Martial arts aren’t only suitable for fighting. You can use some of them as a form of meditation to release stress. Next, we’ll understand whether training in fighting styles promotes the use of violence.
Training in martial arts won’t make you violent because studies showed they reduce the overall level of aggression, including physical aggression, verbal aggression, and overall levels of anger. As a result, not only will they not increase the level of violence, but they’ll reduce it.
Yet, it doesn’t make as much sense. How come training in martial arts, which purpose is to teach people to fight appropriately, doesn’t make you violent. That contradicts itself.
Well, there’s more to it. Studies showed people perform better under stress if they have a martial arts background. Consequently, it reduces overall stress levels and makes you a calmer person.
I wrote an article on whether martial arts and fighting are the same. These topics correlate closely. As a result, I highly encourage you to read it after reading this post. They’re both fantastic and will change your perspective on this issue.
The ways martial arts decrease overall violence and aggression.
Stress and aggression correlate strongly to each other. Picture someone who is under high levels of stress. Will one react calmly to people? Or will he immediately yell at them? That’s the whole point of reducing stress. Once you successfully do so, you’ll become less aggressive and work more efficiently.
The following list is how martial arts decrease overall violence and aggression amongst its trainees.
- Martial arts will put you under stress
- Martial arts training will be an outlet for anger
- Martial arts training balances anger-management
- Martial art is a form of meditation
These are fancy words for why training in martial arts doesn’t make you violent. Now, bear with me and imagine a scenario. You’re walking in the park with a friend of yours when you encounter a hostile. He starts yelling and throwing bottles at you.
What are the possible reactions to such an odd situation? While one person will start running in the other direction, another will yell back at the attacker. Furthermore, one person will sprint to the hostile and start a street fight. People can react in various ways.
Someone who has been in martial arts for a long time- will react in a calculated way because he’s familiar with odd situations. His instructor had the trainees under a high level of stress. Now, when they encounter an actual scenario, they’ll react non-hesitantly and smoothly.
Additionally, the day he attended the martial art class, the instructor had everyone do an anger release drill. For example, everyone punched a boxing bag for a while. Therefore, our trainee doesn’t feel any anger towards the attacker because he released it all. Thus he’ll react more calmly.
According to a study, martial arts combined with mindful exercise assist in managing stress. (Source)
I hope you understood what I was trying to explain. Martial art is a form of anger-management activity. You’ll be releasing anger and aggression in the form of drills and practices. Not only will you learn how to fight, but you’ll also be developing yourself and your mentality. Thus training in martial arts does, in fact, make you less violent.
Why do people think martial arts make you violent?
The action of fighting is violent. Yet, many people don’t comprehend the essence of martial arts and its correlation to violence. From personal experience, learning to fight has changed my life completely. Although I feel that way, many people regard the opposite; unjustly.
People think martial arts are violent because they believe fighting correlates with it. Yet, it’s untrue. Although martial arts is the art of combat, it doesn’t teach violence. The opposite is true. Instead, it’s a form of meditation created many years ago, which reduces stress and aggression.
Although that’s the case, many people believe it to be otherwise. In the last section, I cited a study that showed martial arts training to reduce overall levels of aggression, including physical and verbal, and anger levels. (Source)
It’s clear now. Reducing stress with martial arts can happen in a few ways. First, because you’re releasing anger and aggression in training, you’ll be less angry outside of it.
Secondly, you’ll be under a high degree of stress and anxiety in training. Now, that’s not a bad thing. Instead, it’ll assist you in learning to manage yourself while being in such a state. As a result, you’ll react better to high-stress situations, such as self-defense scenarios.
Lastly, many martial arts include meditation. The effects of it are apparent. You’ll become calmer and more manageable under stress. As a result, one can relate martial arts that involve meditation to reducing overall violence.
To further understand this point, I’ll include a video of the Shaolin monks. That way, you’ll apprehend why it reduces stress and overall aggression.
Why are martial artists calm?
If you watched the previous video, you saw that even Kung fu, which is a deadly fighting style, involves meditation. As a result, its practitioners will be calmer and more relaxed while training and post-training.
Martial artists are calm because, in training, they release aggression and anger built up in them. As a result, they’ll be more peaceful and more relaxed after training. In the fighting session, they’ll have high adrenaline that post-training will cause lower stress and overall aggression.
Martial arts training isn’t solely fighting. It’s much more than that; it’s a mindset and a lifestyle. The trainees follow the techniques and movements taught in the classes, and later they can practice them by themselves. Thus they can use it as a form of meditation.
As the earlier study mentioned, the overall level of aggression was lower in martial arts practitioners. Now, being violent is related to a high level of anger and aggression. Consequently, we can understand that martial artists are calmer than the average because they practice such an activity.
Which martial art is best for anger management?
Overall, knowing which martial art reduces stress the most will hint us which one is the best for anger management. Looking at the information we know, we can’t hit a single fighting style that does that best. Instead, they all do that phenomenally. Yet, there’s one that stands out.
Shaolin Kung fu is the best martial art for anger management because its essence is to reduce overall levels of aggression amongst its trainees. As a result, Kung fu practitioners have a lower stress level than the average, and they’re capable- of fighting in many realms.
Yet, they all do an incredible job of reducing overall stress and controlling anger. Because most martial arts involve a form of meditation, you’ll feel self-control when you master this part of training.
If you want to know whether a UFC fighter or a Shaolin monk would win if they were to battle, follow the link to read an article of mine. It will further insight you on this issue.
Additionally, most fighting styles include drills where you’ll release plenty of aggression. For example, a Boxing drill is to hit the punching bag as many times as possible in a given time. As a result, one will release plenty of aggression and have high adrenaline.
Lastly, having high-quality equipment is mandatory for progressing at home. When I was in my Krav Maga course, I didn’t have a means of training at home. Thus I didn’t progress outside of training. If you want to buy solid equipment, I recommend you buy this punching bag and these MMA punching gloves, as they’re the best available.
Conclusion
Overall, martial arts don’t make you more violent. Instead, they reduce levels of stress and aggression. As a result, they’re a form of mediation.
Furthermore, some fighting styles, such as Kung fu, include drills where the person meditates. Consequently, being more relaxed isn’t tough to achieve with such training.
I wrote an article on the best martial arts for self-defense you should learn. If you’re interested in learning a fighting style, I recommend you read this post first as it has some interesting insights.
The common myth is because martial arts teach you to fight, you’ll become more aggressive. Yet, that can’t be further away from the truth. What people don’t understand; knowing how to fight appropriately will further you and fight apart. That way, you’ll stay away from trouble if you don’t have to use physical force, which you know how to use.