I would say it’s very important at this point in my life, but it was a long struggle to get here. I was raised Roman Catholic and did somewhat believe in the religion as I grew older almost all of what I believed was too far fetched to be true. Throughout my young adulthood I explored different religions, I couldn’t relate to any of them, I also made the mistake of mentioning my interest to my parents who were diehard Catholic with very closed minds so I pursued other religions quietly on my own. When I began studying martial arts Buddhism was the religion, I didn’t really pay any attention to it because I wanted to learn self defense and that was it. As I improved and advanced I asked about Buddhism, he gave me a book, I read it cover to cover unlike the Bible this was interesting to me. I found myself diving into the spiritual aspect of martial arts and when I brought the two together my movements became increasingly better and my patience longer. That was nearly 40 years ago, I stay active in it even today.