We are going through a tough time in our history. The economy, a world-wide swine flu scare, wars on numerous fronts…you name it. All of these things increase our stress levels big time. However, before we turn to the bottle, martials arts may be able to help.
Martial art students learn self-control and discipline, and they get to hit stuff really hard. All of these things are great sources for reducing stress. Self-control is attained by learning to focus. When we focus on a move or an item we learn to target our minds and energy. Being able to zone our mental lasers onto a certain thing enables us to tune out the stressors in our lives. This concept is similar to husbands tuning out wives when being asked to do something.
Certain arts have been passed down over thousands of years. Each move needs to be practiced many times in order to perfect it. It takes a great deal of discipline to practice the same move over and over again. Good masters drive the reason for perfection into our hearts and minds. When we get to the levels of teaching others, but with poor technique, we are not honoring our art.
Discipline affords us the opportunity to control our feelings and emotions to a certain degree. When we possess the self-discipline to force our minds not to focus on the things that do not matter or the things we have no control over, we are combining self-control and discipline.
The last benefit of martial arts that relieves our stress levels is hitting things really hard. Banging on a target, board or even a body can make you feel a lot better. I would spend hours hitting my heavy bag or headache bag when things started to get to me. It really helps. By focusing all of that energy into a strike and releasing the tension in our bodies, it allows us to forget all of our worries.
Practicing martial arts is the stress pill that we all need to take. After one class your life will be depleted of much stress.
