Day 37: First Step

Stepping outside of our comfort zones can sometimes lead to awesome "high on life" moments! Tonight I went to my first Israeli Krav Maga class: "Battle-tested and street-proven, Israeli Krav Maga is the Israel Defense Force's official self-defense and close-quarters-combat system developed for pure survival"... http://www.israelikravmagaalaska.com/

Sounds crazy intimidating, right?!?!?! I have never been to a self-defense class before, let alone a close-quarters combat system class... yipes! What the heck am I thinking? I was so incredibly nervous. I was picturing a class full of testosterone pumped men eager to beat the pulp out of the punching bag. *gulp* If you feel up to it, Google Krav Maga and watch a couple youtube videos. They will scare the crap out of you! Well, that's what happened to me, at least.

Last week, I had mentioned the class to one of my friends in my Kung Fu class and he totally talked the Krav class up and said that I would totally be able to handle it... So with that little nudge of encouragement... and the "I'll come too!" from three other friends, I had the support system I needed to make the important step: the first one.

I let the "I got yo back!" voice in my head remind me that if I just take the steps to try out something new, then I can consider myself a success. I enjoy that voice so much more than the "what are you thinking? you're not good enough" punk that shows up at extremely inopportune times.

So with my encouraging internal voice, my friends to meet me there, and a big breath of courage I walked into my first Krav class. What a surprise! The two hours flew by!! I thoroughly enjoyed it and learned a ton. The instructor was awesome. There wasn't a single testosterone laden man in the room. In the first class, I learned very practical and effective methods and feel more confident in close quarters with someone and more grounded in myself.

Now this is the part where I get a little caught up in expressing via words things I have a hard time even explaining in my own head... but I shall do my best to express how I felt after class tonight. Bear with me....

I'm fairly speechless and pretty surprised that I could feel so different after just one class. I had to keep checking in with myself, like, "Are you seriously feeling more self-confident or are you just crazy?" (That might be the 'asshole' voice asking the questions).... :)

After class I definitely had a "high on life" feeling. I felt very centered within myself. I felt a new feeling of self-confidence... different then I've felt before. I felt like I could speak more directly and more self-assuredly than usual. Well, bluntly put, I guess I felt like a bad ass! :)  ...  And that was after just one class. I'm not saying I was out looking to pick fights to try out my techniques by any stretch of the imagination. HA! I was just amazed that I could feel so centered within myself after just 2 hours. I'm not even sure what we did in class that triggered this shift. I don't know if some hormones were initiated based on some of the moves or if it was a fluke. All I know is that I am proud of myself for taking a leap into the unknown and I am happy that I really enjoyed the class! Already looking forward to my next one! :)