It is one of the first things my sensei teaches to all students. I learned that to maintain punctuality, everyone should arrive at class on time without going late. Another thing I realized was that respect must begin with ourselves. If we want to be respected, we need to carry ourselves in a respectful manner and be respectful to everyone, whether they are younger or older than us. Even if they are of a different gender than us or if their religious beliefs are different from ours, even if you find yourself in a position of power over them, we still need to afford every single individual the respect they deserve. So respect is crucial for karate students, as is the capacity for each person to strive for and realize their full potential. Don’t take away from others the chance to grow and become better people. You can only uplift yourself by lifting others.
- Physical and Mental strength
The physical benefits of martial arts are innumerable. With each class, I feel better than the one before. It helps in increasing cardio health, helps me increase core strength through functional exercises, helps improve posture, and also helps me achieve improved relaxation of mind and body. A calm mind is a prerequisite for facing an adverse situation. Every training in karate is a test of the human spirit, and I learned to challenge myself and push myself when my body and mind were ready to give up. Regular training helps us develop a never-give-up attitude. Consistent training not only conditions the mind and body to have the strength and stamina to fight back in a violent situation but also helps the body fight disease and stay flexible, strong, and active as people age. It provides stress relief and ways to release pent-up energy.
- Self-defense
One obvious benefit to learning karate is an improved ability to perform self-defense in situations where there is a real threat. Whether it is karate or other martial arts, they offer students very real skills and techniques that they can employ when suddenly confronted with a situation where they need to think quickly and act quickly. By practicing the physical movements in karate, I learned how my body and mind work together. as I start to become more in tune with how they function as one. My awareness increased, and I started to see things that I had never noticed before. Awareness is a very critical aspect of being able to sense a threat before the situation gets out of hand.
Here, I would like to share some important words that my sensei always says to us.
- The first thing is “Discipline First, Techniques Second”.
- The second thing is that you shouldn’t only concentrate on karate but also on studying. We should parallelly focus on study and karate; then only will our lives be better. He always motivates us to study because education is important in life.
This is how karate changed my life and taught me a lot of life lessons. The sadness is that, unfortunately, I am not able to go to karate classes nowadays because of my profession and higher studies. but I’ll never stop this art. I’ll continue this art until the end of my life. Whatever I am achieving in my life, all thanks go to not only my family but also to my sensei, who taught me a beautiful art and life style called karate.
I am grateful and respectful of each and every sensei and senpai since they have all been wonderful mentors and have contributed their time and knowledge.
Here I should talk about my sensei. but it’s not enough to talk about him here. There’s a lot to talk about because he’s such an inspiring person to me.
Shihan.Anto Dinesh is a graduate, holding a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration (BBA) and a Masters Degree in Business Administration (MBA), and a visiting lecturer at Amazon College. He is also a member of the Japan Karate Do Federation (JKF) and the All Japan Karate Do Shotokan (AJKS) in Japan, and he has authored the book Martial Arts Historical and Technical. He is also a National Kata A-grade Judge and National Kumite A-grade Referee. He is a member of the National Selection Committee 2022 of the Ministry of Sports in Sri Lanka.
He has judged and refereed at district, provincial, national, and international championships in Sri Lanka, India, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Canada, and the USA. He trained in Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Japan, Ireland, and the USA. He directly grades Black Belt Dan diplomas in Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Japan, and the USA. He has received special training under Karate of Japan Federation International in the USA and Universal Shotokan Karate Union Honbu in Japan, and also completed an Instructor’s Internship, a full-time training program, at Honbu Dojo Karate International in Ireland. He participated in National Level Championships and Open Invitational Karate Championships in India, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Canada, and the USA.
Thank you for reading😊
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