I have been doing Arakan regularly since 2006, and I originally joined out of a starry-eyed idea of martial arts after viewing far too many movies. 

The interesting thing is that while the fighting system is absolutely amazing, the gains I have made in other areas of my life have actually overshadowed the technical skills I have been taught. I've now been committed to Arakan longer than anything I've done in my life, (other than my marriage!), and it's certainly not because I have aspirations to become a professional cage fighter or something.

I cannot emphasise enough what it is like to regularly be around positive, motivated, and success orientated people. This extends from the instructors all the way down to the students.

These are people who live highly disciplined lives day in and day out and have strong character and convictions. Over a period of time I've noticed that my language, my outlook on life, and the way that I interact with others has changed. Problems now become challenges to be overcome, and I now have a very large network of friends that I was certainly missing before. 

People ask my what Arakan is like, and why they should do it. It's extremely difficult to summarise, and I just tell them that it's the best thing I've ever done. Our whole family trains, and my children have been learning since they were 3 years old. 
Becoming fighting fit is great, but becoming a better human being is awesome. 

Steve Gregory