Back to School TIME

Time is a dressmaker specializing in alterations. ~Faith Baldwin
Vacations are winding down for the summer and parents are thinking about how to help their children arrange their back-to-school schedules and how best to use family time. What extracurricular activities might be most beneficial? Different families have different ideas.
Some are looking for:
--teamwork and physical coordination (team sports)
--mental discipline (chess club, language/science/book clubs)
--creative disciplines (music, painting, writing)
--pure recreation with social development (fun with family and friends)
--all of the above (martial arts, IMHO).
The martial arts are not for everyone. They demand physical, emotional and mental discipline. If you are up to the task, the benefits are many.
Teamwork. Martial arts students practice potentially dangerous techniques and very different personalities/bodies must learn to work well together. Emotional discipline is a bonus benefit. One learns to tolerate others’ mistakes, set boundaries, and control one’s own anger. And perhaps most importantly, the martial arts environment teaches humility – not humiliation, but honest, self-respecting humility.
Physical Coordination. Physical discipline and coordination are inherent in martial arts practice. Technique and angles and pressure points are important, but all else being equal, the weightlifter will probably prevail over the 90-lb weakling. So a good workout is in the mix. And the phenomenon of “muscle memory” hones physical reaction time and efficiency and helps the body learn good posture and proper body mechanics.
Mental Discipline. A good martial art will also make you think more effectively, and more logically. If it doesn’t make sense, it’s not a good technique! Practice of right-left coordination activities necessary for success in martial arts has been shown time and time again to be helpful in alleviating the symptoms of ADHD/ADD in children, adolescents and adults. It tends to connect the hemispheres of the brain. Memory work is required for learning forms (katas) and other chart work. Qigong (internal strength building) uses the imagination and helps the student to focus.
Creativity. The creative side of the martial arts is often missed. In a sense by pursuing this discipline you are creating yourself – becoming the person you want to be through your own self-development in the art. In a good school, students will not emerge as cookie-cutter fighters or tournament competitors – they will emerge as better people, hopefully the best people they can be. They will use their own strengths to develop a personal fighting and forms style, and use the art to develop themselves. And the best of them never truly emerge. They remain scholar-warriors throughout their lives. “Kung Fu” literally means “skilled man” – not “fighting arts.” It’s about mastering yourself.
Recreation with social development. A good martial arts class will also be fun. The school will attract all kinds of great people too!
Not everyone is up for the task. Only those willing to challenge their level of motivation, their view of themselves and others, their pacifism-versus-self-defense meter, and their perceived limitations will want to pursue this path in the long run. Are you ok with your own power?
Short-term – no problem: try a month of classes, have a good time, meet some great people, and if you like your limits right where they are, then quit.
BUT if you want lifelong positive growth for yourself and your children, consider a balanced martial art program.
If time is the tailor of your life, will you participate fully in the alterations?
Carl Sandburg said, “Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.”
How will you and yours spend your time come September?
Juli Hartmann
Master Instructor and Owner
Texas Holistic Arts Center / Sacred Source
For more information about martial arts classes, tai chi classes, kickboxing classes, kung fu classes, massage, Reiki and holistic healing in Leander, Texas, visit http://www.texasholistics.com or feel free to call us at 512-778-5778
Texas Holistic Arts Center offers kung fu, tai chi chuan, kickboxing, yoga, massage, Reiki and special workshops, including weaponry and Reiki instruction.
www.texasholistics.com or www.TexasNWC.com
Copyright © Juli Hartmann 2009-2010