New students may wonder why we put so much emphasis on making a commitment to long-term training goals in the dojo. Why not just go lesson to lesson, continuing on as long as each class is entertaining and provides some new trick or secret to learn?

It turns out that authentic martial arts training provides way more than just techniques and “moves” for fighting or performing. To be well prepared to respond to danger, you need to expand your current capabilities physically and broaden your present self-identity to a whole new range of possibilities.

In the best school, through martial arts training you become a new you. You build a new inner vision of who you are. You gain a new sense of what you are capable of, based on newly developed skills for handling danger that you practice in the dojo. This is more than “gaining knowledge” or “building strength” or “learning how to fight”. You are redefining who you are to fit a more authentic reflection of your potentials.

Such growth takes time. Enhanced abilities result from long-term martial arts training and greatly advance your well-being and safety. Heightened levels of sensitivity developed in the training hall show up in real life. You learn to become more alert to your surroundings, and aware of potential threats to safety way before physical confrontation occurs. Just think how applicable these skills are to driving a car or walking in a crowded area or lifting and moving objects at work or home, ways we could bump into potential danger and damage every day. At the same time, people learn to see you differently; you impress them with more command and authenticity as one to be noted and respected.

You are learning to move through life with grace, power, and presence. That kind of advancement cannot be accomplished in a just a few lessons.