Martial arts is a way of living in which you take charge of your life on all fronts; be it health, safety of life and individual protection, etc. Life becomes a less difficult course of events after going through the rigor of martial arts. You tend to become more agile, alert, calm and assertive after you learn martial arts. The attentiveness and sharpness of mind becomes keener. The thought processes become more refined and a complete transformation of the individual takes place after he learns martial arts. In that sense a martial artist would be more superior and powerful than a layman would be.
Martial arts can be defined as the arts related to war. Since ages, people have been using these kinds of arts to combat their enemies. Practicing these arts also helped develop the health and physique of the one who practiced it. Therefore, it was also used for the benefit of the society at large. Several people took to schools of martial arts since their childhood and grew up to become the exponents of new martial arts. Martial arts mainly have their origin in the Orient. However, other regions of the world, too, have their own martial arts stories to tell. The Shaolin Temple stands as an old and traditional school of martial art as also, a long-time witness to the popular Shaolin Kung Fu. Several martial arts movies have been produced with the base of the Shaolin temple, in them.
A variety of martial arts are being taught across the globe today. As such, there are a huge number of fans and students the world over. The purpose of learning a martial art is to defend oneself, for most of the people. However some people just want to follow the footsteps of their idols and celebrities in the martial arts movies. Before enrolling for it, one must remember that this art is a discipline and so, it has got to be strict. A lot of effort has to be put in by the learner to achieve mastery in the respective art that one decides to learn. Also, these arts are like a double-edged sword that can be used for protecting oneself as well as misused for harming someone intentionally.
Few of the martial arts that people are aware of and the styles that have been exposed through the martial arts movies are, Aikido, Hapkido, Jujutsu, Ninjutsu (Martial arts of the Ninjas), Judo, Karate, Tae-kwon-do, Wing Chun, Jeet Kune Do, and Kung Fu. These styles are popular in the world and training is being offered worldwide, for them. Celebrities such as Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, Jackie Chan, Steven Seagal, John Claude Van Damme and Jet Li, have made these arts extremely popular amongst the youngsters. There