Defending Mental Well-being With Karate

• Not just physical fitness, karate contributes a lot to mental well-being too.

• Regular karate practice helps you to attain better focus and stress relief.

• Practising karate can improve reflexes, self-esteem, confidence, patience level, mindfulness, and inner peace.

We may have seen lots of karate fight sequences in action movies but such movies often start with the person willing to learn karate meditating before and during the training with the sensei telling him/her that karate strengthens the mind and improves coordination between mind and body. Those are not movie dialogues but the truth.

In the first part of this series, we saw how karate contributed to our physical fitness. In this part, we are going to see how karate strengthens our mind and ensures our mental well-being, in following points.

Better focus:

Practicing karate moves not only strengthens your mind, but also develops composure. As you need to focus your mind while learning karate, practicing karate improves your focus and you can meditate better with a focused mind when you need to. Practicing karate also offers a clearer thought process, along with deeper insight into your mental capabilities. It also boosts your confidence while making your mind, peaceful and focused. It improves your coordination and quickens your reflexes.

Improved Reflexes:

As mentioned earlier, karate practice improves your focus to the extent of improving your reflexes. This happens because your senses get sharpened due to regular karate practice. Constant repetition of karate moves also makes you faster to the extent of having faster reaction time than most people.

Stress Relief:

Many karate training methods and techniques are helpful in stress management is manifested that are also helpful in reducing anxiety. Many deep breathing exercises and techniques similar to yoga techniques are practiced in karate. They produce a calming effect. Karate practice makes the body release the endorphins hormones that calm your mood and make you happy.

Improved Self-Esteem and Confidence:

Karate practices enhances your confidence by enabling you to defy your limitation and overcome your fear. Learning self-defense techniques makes you feel brave. Feeling of confidence and bravery always boosts your self-esteem. The belief of knowing how to defend yourself and your family in dire situations is empowering and it also boosts your confidence.

More Patience:

Learning karate and knowing karate are different things because after learning new moves, you need to practice them to master them. Only after mastering moves of one stage, you can advance to next level of training. Hence, practicing karate also increases your patience level.

Zero Ego:

Although karate practice makes you feel confident and empowered, it helps you to see and remember your limitations, your weaknesses, and those areas of your personality which need improvement. If you understand your limitation, then feelings of ego and arrogance will always stay away from you.

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People practicing karate can attain higher level of mental toughness as they push through pain and discomfort while training. Practices like sparring (kumite) or board breaking (tameshiwari) help them to defy their limits. Practicing karate also contributes to spiritual growth.

Improve Mindfulness:

You may find the concept of mindfulness in Zen Buddhism but it is also a crucial ingredient of Karate practice. Mindfulness gives people practicing karate, a greater sense mental clarity, focus, and fulfillment in every area of their lives.

Improve Inner Peace and Calmness:

Karate practice helps you to develop inner peace and calmness. Practices like 'Mokuso' or meditation help you to meditate for longer durations and concentrate your mind by doing so. This helps you to develop inner peace. Karate practice helps you to concentrate on your own movements. Hence, with your mind not diverting, you can be fully present in the here and the now. Karate is a powerful form of active meditation leading you to be in-tune with yourself and the world around you. When you open your mind to all experiences, you can feel great inner peace.

Improved Self-Discipline:

All martial arts including karate help people to attain self-discipline. Self-discipline is defined as the capacity to manage and control your behavior, emotions, impulses, and urges. With regular karate practice, self-discipline gives you the confidence to stick to your decisions and follow them through. This makes you appear as a trustworthy and reliable person.

Apart from self-defense, whether your goal from karate practice is good health or a strong mind, karate practice will help you to achieve both if you do everything properly and right way. So sign up today and find an expert on HelloDr who can teach you right moves.