Here I go again, tying music to something completely different. Please bear with me…

A little background to the title of my blog post, first: [Guitarist] Slash collaborated with [singer] Fergie on a song titled “Beautiful Dangerous”, which was released on his self-titled album in 2010. While the music video is a little odd, to say the least, I’m totally captivated by the vocal skill Fergie showcases in the song – I really think she should do more rock collaborations (but that’s just my opinion). Never mind the indomitable portrayal of pure talent by Slash himself… The song has been haunting me for a few days now – despite my music being permanently set to “shuffle”, it’s been cropping up more often than not. So it got me thinking, but off on a couple of tangents (yes, I do that a lot).

One of these tangents honed in on how martial arts is both dangerous and beautiful: Dangerous in the sense that martial artists use their art for self-defense and to protect others (hopefully not for offense, otherwise that’s called bullying and/ or assault); and beautiful because someone with great technique and form can inspire greatness in others. There are other aspects to the beauty of martial arts, of course, which I will get to shortly. I am pretty sure I don’t need to expand further on the “dangerous” aspects – we’ve all seen the movies…

I am a martial artist, and have been for a long time – despite a very long hiatus from physically practicing the art, I have always considered myself as such (although, happily, I’m back in the game!). I don’t think you necessarily have to be actively practicing the physical aspect of the art in order to call yourself a martial artist. There are many other aspects to it, and often that which you have learnt, you carry with you wherever you go. People (non-martial artists) always mention the discipline martial arts instills, but I rarely hear these “outsiders” describe how it also increases self-confidence and mental acuity, builds character, and teaches/ reinforces the concepts of honour and respect (which are, essentially, part of character-building). It’s not their fault – most people are just not that focused on these other aspects, or genuinely don’t know about them.

I have found that, other than self-discipline, the character- and confidence-building aspects have been particularly useful in my life so far. I feel that having practiced martial arts from a young age, I’ve benefited greatly as a human being. I have been able to navigate through many situations due to the philosophies I learnt then, and am still learning to this day. Yes, some things still catch me by surprise and I have had to learn to “roll with the punches”; but more often than not, I instinctively find myself following the path that is most honourable and true.

Is this a marketing spiel to get you to take up martial arts? No. This is merely to enlighten and apprise you of the other sides to martial arts – the ones you don’t see glaringly spelled out on the face of it all.

We build our character through life experiences, the teachings of others, and through our own studies. In my experience, I found that martial arts helped to lay an additional layer of foundation to that which my parents and grandparents initially provided, onto which I have been able to build and, finally, flourish. It is not the only way, but is has been (and still is) mine. And that’s the beauty of it.

I hope you have already found your way – if not, keep searching, learning and soaking up knowledge: you will find it waiting for you, when you are ready to finally see it.