The benefits of taekwondo arts are endless, but two important ones you may not know about are confidence and self-respect. A lot of people see martial arts as a purely physical sport. But it requires a lot of mental stamina and self-talk. We help hundreds of people in our Houston community become confident and proud of who they are through the power of martial arts and self-defense. Here’s how:
Confidence is One Huge Advantage of Taekwondo
It’s likely that you already feel confident in one area of your life — your job, your role as a parent, or your studies, for example. You might already feel confident in your body and even work out regularly.
But how confident do you feel in your ability to protect yourself? If push came to shove (literally), would you know how to defend yourself against an attacker? Would you know how to protect the people you love?
Self-Respect: A Little-Known Benefit
These are scary questions, but they’re necessary, and fear can sometimes motivate you to act appropriately. There is nothing worse than not knowing self-defense in an emergency and wishing you did! Learning self-defense to keep yourself and the people you love safe is so important.
It’s why we have the goal of teaching everyone in Houston how to defend themselves against an attacker. It’s not just because it saves lives, either: imagine how much more confident you could be if you were 100% certain in your ability to handle any physical situation that came your way. Knowing how to keep yourself safe would just be one more thing for you to feel confident about. It’s a huge mental benefit of martial arts.
How These Mental Benefits Change Lives
So we all want to be confident people — but why is self-respect important? Well, once you learn to respect yourself and your body, you begin making better choices. Once you start taking martial arts classes, you may notice you feel more energized. You may start to want to eat healthier and think, “I wouldn’t be respecting my body if I ate this… I want to feel amazing so I’ll skip the chips.”
You may also find yourself wanting to take a walk in the afternoon or finally making time for a hike with a friend. Then you become even more confident because you’re doing right by your body, you have more energy to do things you love, and you feel in alignment with your best self.
That little conscience in your head guiding your decisions is finally being heard. Also, this is huge — when you respect yourself, you start to treat others with more kindness and empathy because you see and respect them, too. This makes others more confident because they feel your kindness, and then they pass that feeling on to others… and there’s a compound effect in the community. It’s kind of great, isn’t it? And it’s all because of this ancient practice we call martial arts.
Confidence & Self Respect- Join Us to Learn More!
This happens all the time — a new student will come in to start training, and within months, they’ll get a promotion. Or negotiate a higher salary. They may even find the courage to ask someone on a date. Or speak their mind to a disrespectful colleague. These are not coincidences; they happen because martial arts classes build confidence and self-respect. Period.
When you respect yourself, you also start to respect other aspects of your life as well. You start to see how you can reach new heights in martial arts classes, and you gain bravery and confidence you never knew you had. Are you starting to see how the benefits of taekwondo can seriously change your life? Just these two benefits — the mix of self-respect and confidence — can help you realize that other people’s judgments can only get to you if you let them. When you know you’re awesome because you leave your martial arts class feeling super accomplished, you’re not going to shy away from creating awesomeness in your own life.
Conclusion
You make bold decisions in your life, embrace new opportunities, and do the things you never thought you could do. It’s awesome! One last thing. In the classic mental health sense, the benefits of martial arts are countless. Staying active, engaging in social communities, and achieving new goals each week — these are pieces of the mental health checklist that every martial arts class checks off. Your mood and health can improve tremendously right alongside your mindset.