Quote:
Bill Casale wrote:
I would really like to make the right choice on
where to start. In my area the choices available are Karate, Tai Kwon Do, Kung
Fu and Aikido. My goal is to train not only my body but especially my mind. I
would like to improve my mental toughness and self discipline as well as
increase my self confidence.
|
Don't stop there; why not look for a style that will freshen your breath and prevent hair loss while you're at it?
Any pursuit can help
you train your mind and improve your self-discipline (I don't know what you mean by "mental toughness" so I won't go there) -- any pursuit at all, from carpentry to mountain climbing. Whether you will experience any of those benefits depends on your teachers and your school to a degree, and to a much greater degree on you. There's absolutely nothing special about martial arts in that regard, and people who come to martial arts training seeking those things are quite likely to be disappointed. You get those things when you pursue something seriously, without apparent day-to-day reward, without expectations of being able to "master" this or that in any particular timeframe (or at all). You get them when you turn into a different kind of person. A good dojo (or dojang, or kwoon) is a good place to engage in that kind of pursuit; a bad one is a place to waste time and head down a lot of dead ends. Choose the school rather than the style and don't get too caught up in picking the "perfect" style (there isn't one -- I've trained in tae kwon do, karate and aikido, and I've had both good and bad training in all of them).