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. 

Are the Martial Arts Still Under Development?

What is a martial art?

A martial art can be defined as any skill that can be applied in warfare. The word martial means "military." So traditionally, a martial art is a military art. The first things that usually come to mind when discussing modern martial arts are leaping, kicking, punching, blocking, inverting elbows, twisting necks, throwing, and weapon fighting. But also horsemanship, javelin throwing, archery, spear fighting, halberd fighting, wrestling, knife fighting, rifle, shotgun and pistol shooting, demolitions, logistics, and battle strategy can all be described as the field of martial arts. Anything that a soldier might do in battle is a martial art. By martial art usually, it is meant aikido, Arnis, Western Boxing, Capoeria, Chow Gar, Choy la fut, Hapkido, Hsing'I, Hun gar, Jeet Kune Do, Jow gar, Judo, Jujitsu, Karate, Kempo, Kick Boxing, Krav Maga, Kung Fu, Pa Kua, Penjak Silat, Praying Mantis, Savate, Shaolin, Tae Kwon Do, Tai Chi, White Crane, Wing Chun, Wu Shu and more! As you can see the list is quite long and it is quite amazing how many martial arts systems there are and how many methods of self-defense can be formulated. Often within a martial arts school, it is taught that 'this particular system is the best, and it was created to beat all the others. Of course, every martial artist would have the viewpoint their style is the best because that is the style they have chosen to do, but in reality, what they are saying is 'this is the best style for me as it suits my temperament and I like the teaching environment'.

The Changing of the Arts

Throughout this history and development of the martial arts and all the combat systems of man, our training tools have played a vital part in evolving and perfecting these systems and techniques. All the martial arts have been affected by the role that mechanical devices play whether it be weapons, dojo mats, breaking boards, or even the uniforms we wear - all these paraphernalia identify the martial arts into their systems and style. The main players in shaping our new martial arts would be the traditional wooden dummy, Wing Chun rings, iron palm ointments, and even the system of using forms, called kata, which have developed the martial arts into their current form. Even today modern training tools are common and again the martial arts are under development with new training products such as the Wavemaster, the ‘BOB’ training dummy, the Focus Master. All with one thing in common, to create a well-rounded combat system. Ideally, a martial arts solo training tool should be workable for all and based on sound theory and through constant practice develop into a sound physical application. The ideology and theory would have to take into account all the history of the combat technology of man and give this competition and street application.

The Rapid-Reflex Boxing Bar

In a martial arts or boxing career you can occasionally find yourself with no gym to go to or no one to train with and so out of necessity The Rapid-Reflex Boxing Bar solo training partner was born. The Rapid-Reflex Boxing Bar is a training tool used to develop the entry and trapping skills of any martial arts system. It is designed to test any techniques so to improve the ability to block, trap and control your opponent’s hands and arms. This can be done because the bar moves and reacts like a real opponent. The bar moves and twists just like a real opponent would - so it can spring forward, and it does strike back! The Rapid-Reflex Boxing Bar was designed and developed on the following theories: 

1.      Safety - You must maintain 100% safety when entering into the opponent's attack range, this means limiting any variables that could occur by covering them. (Methods of entry must be sophisticated yet simple, fast as well as safe!) 

2.      Attack - You must have the ability to attack at will, with no concern or hesitation. The attack should incorporate total control of the opponent's weapons. (Attacks must be structured to have within them a 100% defense!)  

3.      Adaptability - Techniques, attacks, and defenses must flow but not necessarily at a constant pace. Adaptability to choose what's next is key! Whatever martial arts you choose just be sure you do look at a few before you decide and enquire with the school what martial arts equipment, they utilize to get the best from your training.