I occasionally get asked why I do martial arts. Though there are a lot of different reasons I could give to answer this question, the base of it all is that martial arts are fun.
We often spend time focusing on the physical, and mental benefits of martial arts, but sometimes we miss that they can be intrinsically rewarding because they are fun.
It’s Fun To Hit Your Friends
I’ve been trying to get people to roughhouse with me all my life, so maybe this is just me, but I find it delightful to hit my friends. When I say hit my friends, I do mean in a controlled, safe environment, where no one actually gets hurt. Thanks to studying martial arts, I’ve been able to find those environments.
Sparring with your friends is fun. It can challenge both your brain and your body. While you’re working through these challenges, you get to be with people you like.
Polaris focuses on having a marital arts community and building trust amongst our students. Though not everyone is the very best of friends, much of our community is friends with one another.
So if you want to make new friends and hit people with sticks*, Polaris may be a place for you.
It’s Fun To Challenge Yourself
Learning at Polaris can be challenging, but because the stakes aren’t high the challenge can be fun instead of stressful.
At Polaris we focus on learning and students improving individually. Though we spar at every class, sparing isn’t highly competitive. The goal of sparring is to apply what you’ve been learning and try new techniques, not to obliterate your opponent. By having a relaxed sparring environment, our students can have fun while working on their learning.
Learning in itself is fun when it’s not a stressful environment. Learning something physical can be a joy in movement unto itself. Martial arts let you put learning and physicality together. This allows for a challenge, but also spontaneity and joy.
Martial Arts Fun When You Learn With A Community
As adults, we tend not to spend time learning with groups of other adults. Some people may do investigative work for their job, that is continuously pushing them to learn and grow, but many of us don’t have learning environments where we’re encouraged to discuss and explore ideas with other adults.
Though I’m loath to go back to the structure of formal schooling, studying martial arts in a community pushes my brain to think and adapt. Frequently students will have different perspectives or ways of understanding the same technique. Discussing the different approaches and ways of understanding allows each of us to learn different ways of thinking.
When we learn martial arts together we can all learn in a way that we might not have by ourselves.
Martial Arts Are Fun, So Come Play
There are a lot of benefits to martial arts beyond them being fun. Sometimes it’s important to remember that they are enjoyable, and to focus on having fun
Are you looking to have fun hitting your friends? Contact us to check out a class and see if you can join us. Martial arts are fun.
*Note: Using martial arts training tools is not the same as hitting someone with a stick. Polaris is a controlled and safe environment where we study martial arts techniques and forms. However, the training tools are stick-like, so there’s still the part of the monkey brain that says “STICK! HIT! GOOD!” and that’s why we do martial arts.