Does studying martial arts (or other self-defense programs) really make you safer? Or does it just attract more of what you are defending against?

asked 15 Mar '10, 01:13

Vesuvius's gravatar image

Vesuvius
32.7k850201


I would say that it depends on your intent for studying them.

For example, I have been a fan of the soft martial arts like Tai Chi, Qigong and Zhan Zhuang. My reason for studying them is because I enjoy the peacefulness, clarity of mind and health-related benefits that come with them.

While Tai Chi and Zhan Zhuang certainly have within them their aggressive and defensive advanced techniques, it's not my focus, and the thought of engaging in combat with others (for attack or defence) has never ever crossed my mind.

My girlfriend, on the other hand, studied Kung Fu for a while. Her real intent with doing so (though she denies it when asked :) ) was to defend herself against any possible future attackers.

What's happening here is that there is a feeling of fear of some kind already, and from that feeling of fear, she has taken action to deal with it...signed up for Kung Fu lessons with the intent of defending herself. That kind of action taken from a feeling of negative emotion is really only giving more focus to the negative emotion.

It doesn't mean she is definitely setting herself up for future attacks, it just means that she is now vibrationally closer to them than before...it's more of a possibility now than before

I would say that it would have been better for her to deal with cleaning up the vibration first and then take any inspired action.

In other words, deal with the feeling of vulnerability first and once you no longer feel any need to defend yourself because you know you are safe in your everyday life then study the martial art that you feel yourself drawn towards. It might end up as a very different choice, or it might be the same one with a different background attitude, or it might be no martial art at all.

Summing up:
You can be drawn to taking inspired action towards things you don't want just as much as you can towards things you do want.

...think about the kind of food you are attracted to eating when you are feeling upset and sick, compared to the kind of food you are attracted to eating when you are feeling joyful and healthy.


UPDATE

Reading through this answer later, I think I may have given the impression here that before you take any action you should sit down and meditate (or something similar) to find alignment with your ultimate goal and only then take any action.

For the sake of completeness, I should probably point out that there is an equally valid action-based approach.

And that is to take the action first with the intent of achieving alignment with your desire. This is also a valid approach and is what, for example, action-based goal-setting is all about.

In goal-setting, you set the goal and then kid yourself into thinking that the actions you are taking towards the goal actually bring the goal about.

What is really happening is that the actions you are taking towards the goal are causing you to have more belief (alignment) that you will achieve the goal. So the means and circumstances to achieve it magically (through the Law of Attraction) come into place.

And the more actions you take that seem to be bringing you closer to the end result, the more your belief shifts towards alignment with the goal.

It's a bit like the vibrational matches idea in Manifesting Experiment 1

So there is certainly validity in studying a martial art with the intent of feeling safer, and thereby ultimately aligning yourself with safety...but it's a more cumbersome way of doing it compared to just feeling better first and following the inspired action.

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answered 15 Mar '10, 07:10

Stingray's gravatar image

Stingray
93.6k22130369

edited 15 Mar '10, 10:56

i do not agree with this stingray if someone come and attack you a killer a rapist etc. and you use your knowledge to deal with it you will be happy to have learn that knowledge.

(05 Jan '12, 20:55) white tiger

I am a 6th dan black belt, yes it makes you safer in that if you are attacked you have the odds more in your favor of surviving an attack. Does it draw to me things to defend myself against? No because the goal of Karate is peace, when you know what you can do you do not fear, thus you do not have your mind focused on things of harm drawing them to you.

There is a flip side to this for low self esteem martial artist that feel they have to prove something constantly, they go out looking for fights and so are attracted to what they search for. They feel they have to always prove themselves to be better than others, instead of just having confidence that they can handle things if something were to happen they have to constantly test it.

This is like the difference between faith and doubt, if your faith needs to be constantly tested you don't have it, but if you don't need it, you have it. We only need what we do not have, we don't need what we do have because we have it already.

The greatest goal is to conquer one self, the founder of my style said that, Master Funakoshi.

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answered 15 Mar '10, 09:55

Wade%20Casaldi's gravatar image

Wade Casaldi
36.9k428102

Greetings from the Kyokushin student.

(15 Mar '10, 16:42) Asklepios

You are in the martial arts too Master Oyama yes, I know of your style. I'm Shotokan, stay with it the rewards of living Karate as a way of life are many.

(16 Mar '10, 05:37) Wade Casaldi

Yes, and I have strong bets that in your life, Wade, you havn't even been in many fights or aggresive situations...The expert martial artists wont get into fights, better said, they wont attract them at all, because their minds are on such a high vibration that evil really cannot reach them.

The founder of Aikido reportedly had pyschic ability to some degree, saying he could 'see' bullets and traces of white light before he gently avoided them with the subtlest of body shifts. I would recommend any IQ person wanting to study martial arts to go to something more traditional.

(05 Jan '12, 08:32) Nikulas

Thank you Nikulas I never heard of this bullets legend about O'Sensei Morihei Ueshiba. You may like the movie Remo Williams (The adventure begins) it this movie there was a martial arts master that dogged bullets. It was a comedy martial arts movie before Jackie Chan was big in the USA.

Also yes I have not ever been in much real life threatening fights or agreesive situations. When you know what damage you can do to others you see no reason to be where you will need to do such damage to others.

(05 Jan '12, 12:14) Wade Casaldi
1

i totally agree wade. why kill someone or send them in hospital for life and go in jail is it worth it? if you need to defend your self and have no choice it is something else. but people that play from ego and violence are totally lacking and even betting them up is not exploit. avoid problems at all cost and if you have no choice go for the win.

(05 Jan '12, 20:50) white tiger
1

Yes White Tiger, there is a movie called Con Air that shows the consequences of acting from ego or acting before you think. Nicolas Cage kills a guy at the beginning of the movie. The guy pulls a knife and Cage does a perfect execution of a Jiu-Jitsu move I have. This kills the guy instantly with his own hand and knife. Next you see Cage is going to prison for "defending" himself, he didn't need to walk into that situation to begin with.

(05 Jan '12, 21:58) Wade Casaldi
showing 2 of 6 show 4 more comments

When I took a semester of Karate for college, it was really empowering for me as a female. The class was for females, and we focused on releases and getting out of difficult situations- but more than that, we learned what situations to avoid so as to not be attacked. To this day, I check my car before I get into it at night, as an example.

I do not feel that knowing this information has attracted any negative attacks on the physical level. As I said, the class was very empowering, and I would go on in Karate if I could. I liked the mastery of self, and the focus on peace that my teacher taught.

Just a little commentary from a female of the species!! LOL!

Blessings, Jai

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answered 16 Mar '10, 01:39

Jaianniah's gravatar image

Jaianniah
37.8k13103607

Considering the tags (law of attraction) nope it doesn't. A soldier won't shoot you if you don't have a weapon, generally. Similarly, a true martial artist won't attack you if you can't defend yourself.

If you're talking about physical integrity, yeah, martial arts help you with that, maybe keeping your body "safer" from other people, and definitely making it healthier. But I think you're talking about our mind, the feeling of safety. That can only come from inside and it doesn't depend if you even have hands to "protect" yourself.

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answered 18 Mar '10, 19:58

Cawas's gravatar image

Cawas
36014

Yes, you will be safer. Just knowing how to get in a quick elbow to the chops is all you'll ever need. Maybe one or two other moves in case you are grabbed, or grabbed from behind.

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answered 05 Jan '12, 10:43

Tom's gravatar image

Tom
5.2k638

one never knows enuff tom. also a benifit of doing martial art is the practice it will become like a second nature for you to make those move. so in a real situation you will not freeze. it is more the attacker that will say what the hell has happen. experience and enjoy.

(05 Jan '12, 21:00) white tiger

of course it does you are in better control of your self and other and also have more knowledge. has for attracting what you are defending against. i will say this it is more your hatitude or your lack of knowledge. think about it that you do martial art or not is not the problem. but if your hatitude towards other start from the ego i am better then all of you and i will prove it to you. then you are going to get in trouble. and if you have that hatitude you missed the essential basic course so you are lacking you did not even understand the basic. experience and enjoy.

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answered 05 Jan '12, 20:44

white%20tiger's gravatar image

white tiger
21.9k114116

Yes it makes you safer because you are more confident. I did boxing for a while and was approached by an aggresive drunk. I think he could sense my lack of fear and he never tried anything and I wouldn't have cared if he did. A nice feeling.

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answered 13 Jan '12, 13:26

Alan%20Crabbe's gravatar image

Alan Crabbe
62511

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