Performance Management, Health and Healing
Self-awareness, focus, clarity, emotional stability, are just some of the benefits associated with the practice of Martial Arts.
The benefits of fitness, sports or any physical activity are well known, but did you know that Martial Arts can have a strong impact on mental health?
Taekwondo, mooing, karate, jiu jitsu…there are many and sometimes it is difficult to even distinguish them but recognising the disciplines is not the most important thing. In my career as a Martial Arts Master I gained 6 black belts and all these various disciplines taught me that the essence is not just in the practice but also in all the wisdom behind Martial Arts.
“The attitude promoted by martial arts, which reaffirms the philosophical bases of the oriental culture, is in itself a form of healing. The mindset they promote leaves no room for desire or fear of losing or winning, as opposed to how many Western sports are practised in which competition and triumph prevail.”
In Martial Arts, one seeks to overcome oneself above the comparison with the other person and the search for external approval. The fictitious sensation of pleasure found in winning is not sought, but the search is towards oneself, through the development of skills and overcoming one’s own limits.
Practising Martial Arts can have many benefits when it comes to helping us manage certain emotions that may be more difficult for us to express, such as anger and frustration: Martial arts have an explicit bodily component that can help to navigate through certain emotions that we carry with ourselves and may become harmful in the long term.
Practising Martial Arts raise our consciousness and helps us to stay present while connecting ourselves with our body. I see this practice as an active meditation that, depending on the intensity, will have a positive effect on our well-being.
In Martial Arts, we seek to overcome our challenges and limits by developing new skills.
–I would recommend to start your path in Martial Arts by getting into Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Taekwondo. You will walk in this universe of mental, physical and spiritual health – a fusion of martial arts, system of self defense and combat sport–
In the Western culture there is usually a dissociation between the body (emotion and instinct) and the mind (cognition), therefore practising Martial Arts is a good excuse to integrate these two aspects. It is also interesting that when we practise Martial Arts, more than one skill is put into play at the same time, we can call it “cross training”; this form of learning benefits the development of balance, strength, flexibility, endurance and coordination.
Practising Martial Arts also sharpens concentration through the exercise of focused attention and as a result we achieve emotional stability once we are free from judgment, and from our ego.
Practising Martial Arts means getting to know the nature of our emotions by experiencing and managing fear, frustration and anger. It is a way to find out how we feel and being able to embrace it, to avoid that these emotions control us; Transit is a magical word; Travelling through our emotions allows us to explore them and aknowledge them, feel and act, instead of reacting, which is what we are used to do.
Practising these disciplines is particularly beneficial for improving self-esteem and self-confidence. – According to different researches, people who train in martial arts develop their own inner power therefore they are not so carried away by the influence of their emotions or external circumstances.-
During my self-defense courses for women I incorporate a fusion that combines Martial Arts and my Native American culture, from the Andes as a Kichwa descendant of the Inkas. I create a sacred space where my students can feel safe and develop their best selves.
In addition, Martial Arts classes can also be used as a therapeutic tool, stimulating endorphins, bringing our fear or worries to the surface, address them on a therapeutic level and realise what we are capable of, to set healthy bounderies and take care of ourselves, to connect with where we are and where we want to go just as Native Americans connect with mother earth and its elements such as fire, water, air and earth among others.
We are all responsible for our own physical, emotional and spiritual health.
I often ask my students: How would you treat yourself if you paid more attention?
A message to the world
Martial arts remind that nothing is impossible in life, they teach us to love the impossible because there are already many human beings who prefer to pursuit easy goals. The purpose of Martial Arts and its philosophy in its theoretical practical study for work in daily life is the basic and complementary educational training to be more creative, that appeals to all of us including children, young students and adults. We are all capable of acting with freedom of conscience, responsibility and absolute discipline of the mind, body and spirit, and thus manifest the maximum expression of our emotions under self-control in what will really transform us.
Martial Artists truly transmit feelings instilled in honesty and honor at all times of our life, by giving free rein to our creativity with the total power of our imagination and make our goals true works of art, thanks to seeing our integral health and the power of determination to achieve spiritual development and personal success through training.
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