Stress Relief with Martial Arts

Are you a busy executive or mom trying to do everything?  Are you getting so stressed out that it seems like you’re not accomplishing anything? If so, you can use martial arts to combat that stress!  Many of the skills and techniques used in martial arts training are the same skills and techniques you can use to rid your body of stress.

So, you might be wondering how a skill that is commonly depicted as a fighting tool can reduce stress…  Some of these common images of martial arts aren’t completely accurate.  The cartoons, video games, and movies showing martial arts as a fighting tool are only showing you one small facet of the art. The skills necessary for training martial arts can teach you how to balance your mind and body and give you the confidence you need to face stressful events in your life. 

How do you do it?

One of the techniques used to create this balance is using breathing and meditation techniques to help you connect and control your mind and body.  There are different types of meditation: sitting, standing, kneeling, and moving.  Find the position that works best for you.  Here’s how to start.

1. Breath in through your nose and out through your mouth.

2. Breathe deeply.  To make sure you’re breathing deeply enough, put your hand on your stomach. If your stomach isn’t pushing out as you breathe in, you’re not breathing deeply enough. Try to pull the air to your navel before you let it out.

3. When you breathe out, keep your tongue on the roof of your mouth.  This keeps helps minimize your saliva and swallowing. 

In the Chinese way of thinking, breathing like this is completing a path:  The mouth is a gate and the tongue on the roof of the mouth allows your vital energy called “Qi” or “Chi” (both pronounced “chee”) to circulate throughout your body.  Chi is what helps your mind and body connect. 

After you’ve gotten the physical aspects of breathing down, you can start counting your breaths – this is a form of meditation that many experts teach during stress management courses. Start short and work your way up.

• Begin with a count of 4 as you breathe in and a count of 6 as you breathe out.

• As you go along, extend the in and out until you can get a count of 6 as you breathe in and up to 24-30 as you breathe out.  Just remember that you want a short, deep breath in and a slow, long breath out.

Why does it work?

This mind and body connection through breathing works because stress is a mental state that manifests itself as a physical symptom in your body.  This physical symptom then acts as a trigger to tell you to do something about it.  As you become more aware of your body, you’ll be able to notice the “trigger” before it becomes something unbearable such as a severe neck problem or a migraine headache.

Once you notice your trigger, you can stop and do something about it such as practicing a breathing technique. For example, I used to get stress-induced migraines that would leave me out of commission for a whole day.  Now, I’ve come to realize that it starts in my lower back as a small thing.  If I let it go, it works its way up to my head.  Now, when I noticed this trigger in my back, I stop and do my breathing. It allows the issue to surface so I can deal with it and I don’t have to deal with a migraine.

We all have those moments from time to time when we experience stress (some more frequently than others).  The overall benefits of training martial arts for the mind and body (including self-awareness, self-confidence, focus, concentration, and physical conditioning) all lead to reducing that stress.  You owe it to yourself to start relieving the stress in your life with the skills taught through martial arts.  The best place to find these skills is at a fine martial arts school.  Why not give it a try?  You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. 

A Quitter Never Wins and a Winner Never Quits

The bottom line that the difference in the mindset between a champion and just another fighter. The difference between winning and losing. This is the attitude you must have to overcome all the obstacles in your training and matches. Focus, hard work, and commitment are some of the key factors in the making of a champion. Knowing the right way to train/condition your mind and body will increase your odds of becoming a champion. So how do you go about it? First, it starts with your most powerful asset or weapon you have, your thoughts. We are all in control of our destiny because we control our thoughts.

WHAT THE MIND CAN BELIEVE, THE MIND CAN ACHIEVE.

A lot of people do not like to hear this because it makes them responsible for where they are at in life, it takes away excuses for failing, not trying, or giving up. It’s all about the attitude that sets you apart from everyone else. DO OR DIE, that is the attitude you need to defeat your opponents in the ring or outside of it in the real world. When you don’t feel like training because you are too sore, too tired from a long day at work or your hand hurts or there are other things you need to get done these are excuses that you put in the way, so you don’t achieve your goal. You have to train and condition your mind to focus on your goal, so you have a burning desire to obtain it.

If two opponents of equal strength and fighting ability step into the ring the man with the stronger mind will be victorious. Here are some ways to train your mind to have the edge over your opponent. Take time to visualize your match or techniques in your mind with a clear, detailed, and realistic picture for 10-30 minutes twice a day once in the morning when you awake and before going to sleep. This will feed positive messages to your subconscious mind.

•         Find a quiet place in your home to sit or lay down whatever makes you comfortable and begin to visualize.

•         Always visualize what YOU are going to do, not what your opponent is going to do because you can only control yourself.

•         Visualize yourself always moving quickly, effortlessly, and being victorious, standing over your opponent holding your arms high up in the air with the championship belt around your waist.

•         Visualize as if you have already obtained your goal, SMELL the scents of the arena. TASTE the salt from your sweat on your lips. HEAR the crowd chanting your name. FEEL and TOUCH the championship belt around your waist and the crowd energy as you put up your hands in victory.

•         Surround yourself with positive people who push you to be your very best, believe in you and your goal, and will help you achieve it. Having supportive people around will help deflect negative thinking and will rub off on you. We become who we hang out with.

•         Read biographies of your idols on the obstacles they overcame to get to where they are today.

The key to visualization is to have 100% belief and faith that you WILL ACHIEVE YOUR GOAL, and this is YOUR PURPOSE AND DESTINY. Push away any doubt you have when it comes into your mind, or the negative thoughts will cancel out the positive message. After a little while, it well becomes easier to believe what you are telling yourself. The mind cannot tell what is real or imagined when you keep telling it something. You will subconsciously begin believing those messages. attracting people in your life that will help you reach your goal, and you will begin ACTING, TRAINING, and FIGHTING like a champion.