Alright, buckle up. I'm going to do my best to answer this question in one giant blog post that I'll keep adding to every time someone asks a question that isn't in here.
If it gets too long, feel free to search for your target word via CTRL+F
DEPRESSION, ANXIETY, SADNESS & OBSESSIVE TENDENCIES
Martial arts requires a presence, a focus, and a posture that is the antithesis of these negative realities.
Think about this for a second:
Imagine a (depressed/anxious/sad) person in the height of their issue. What do they look like?
Are they breathing shallow, or deep? Controlled breathing in their stomach, or higher breathing in their chest? Are their shoulders back, or slumped? Is their posture dynamic and powerful, or slow and withered?
Emotion comes from motion. Our bodies tell our brains what to feel. The intensity and literal postures of martial arts are the antithesis of depression, the focus required obliterates anxiety, the camaraderie and sheer joy of the class nourishes happiness, and hell, your obsessive tendencies will at least be channeled into something constructive (google GSP on this)
They've done studies on people who all they did was (literally) FORCE THEM TO SMILE for extended periods of time, and it combated their depression with equivalent results to antidepressants. They did another study where they forced people to "cape walk" (that is, walk as though they were a superhero wearing a cape) and had similar results.
Your motions change your emotions.
FEAR, APPREHENSION & INSOMNIA
Martial arts provides you with a confidence I cannot describe. It doesn't just come from being a bad ass (though that certainly helps) it comes from the knowing that you are the type of person that overcomes adversity. The type of person who has been in countless battles and has found a way to win. A person who knows that all defeats are temporary.
Also, exercise and learning to breathe kinda kick the shit out of most problems on their own.
SELF CONFIDENCE, FEAR OF FAILURE, IMPOSTURE SYNDROME
Martial arts is the ultimate proving ground. You know what you're capable of, and what you have yet to learn - you also know the path to take you to the next step.
I cannot tell you how many "I can't"s I have seen turn into "I just did"s over the years. The first board break, the first time a tiny 90lbs person manhandles a giant with ease. Even just learning how to freaking yell and explode with power.
Martial arts takes you out of your comfort zone and shows you what you're capable of. It is fucking awesome.
It is also FILLED with setbacks, hardships, mistakes, looking foolish, failures and more. Everyone around you is supportive, and everyone around you is modelling what perseverance looks like. The dude at the front with the black belt was, more often than not, a BIGGER spaz than you are now. Spazzes make the most empathetic and accomplished instructors because they understand what it's like to suck at it, and they know a million ways to try to get better, and which ones worked for which sorts of people.
People who suffer from any sort of self-doubt learn when that doubt is actually warranted, and when it is not.
If it gets too long, feel free to search for your target word via CTRL+F
DEPRESSION, ANXIETY, SADNESS & OBSESSIVE TENDENCIES
Martial arts requires a presence, a focus, and a posture that is the antithesis of these negative realities.
Think about this for a second:
Imagine a (depressed/anxious/sad) person in the height of their issue. What do they look like?
Are they breathing shallow, or deep? Controlled breathing in their stomach, or higher breathing in their chest? Are their shoulders back, or slumped? Is their posture dynamic and powerful, or slow and withered?
Emotion comes from motion. Our bodies tell our brains what to feel. The intensity and literal postures of martial arts are the antithesis of depression, the focus required obliterates anxiety, the camaraderie and sheer joy of the class nourishes happiness, and hell, your obsessive tendencies will at least be channeled into something constructive (google GSP on this)
They've done studies on people who all they did was (literally) FORCE THEM TO SMILE for extended periods of time, and it combated their depression with equivalent results to antidepressants. They did another study where they forced people to "cape walk" (that is, walk as though they were a superhero wearing a cape) and had similar results.
Your motions change your emotions.
FEAR, APPREHENSION & INSOMNIA
Martial arts provides you with a confidence I cannot describe. It doesn't just come from being a bad ass (though that certainly helps) it comes from the knowing that you are the type of person that overcomes adversity. The type of person who has been in countless battles and has found a way to win. A person who knows that all defeats are temporary.
Also, exercise and learning to breathe kinda kick the shit out of most problems on their own.
SELF CONFIDENCE, FEAR OF FAILURE, IMPOSTURE SYNDROME
Martial arts is the ultimate proving ground. You know what you're capable of, and what you have yet to learn - you also know the path to take you to the next step.
I cannot tell you how many "I can't"s I have seen turn into "I just did"s over the years. The first board break, the first time a tiny 90lbs person manhandles a giant with ease. Even just learning how to freaking yell and explode with power.
Martial arts takes you out of your comfort zone and shows you what you're capable of. It is fucking awesome.
It is also FILLED with setbacks, hardships, mistakes, looking foolish, failures and more. Everyone around you is supportive, and everyone around you is modelling what perseverance looks like. The dude at the front with the black belt was, more often than not, a BIGGER spaz than you are now. Spazzes make the most empathetic and accomplished instructors because they understand what it's like to suck at it, and they know a million ways to try to get better, and which ones worked for which sorts of people.
People who suffer from any sort of self-doubt learn when that doubt is actually warranted, and when it is not.
