Want to increase self esteem, or reduce anxiety?
Is stress or depression rearing its head in your life?
Everyone knows martial arts is a great physical activity. But did you know it is also fantastic for promoting your mental health?
Martial arts has been gaining great interest over the past few decades regarding its influence on positive mental health. Studies have proven that practicing martial arts (authentic martial arts) has a positive effect on reducing anxiety and stress, promoting self esteem and supporting more emotional stability and assertiveness in not only the dojo (training studio), but in everyday life.
Now, we are not talking about the smash and pound martial arts you see on TV. This is a spectator sport. Authentic martial arts teaches us to focus on our whole person. This is approached through teaching self defence, health, fitness and mind development which encompasses emotional training.
So, how will our self defence program support you to reduce anxiety and increase your overall mental wellbeing?
- Alleviate Stress:
We have all felt the impacts of stress. Whether financial, work related, social or family based, stress accumulates in our busy lives and can cripple us both mentally (anxiety, depression) and physically (impacting sleep, cardiovascular health among countless other influences).
However, you can combat this with martial arts training. When in the dojo (training studio), worries begin to disappear as you are physically pushed and mentally exerted. Marial arts training teaches us to live in the moment (breathe, move, think), prioritize experiences (what is important really at that moment in your life?) and analyze interactions with less emotional investment. In addition, you get a really good physical workout that also supports feel good hormones (more on that below).
- Increase Self Esteem:
The goal of martial arts is self defence. With self defence comes empowerment. Low self esteem is crippling. It impacts on our ability to interact with others and live our lives to their fullest. One of our goals is to increase your self esteem so you are able to go out and participate in the community how you wish you could.
We discussed above that martial arts has been proven to promote self esteem through developing your emotional wellbeing, learning to defend yourself, and promote assertiveness. This means you learn to speak for yourself, defend yourself, and in turn increase your happiness and physical wellbeing.
- Boost Focus:
Martial arts foundations trains you to focus on one point, one moment, one obstacle. As a class begins, we are supported in developing our ability to let go of all those distractions, and you are left to concentrate on the present moment. If you do this on a regular basis, your mind will learn to clear and prioritize as needed, and you will be able to focus on tasks without getting distracted by the loud and in your face world.
- Keep Active:
When you look up mental health wellbeing, being physically active is always at the top of the list to decrease stress. When we are physically active, we release feel good hormones which increase our mood. Now, if you are like me, running on the treadmill or pushing weights only motivates you for so long, as there is no purpose, no learning involved. Lifting weights does not also teach us focus in our daily lives or defend ourselves. Learning how to defend ourselves through martial arts moves the body, giving us our dose of feel good hormones, and we also learn, empowering our whole person.
Are you ready to support your mental health and give martial arts a go? This is the best time to get into martial arts if you really yearn for a sound mind and a healthy body.
Do Something for Yourself Today……….
To your success,
Steve
PS - If you'd like to learn more about how our
SELF DEFENCE SYSTEM works then you'll love this short movie we made that shows you exactly how we do it and how you can Do Something For Yourself Today for your pathway to empowerment.
