I had some student interest this
week about how relaxation and relieving stress relate to the martial arts.  Out of the programs we teach
at AMAC, the system that focuses most on this is Kung Fu.

 I generally consider Kung Fu an overall self mastery program since
it focuses on such a broad spectrum of study.  Kung
Fu is excellent for relieving stress, encouraging proper posture

and
alignment of the body. Many practitioners of Kung Fu, including

myself, claim that they never see, or need to see, a
Chiropractor

after
learning to open the energy centers of the body.  Kung Fu is

heavily influenced by Chinese medicine, which is a holistic
approach

to
well being.

Kung
fu students are encouraged to relax and focus their attention on

the
basic movements which are formulated to improve strength,

flexibility, coordination, body awareness and balance. Done
correctly,

the
exercises and movements will stretch, loosen and open the joints

of the
body increasing the range of motion and releasing stress.

Deep
breathing exercises are also a major part of Kung Fu, and other

internal Chinese martial arts. These breathing exercises will,
over

time,
release deeper rooted tension in the body that most people are

unaware of its existence. These arts, if practiced correctly, can
also

be
used for self-defense.

The
focus of Kung Fu lessons is often cultivating a healthy spirit.

In
other words, reducing stress, improving concentration and body

control. Adults often enter a Zen-like state.  I often call this the

state
of “no mind”.   This is where the real
stress relief benefits can

take
place by releasing mental tensions often associated with everyday

stress.

“Your own mind is a sacred enclosure into which nothing harmful can enter except
by your promotion.”  Ralph Waldo Emerson
 
The mind is one of the most
powerful tools we have available to us.  Our self-talk or internal dialog is a
very powerful function of the mind.  Controlling our thoughts will take self
awareness, focus and deliberate control.  As warriors, we must focus our minds
on the positives in our lives.  We can't allow negative self-talk on our mental
landscape to take control of us and scatter our mental energies.  You do have
control over what you think about.  Therefore, when the negatives come into your
mind, you can simply stop and say, I control what I think about and I choose not
to think about this.  Instead I choose to think about the positives because they
empower me.  Better yet, I will direct the negatives being said to me on the
stage of my mind to align with my personal goals.
 
I firmly believe your
mind will work to accomplish anything you focus on.  Therefore, we must develop
and maintain the discipline to stay focused on the positives we want in our
lives.  Negative self-talk is of no use and inhibits our growth and
development.  Do not allow yourself to be discouraged. 

Progress at your own pace and don't compare your level of ability to anyone in
class or at the school.  Compare yourself currently to yourself previously.
Martial art training is not an occasional pastime as many believe.  Once
you have discovered what the arts really have to offer, it is a lifelong
learning and growing experience.  Rest assured no one will never grow in
the arts in a linear fashion so don't get discouraged when you feel that you're
not making progress in your training as quickly as you would like .

Martial art training is a continuous series of plateaus and you are
constantly learning and developing as a martial artist / warrior.  With
perseverance and patience you will acquire power and accuracy that you could
only dream of when you began your training.  I have often seen that
it is not the most talented student that makes it to Black Belt but the student
that sticks with it, slow and sure, that eventually acquires their goal.

I often tell the members of my staff not to focus on comparing levels of skill
but instead focus on obtaining hours on the mat.  Seek to put in more
intelligent training time/training hours each week than everyone
else.  I call this training time “magic dust” and the more you can gather
up, the better you will be.

Wikipedia defines the word longevity as follows: The word "longevity" is sometimes used as a synonym for "life expectancy" in demography. However, this is not the most popular or accepted definition.[1] For the general public as well as writers, the word generally connotes "long life", especially when it concerns someone or something lasting longer than expected (an "ancient" tree, for example)….

This week I had an older gentleman come into the school and ask the question “Am I to old to do this?”. I was amazed at the question. It seems that the martial arts industry has developed the image that you have to be young and in great shape to start training in the martial arts and the truth is far from that.

A good martial art school and instructor will teach you not only in the art or system it offers but also educate you in the skills and methods that will improve you on many levels outside of that art or system.

The study of martial arts should improve your quality of life for as long as you study it. You should learn how to loosen the joints to increase range of motion and align the bone structure for improved posture and balance. Also, how to improve strength and power in the body and how to maintain it throughout life. Relaxation, diet and breathing habits can always be improved and ingrained into habit at any age.

This just mentions a few of the benefits of correct training in the martial arts. As an adult, these things become more and more important over time because these are the things we tend to lose as we age. A good program will show you how to study and train for a lifetime and continue to improve as you do so.

This mindset of “training for longevity in the martial arts” is a mindset I try to foster in all of my students in the school. We all love the martial arts and want to train and improve for years to come. Having this mindset and educating ourselves in this very important area will allow us to do just that.

Have you ever noticed that the challenges you sometimes face on the class room floor or mat also contain a blessing in disguise? If not, you may not have been looking closely enough! It’s true that challenges often seem more like inconveniences when they get in the way of something you want or a goal you are training to reach. When you’re working toward goals that are important to you, the last thing you want is to face a big challenge or obstacle, because it usually means that your desired outcome will be delayed. However, if you learn to see challenges in a new light, they can easily become the best things to have happen to you.

For myself, I've had to deal with injuries that would only allow me to do limited training or only allow me to train out of one position in order to avoid making the injury worse. More often than not, this always leads to much improved knowledge and skill that I would not have discovered if I had not been forced to do the modified training.

Here are 3 questions I always ask myself whenever I find myself facing challenges:

1. What Can I Learn From This?
Too often we view challenges as annoyances, when in fact they may hold a great opportunity to learn and grow! If you start by asking what you can learn from each challenge, you’ll suddenly see them as possibilities that pave the way to greater wisdom and self-mastery.

2. How Can This Strengthen Me?
One major reason why challenges intimidate us is because we don’t feel capable of handling them. So we automatically believe that the challenge is bigger than we are. However, if you learn to see challenges as opportunities to become stronger, there’s no way they can hold you back!

3. How Can I Use This to My Advantage?
Most often we see challenges as disadvantages – but is that necessarily true? A challenge can often help you see that there are many possible ways to achieve a goal, and the one you’ve chosen may not necessarily be the best one. Asking this question can often open your mind to alternative routes that may be shorter or otherwise better in some way.

I believe a warrior's mindset will seek out challenges and obstacles in order to force personal growth and advancement both on the mat and off. After all, it is better to find out what your weaknesses are on the mat than it is on the street.

One of the first Qigong (Chi kung) methods I teach is becoming aware of, and how to release, tension and stress stored in the body. First, stand with the feet about shoulder width apart. Keep the spine straight and the head up. Let the arms hang to the sides of the body. Starting with the head and working your way down the body, mentally go from muscle to muscle and release that muscle - allowing it to relax. For example, the jaw, neck and shoulder muscles. You may notice when you mentally get to a muscle, you will feel it release and relax even though you thought it was previously lose. It is not uncommon to hold tension in muscles without being aware that you do. The goal is to go from muscle to muscle down the body and release each one as you go.

After you have gone down the entire body, you start again at the top of the head and work your way down again but focusing on the skeletal system. Imagine releasing tension and stress from each bone as you mentally travel down the body. Once you have released the skeleton you will go down the body once more focusing on the organs of the body - the brain, lungs, heart and so on. This will be the third and final pass down the body.

Students that have regularly practiced this exercise have reported an increase in the ability to release tension and stress from the body. They also have an increased ability to do so quicker as they become more skilled with the method. Learning and developing the skill to control this residual tension in the body will give you greater control of the effects of stress on a daily basis. Since tension and stress stored in the body will rob you of your daily stored energy, the student will also notice an increase in the amount of energy available to them as they go throughout their day. Since relaxation under stress is directly related to improvement in the martial arts, developing this deeper level of control will also directly relate to your advanced studies in the martial arts.

In my opinion, "Absorbing what is useful" is perhaps the most misunderstood concept in Jeet Kune Do. This concept does not mean just collecting the best techniques from various styles of martial arts and putting them together to form a new style. It means that a martial artist must find the skills and methods that will work the best and be the most efficient for them as an individual. Over the years I have heard it said many times that a technique that works for one person, may not necessarily work for another person.

To Absorb what is useful from a given martial art, you must immerse yourself in that system and learn its essence, learn the feel of the art. Doing this will teach you at a level that is beyond what can be expressed verbally or physically from a teacher. Then, taking that knowledge and refining it in the most realistic training situations you can find, is what allows you to discover what works or does not work for you.

This is one of the reasons for the step up in environmental training for the intermediate JKD students at the school. It gives the student the opportunity to find what works for them under greater stress. And over time, it allows the opportunity to refine those skills. It will also open the many doors of self discovery.