The idea of MARTiAL YOU begins with one of the basic ideals of martial arts itself. 

We exist to promote martial arts, help keep it accessible to those who could benefit from it and to serve the very community we are in through a variety of efforts.

The martial arts community has a deep rooted and somewhat expected philosophy of “paying it forward” if you will. In the distant past to become a student was considered a privilege and not an entitlement as many may view it today. This is easy to understand as we are used to paying for goods and services and in this modern age we basically join a martial arts school as if we were joining a gym. You pay and you expect a result in return. This of course creates a problem that modern schools have to battle. The balance between true martial arts study and the commercial service of running classes for money.

Lets get back to the past though. Back then to become a teacher was also considered a privilege but more so considered a duty. The passing of knowledge from teacher to student was and still is the only way for those original skills to survive generation after generation. Reading books and studying manuals can only get you so far without having a real live person giving you hands on training. So you can imagine that the importance of continuing this "passing of knowledge" through teaching was emphasized a lot during a student’s training. Though not emphasized greatly in our modern fast paced get it now society, this is indeed the case still to this day.

It is that philosophy which fosters the nature of community within martial arts and helps those who understand it to give without the thought of receiving. Although some of the ideals taught in the past have been lost, skewed or blurred over time, there are still many in the martial arts community who remain committed to the very core of those ideals. Partly to blame is our modern lifestyles that make it tough for many to really appreciate everything they are involved in 100 percent because they have so much to do and not much time to do it.

One of the ideas behind MARTiAL YOU is that of community, not just within the martial arts population but the entire community in which we live. We hope to encourage that core belief in giving without the thought of receiving in order to promote a better society.

Just like other team sports, a good martial arts program can help instill a sense of purpose and belonging that is really difficult to measure. On top of that we have the individual improvement aspect in which each person separately, has to learn and refine several new skills in order to be promoted to a higher rank. This can enhance one’s ability to focus on reaching set goals. For kids that sense of purpose and belonging combined with a good structured environment that teaches how to set and achieve goals can make a big impact. We want to keep these benefits within reach for everyone. For more on these benefits read the following articles by Shawn Hill:

Did You Know?: Kids Benefit From Martial Arts

Did You Know?: There are a few good reasons why women should participate in martial arts.

MARTiAL YOU also represents the idea of keeping programs and classes accessible to those willing to learn but unable to afford participation costs. Tapping in to that core ideal of teaching others we hope to work with a number of volunteers willing to donate time to teach martial arts through low cost or subsidized programs and other community activities such as women’s self-defense and outreach for youth at risk.

Another concept that remains at the heart of our mission is the ability to bring many martial artists from different disciplines together to work towards the same goals while recognizing and respecting the individual skillsets they have. This concept is important because we hope to eventually host many different styles of martial arts within a central community center that will double as our non-profit headquarters. For more about this project which has been dubbed Project MARTiAL YOU visit our Project MARTiAL YOU Funding Page Here.

All of this represents the idea of MARTiAL YOU.