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Original Sources: itfofficial.orgwww.telegraph.co.uk |
“Great workout, Sensei! Thank you!” Compliments like these, accompanied
by a sweat-slicked, beaming face, make most martial arts instructors feel
that the day has gone right, especially when that very same student began the
class wound up tighter than a pair of male walruses fighting over a girlfriend
during mating season.
In
1973, when I first was given the chance to run a Karate Dojo in Toronto, very
serious fourty year old businessmen would come in for the evening
class and rush downstairs to change. With every step down, the day’s “slings
and arrows” would lift from their souls, and by the time they were in the
change room, I would hear Bruce Lee vocalizations filtering back up the stairs.
They were kids again.
The martial way is to leave the outside world behind at the
threshold to the training hall…and to later depart from the training hall,
reinvigorated, repurposed and refreshed.
For
both young and old, the martial arts serve as a very effective means of combating
the stresses of life…and yes, little people can experience tons of stress. When
mom and dad are splitting up, and the little girl is caught in the middle, she
may at that moment experience stress comparable to that of an investor’s whose
stock has just tanked. The only difference is that she has nothing to fall back
on and no way to articulate her grief. For all intents and purposes, she has
lost her identity since that very same identify was forged within the family unit.
So
we bring the children in, give them a place where they can belong, and help, as
instructors, to provide them with at least a bit of hope about themselves and
what it is to be a self facing a scary future.
All
martial artists have experienced some sort of stress relief from training in
the arts. However, what does pass us by more often than not is that the martial
arts can also induce stress.
I’ve
seen him in Judo and Jiu Jitsu…and not just in the kyu belt ranks. I’ve certainly spotted him in Karate and Taekwondo where
the Dojo or Dojang, for him, becomes a substitute boardroom wherein he must
compete. He has to drive himself ever
onward.
And
I’ve noticed him in Tai Chi where he must strive for the ultimate perfection,
whether at forms or at push hands, in fact he strives so hard into placing Tai
Chi under his control that it almost becomes a cardiac performance.
That’s
a word of warning…cardiac.
Here
are a few trouble spots I’ve noticed during training (and that I’ve also been affected
by) –
1. Issuing power. Stress
builds up in both mind and body when the body’s power doesn’t effectively flow
through and out of a particular technique. This may occur because of poor
biomechanics or a mental attitude that confuses hot, brain bursting effort with
mental focus. A punch that does not release the body’s power smoothly results
in power “stuck” in the arm, the shoulders, the neck…perhaps even the organs.
Brain bursting effort…one thousand punches, one thousand kicks…can result in a
tightening of stress in the brain, rather than in its release.
Stress and associated health problems in martial arts occur in two
ways: a short, traumatic experience, or an accumulation over a period of time.
2. Depletion of power.
Similar to weight training, a practitioner who overdoes any type of training
risks peaking both his or her skills and energy, and actually weakening the
body. One hundred throws aren’t necessarily an improvement on fifty throws;
quality and constitutional balance must still prevail. Too much “hollows out”
both mind and body, leading to a cold, damp, weak type of stress, a type that effects
the immune system in particular.
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Source: www.fullpotentialma.com |
I sometimes
train students to fight under extreme circumstances. We throw everything at
them that we can. But it would be entirely misleading for me to suggest they
fight two or three partners at once via anger as a substitute for real motivation,
to meet the stress of fighting a stressful situation with more stress.
Providing them with the skills to relax, to de-stress in order to face stress,
and not to throw their energy uselessly at the wind, are things that we, as
instructors, ought to strive for.
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