What TT has done for me

Assignment:  What have you learned about yourself/your training from TT so far, and what has it changed about your approach to martial arts?


I have learned from my TT training that I am a procrastinator, unless I have some very strong motivation otherwise. I have learned that I need a group to work with, to learn with, to strive with. One of the most wonderful discoveries of martial arts, for me, was the feeling I got from training with people who shared the same desire to get the essence of the art – to internalize it. Since internalizing anything is such a personal and individual process, it's extra important to have the freedom to figure it out at my own pace, in my own way, but with guidance and support all along.

Ten Tigers has been, and remains, a program that continually helps me keep my goals in line with my daily activities. Martial arts that exists only on the kwoon floor cannot give me the results I want, nor the physical and emotional fitness levels that change my life. When I completed the TT light (1/3 program) last year, I found that it created positive habits in my daily living – but then when the program ended (a month break), I ended too. I stopped everything, felt stubborn, felt like I deserved a break … and found it very hard to start again. The “break,” I now understand, was only a return to habits and patterns that did not serve me well. The positive habits were not yet fully internalized. This second year, which I have bumped up after the first quarter to full participation, has made a huge difference that I can feel in everything I do. I've had to adapt some things – like the increased strength training has made me less flexible so I added more stretching to my routine. And I've discovered new things – like adding kettlebells to my workouts, a growth out of one of last year's special sessions that Steven embraced.

I've also discovered that the higher level of training is a challenge to schedule and maintain, but that when I am on track, everything else in my personal life is going better as well. When I veer off course and fall behind, it's a signal that I need to take a look around me to see what else is askew, and get back on the path of physical, mental and emotional health.

Ten Tigers has been a path I can follow, on an incremental daily basis, that has changed my approach to martial arts by making it part of who I am, wherever I go. I have learned to trust my instincts, listen to my body, train hard, and ease up as needed. I know now that “breaks” are not the reward I once thought them to be. More and more, I am learning to let go of my resistance to change and embrace challenges and fears as positive forces rather than things to be avoided.