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The Martial Arts and Mindfulness
Both have their roots in the eastern part of the world, and both help us better understand the connections between body and mind.
Mindfulness is defined as the state of being conscious or aware of something.
Being mindful is living in the present moment – letting go of the past, and not worrying about the future. It is an extremely beneficial mindset for learning any new skill, including the martial arts.
Both the martial arts and mindfulness can help us deal with depression or anxiety. Mindfulness also has numerous health benefits, as listed in the Wikipedia definition. It keeps us rooted in what we are doing at any given moment.
The tie between the martial arts and mindfulness is strong. The martial arts keep us prepared for high stakes situations. These are the situations where it can be critical to stay in the moment, minimize danger, and outmaneuver an opponent, or even an attacker. Being mindful can be critical to the outcome.
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Both the martial arts and mindfulness:
- Enhance health of the mind and body
- Boost attention span and focus
- Improve decision-making
- Reduce toxic thinking and behaviors
As we hone our martial arts skills and techniques, mindfulness can also help us with the attention to detail required to master the intricacies involved. It keeps us rooted in the present moment to pick up the finer details of this important skill. It allows us to concentrate on our breathing and our positioning as we engage.
As we practice the martial arts, mindfulness allows us to exit the normal flow of mental activity that follows us throughout the day. We are able to pause our “mindless” thoughts regarding our jobs, home lives, and any other non-beneficial loop that repeats itself in our heads. It requires us to pay attention to immediate details.
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Social media, the Internet, and so many other factors within daily life have us conditioned for short attention spans. We can apply the focus that we learn with the martial arts into other areas of our life to try to expand our mindfulness, improve our concentration, and enhance our quality of life.
Enjoy this article? You may also like The Benefits of Committing to Long-Term Martial Arts training.
TM Martial Arts offers courses suited for people ages 13 and older, of all fitness levels. We are located at 3480 Caton Farm Road in Joliet. Contact us today to experience the other benefits of committing to a martial arts program!
