Blog

Instructor Profile - Aida de Demko

STUDENT SINCE: November 2010

HOW YOU FOUND ARAKAN: I won a voucher at a networking function. The rest, as they say, is history!

WHAT YOU LOVE ABOUT TEACHING: I love sharing Arakan with ladies. Seeing how much a student develops and grows, seeing them become more confident and empowered through Arakan. That has to be one of the greatest gifts as an instructor.

MOST MEMORABLE ARAKAN MOMENT: Difficult to narrow it down to one; attending my first Elite Guard was mind blowing! Any seminar with our Chief Instructor is incredible!

ARAKAN GOALS FOR 2016: To get over 10 in my next beep test. Finding my bliss through training. It’s like a holiday from life; being in the moment is incredible and finding more moments like that in my training.

SUNDAY ACTIVITY: Domestics! Haha Going for breakfast (more coffee), spending time with loved ones and keeping active.

WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY WATCHING/READING: I don’t watch TV. I’m currently reading ‘The Alchemist’ by Paolo Coelho (again) and ‘The Law of Attraction’ by Esther and Jerry Hicks.

FAVOURITE PLACE TO EAT OUT AT: I’m a coffee addict and have a couple of favourite haunts – Flannery’s Refuel Depot in Robina is definitely a fav!

It all started four and a half years ago when I was an unfit father & husband with ongoing lower back issues and had done a couple of years of karate in my younger days but couldn’t stick with it because I found it a little boring to be honest. I have always wanted to get into some other self defence classes but never really got around to it, until one day I made my mind up there and then that I was going to join some form of martial art and it was only because one of my work mates had being training in Arakan and told me all about it so I tried it and have never looked back.

My Journey to my first yellow belt grading was tough mentally and physically as I am 43 years old now but also very rewarding, my state of mind has been to train 110% every lesson and to push myself to my limits and if you continually challenge yourself every day you naturally will get better.

The focus for me has being learning how to retrain the brain so when I train I can work on being present in the moment and try not to let the thinking process come into my head as that is what has been built up in there over the years so I found it very rewarding learning how to control the mind a lot better and once I could improve on that over the years, my Arakan skills got better and better.

The most pleasing thing about the art itself, in my opinion, is that it’s not just about the awesome self-defence skills you learn but the continual growth & learning as a human being in general life, as most of us when we hit that middle age we think we know it all but after training in Arakan for years now I have found myself at peace in life and that everything in life seems to be so much easier and positivity is highly contagious and the better version of yourself really rubs off on others around you.

Arakan, if you train hard, makes you rock hard fit, it empties your mind as you learn the art so you can better manage your life overall. Arakan is a street effective martial art so it is very practical and effective in these times and the self defence skills you learn are second to none, I can’t praise the art enough as now I have my two children also training in the art and it is giving them so much more confidence in life that they can achieve anything they put their mind two so thank you Rob and the entire Arakan family I look forward to many more years of training to come.

Lee Gaylard

Demonstrations

Watch demonstrations of some Arakan Martial Art techniques

Testimonials

Watch how Arakan has changed the lives of our students

Meet the Instructors

Meet some of our inspiring instructors

Being in the Moment

Contrary to what many people think, a long term disciplined practice in martial arts can help you become more tolerant, calm and peaceful, rather than aggressive.
Many people avoid training in a martial art because they’re “not a violent person”, in fact, it’s a misconception that martial arts equates to violence. This misconception actually robs people of a martial arts journey as well as the massive array of benefits that form part of that journey.
READ MORE

Time - the key to success

In todays’ society we expect so much so quickly. There is always so much pressure on ourselves and people around us to gain immediate results, no matter what the venture maybe.

Our concept of time has changed dramatically; I often hear comments such as, “I have been training for so long now, it’s been almost three years,” and “I have given myself three months to see if my new business can make big profits,” and “it’s time to find a new job, I have been in this same job for two years, it’s been too long.”

Malcolm Gladwell, in his book Outliers states that it takes 10,000 hours for someone to master a topic...