Kickboxing! and Me???

“It’s really violent.”

“It’s brutal and barbaric.”

“Fighting is not the answer.”

“Only the low-life indulges in it. It’s not meant for civilised people.”

“Kickboxing? Haha! You? Hahaha.”

Yep. Those are some of the common retorts you get when you say you want to learn martial arts. Funnily enough, I was one of them.

So, it was with great trepidation that I agreed to come to a trial class of Kickboxing on a chilly Saturday morning nearly a year ago. I can tell you, it took a lot of coaxing and persuasion from my buddy Panju to get me there.

To be honest, at that time, the only reason I decided to join the Shootfighters was to try and salvage my falling levels of fitness; and lifting weights bored me!

The trial class was fun! Kicks, punches, lots of cardio! Yeah, it got my adrenaline pumping, a feeling I’d nearly forgotten. But I still wasn’t sure about the whole Kickboxing idea. I had an “idea” that I was a very “peaceful” person and Kickboxing wouldn’t “suit” me at all. Thankfully, good sense prevailed and I decided one trial class wasn’t enough for me to be judgemental. I was also a little intrigued, and so I signed up for a month.

One month slowly extended to two and before I knew it, it was six months later! I’d gotten hooked!

A very common question that would get thrown at me was “So, what do you learn in Kickboxing?”

A simple enough question, don’t you think? I’d tell people about the different techniques I’d learnt – the jabs, crosses, uppercuts, hooks, roundhouses and the many locks and takedowns, not to mention an appreciable difference in my fitness. But I’d always feel I was leaving out something, something I was learning but couldn’t tell people. It’d leave me completely flummoxed.

I began to observe more carefully my instructors and my fellow students. I had the privilege of training under a fair few instructors – Ash, Puttu, ET, Sindhu. I slowly began to see a pattern emerging. Yes, they all instructed differently, but they shared common ideals. To my great surprise, I realised I shared those ideals too. So there it was; me, a “peace loving, non violent”person having something in common with these“aggressive, tough, and seasoned fighters.”

I began to delve deeper, trying to unravel this enigma. I soon found out that they all had a common desire to help people. They were selfless, ready to help anyone, anytime. And as instructors, they were thorough, professional, disciplined and fun!

I soon began to learn the nuances in the art of fighting. It transcended the mere physical techniques. I realised that fighting constituted a very tiny part of learning martial arts. Becoming a true warrior meant elevating yourself mentally and spiritually also. It was liberating. This is what Ashwin meant, I think, when he said we would be evolving.

No sooner than I started to realise and appreciate the various facets of martial arts, I began to train in earnest, for I wanted to experience Evolution too. Like the selfless people they are, my instructors offered to help me. “Join us as an instructor.”, Ashwin told me one day, and I jumped at the opportunity.

So here I am, nearly a year after my hesitant entry into the world of martial arts. I’ve learnt many techniques, and more importantly, I’ve evolved as an individual. I’ve also made some truly wonderful friends, likeminded and dedicated to serving a greater good. In my endeavour to become an instructor, I was joined by Raghu, Devrath, Ashish, Akhilesh and Phalgun, all excellent fighters with a very good fathoming of the ways of a Warrior.

My journey in the world of Kickboxing at the Independent Shootfighters Inc. has taken me through the physical, the metaphysical and also the paranormal and has left me only yearning for more.

I still get the question many times these days, “So, what do you learn in Kickboxing?”

A simple enough question, don’t you think? After nearly a year I’ve just realised that the answer to that question is really very simple too.

I answer, “What do I learn? Well, I learn how to live!”