Often, martial artists stay in their comfort zone and practice the same form or workout routine daily. They perform their favourite kata the same way several times a week. As a result, some get stuck in a rut.

Why not challenge yourself? Why not get out of your comfort zone? For example, I’ve performed my Modern Arnis anyos, both right and left-handed. I had spent several years doing these anyos right-handed and was getting bored. Over time, I started to practice these anyos left-handed. Now, is my left-hand version as good as the right hand? No. I see some aspects of my left-hand version that are not as natural as my dominant side. Most notably, my check hand in the left-hand version is not as relaxed as in the other one.

Stepping out of the comfort zone is necessary for growth as a martial artist. In other words, the “magic” isn’t in the comfort zone. Most of the time, the “magic” exists outside the comfort zone.

What is that magic? It can range from overcoming physical limitations to surmounting psychological barriers, gaining new perspectives, and much more. Suffice it to say that you will not find the magic INSIDE your comfort zone.

In my case, switching to the left hand was outside my comfort zone, as that is not my dominant hand. But not drastically so.

You can step out of your comfort zone within the martial art you study as I did. Alternatively, you can take advantage of an opportunity and study a martial art that is entirely unrelated to your base art.

One can liken this to languages. Let’s say you speak American English and decide to expand your horizons by studying British English. As many know, there are some differences between British and American English. But, in the end, most Brits and Americans can understand each other easily. If the English language is within your comfort zone, you might think that hearing a different version may not be a giant step out of your comfort zone. But given the vastness of the English language and the variety of accents and dialects worldwide, one can study this for the rest of one’s life.

On the other hand, studying Mandarin, a language with no commonalities with English surely would take you waaaaaay out of your comfort zone. This would be akin to stepping away from Modern Arnis and studying, for example, Senegalese wrestling.

My study is akin to the British/American English analogy at this stage of my martial arts career. While Modern Arnis has many aspects, I am focusing primarily on the anyos and tapi tapi. More and more often, I am experimenting with the left hand concerning the forms and stick play. I like the idea of improving my left hand as it, not surprisingly, is far behind my right hand.

Unfortunately, due to my cranky right hip, I have to rule out more physical martial arts at this stage. I am paying the price for my earlier days in martial arts, and I’ve been told that I will likely need a hip replacement sometime down the road.

So, for now, I am content to explore the deeper aspects of Modern Arnis in unorthodox ways.

Quick confession: I habitually get out of my comfort zone regularly. A short list would include: (1) being the only deaf student in law school; (2) moving from the US to Canada at the age of 40; (3) transitioning from hearing aids to cochlear implants (hoo boy, that was challenging); (4) studying several martial arts; and (5) being uke for Master Chuck countless times!

Make no mistake, every one of the above ranged from stressful to nearly put me in the insane asylum. 🙂 In every case, I’ve grown as a human being and martial artist. I wouldn’t change anything!

One of my jobs as a martial arts instructor is teaching self-defence and learning to be out of my comfort zone. We have fun at the same time too. 🙂

Over to you; how are you stepping out of your comfort zone? Let’s hear from you!

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