To elaborate, I never had any interest in "martial arts" but ever since I first saw MMA back in the late 90's, I always appreciated the hard work and dedication that fighters put into training. At first, it absolutely blew my mind that people would actually dedicate their lives to learning the most efficient, destructive way to deliver violence upon another person. I liked it so much because it was just so foreign to me that someone could be so serious about something like that. I mean, a 100% professional mixed martial artist spends upwards of 8 hours every single day pushing their bodies to their physical limits just for a chance to MAYBE NOT GET KNOCKED OUT COLD, usually for no more than $500 or so.
Honestly, at first the overall violence of the sport was unsettling to me, but for some reason I kept watching. I'd cringe when a guy got brutally knocked out from having his head stomped into the mat, or when someone didn't tap and got choked unconscious. But after a while (is it bad English to start a sentence with "But"?) I realized that all these guys sign up for it, and just about every one of them comes back from big KO's or whatever. When all the states started regulating the sport under unified rules, it got a lot better for me. As it is now, MMA is about the closest you can get to a completely sanctioned street fight. Mano y Mano, toe to toe, best man wins kinda deal. To me, that's the ultimate athletic test.
I've always been the type that, when I fall in love with someone, I have to learn how to do it. It happened with metal. I fell in love with it, I had to learn how to play it. Then I fell in love with trance and starting making songs in Fruity Loops. I fell in love with MMA but holy shit! I could NEVER do anything like that, especially with my medical history. I've had 5 collapsed lungs and two surgeries to repair it. When it was happeneing, I was certain I'd never be able to enjoy anything beyond mediocre physical activity again. So when I fell in love with MMA I was stuck because that's about as difficult a task you can put to your body.
So I just played music, man. I was ALWAYS in a band. Always always always. Death metal, rock, technical metal, that's how I spent my free time. After I'd completely recovered from my surgeries and felt pretty much normal physically (thinking i'd never be able to again was just my own overreactions), I thought it would be fun to try Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. It's all ground fighting, there's no striking and it seemed relatively harmless to my body and I've always been fascinated by the submissions and chokes. Hell, even when I was a wee buck I always loved watching the WWF guys doing the Crazy Boston Crabs and figure fours and shit. So I decided that maybe someday I'd give it a shot just for fun, and if my body didn't like it, I could stop.
One day, a guy I work with was going to have a station promoted boxing match with another DJ on our station. He ended up meeting this boxing coach who trained out of a small jiu-jitsu club near where we worked. He told me about it and said he also attends the jiu-jitsu classes there as an extra workout. He invited to me come along and told him I'd totally love to but that the schedules conflicted with my bad's current schedule. Well, long story short, that band was fizzling apart and I saw an opportunity. Eventually the band broke up and the very next week I went with this guy I work with to the jiu-jitsu class.
I haven't touched my guitar since. I absolutely fell head over heels in love with jiu-jitsu like I've never fallen in love with anything ever before. I loved EVERYTHING about it. All the things I'd always expected I would and in addition, all the things you mentioned in your post. I honestly now regret not getting into martial arts at a much younger age. The brotherhood with the people I train with, discovering the things I really am capable of physically (I always just assumed I was a scrawny weak bitch because I was little, now I'm strong and confident), respect for others, respect for myself... it was all there before but martial arts puts it into another wholly different perspective.
It brings peace, it brings comfort, it brings confidence, and it brings protection. Before martial arts I always wondered if I would just get destroyed completely by anyone in a fight (never been in a fight in my life), now I hope I never have to find out. But if it comes down to absolutely no other option, I'm really, really, really fucking glad I know what I now know... which isn't much, but better than nothing.
To answer your question I believe that when you break it down as far as possible, a calm chi and positive energy are the very essence of martial arts. I didn't know it when I started, but it didn't take but one practice to realize it and now it's why I stay with it.
