From the modernization of life, mental health issues are rising quickly. Today, people are significantly turning and looking for more mental health support. We need to find influential outlets and solutions to stop matters from worsening and improve wellbeing.
The best mental health solutions are overlooked when it comes to prevention. Instead, society is conditioned to take a pill to feel better. However, the cure lies within yourself. And the remedy needs to be turned on like a switch. There are many therapies that balance, improve, and enhance mental health. Surprisingly, many of them use movement. Exercise is one of them, but martial arts take the first-place trophy as a perfect natural remedy that works better than any medication.
First of all, mental health comprises your emotional, physical, mental, and social well-being. These aspects fuse to affect how you feel, think, and act. It determines how you live each day, your behaviors, and the choices you make. To feel good and make good choices, you need to have the right frame of mind. Martial arts improve mental health by creating discipline, respect, assertiveness, purpose, confidence, and self-esteem, which all comprise mental health.
By reading the beginning of karate, you know martial arts is not just about physical health; it is a wholehearted, encompassing approach that involves the mind and soul. Bruce Lee’s teachings show how martial arts develops, integrates, and fuses the mind, body, and soul. And that perfect technique is not only a reflection of physical mastery but also that of the “tri-fusion.”
Martial arts surround you with people who are respectful, disciplined, confident, and willing to help you master techniques. The repetitious practice of technique and routine transforms the mind with focus, structure, and discipline. Training with other students teaches respect, purpose, and humility. Learning defense and offensive moves creates assertiveness and self-esteem. And as the practice continues, you discover your hidden and unconscious potential by taking a journey into your soul.
Imbalance in the mind, body, or spirit will trickle through and impact life. You have to be careful because the slightest negative issue can create the most significant impact and move fast like a tsunami disrupting every mental health and life aspect. But it also works vice-versa. Sometimes a little bit of confidence creates discipline, and a little bit of discipline can develop confidence. You only need a spark to start a fire.
“Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for life.” Lao Tzu. This quote also implies that martial arts helps you feel better for a day but teaches you to control and feel better in your life.
By Jason Kelly
