How Can You Incorporate Practice in your Day to Day Life --- Chief Instructor's Blog February 2024

 

In my previous blog, I said you should practice every day.  You may think that is impossible or you do not have the time.

 

There are so many things you can do every day to incorporate your martial arts practice in your daily life, especially keeping in mind that martial arts, at its core, is a physical, mental, and energetic/spiritual practice.

Physical

Here are some examples of ways to incorporate practice the physical in your day-to-day life. 

• Practice cat stance while you are brushing teeth or in line at a store.  This does not mean have to be a deep formal cat stance, but the practicing principles of weight shifted onto one leg and little to no weight on the opposite leg.
• When moving heavy items, use horse stance and use your hips.
• Use a knife hand to push through a door or a front kick motion to push through a heavy door.
• Use a Spear hand or a knuckle punch to open boxes (at the seams).
• Sliding feet like attack stance if walking in a dark room (also lets you avoid tripping on things).
• If at the gym and running on the tread mill or riding the bike, you can practice upper body techniques (I actually do this sometimes when I am out hiking).
• Always walk grounded. Always be grounded. 

Mental

Here are some examples of ways to incorporate practicing the mental aspects in your day-to-day life.

• While watching TV shows or movies (or news clips or YouTube videos of altercations), analyze the situations on what they did well or what they could have done better.
• Instead of watching TV, mentally go through the basics, hyung, sparring.
• Instead of watching TV, mentally go through various scenarios of what you should do under what conditions (what if a family member or friend is with you? What if you are blocked in?  what if you are injured?
• Always be aware of your surroundings.  Situational awareness is the key to self-defense.

 Energetic/Spiritual

Here are some examples of ways to incorporate practicing the energetic/spiritual aspects in your day-to-day life.

• Practice deep long breathing in any physical activity you are doing (running, swimming, biking, hiking, yoga, etc.).
• Be conscious of your energy (and energy body) and consciously choose a form that is appropriate for the situation (e.g., direct or indirect; hard or soft; hot, warm, cold; normal, extended or collapsed, or combinations).

1. If needing to make a point at work or with family, you may choose direct or hard.
2. If you are trying to comfort someone or be sympathetic, you may choose warm and soft.
3. If at a crowded mall, you may choose to extend so people felt it and get out of your way.
4. If late for that meeting with executive leadership, you might choose collapsing your energy to slip in unnoticed.

The above are just examples. What have you come up with to practice every day?   If you have not, or if you have just been focused on one aspect of martial arts, I encourage you to come up with actions you can take to incorporate martial arts in every aspect of your day-to-day life.  Because in the end, the true essence of martials arts is not something you do, it is a lifestyle.

Regards,

Kelly

 

“Kung fu lives in everything we do. It lives in how we put on a jacket and how we take off a jacket. It lives in how we treat people. Everything is kung fu.” ~Mr. Han, played by Jackie Chan (1954-presnt, Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, martial artist, and stuntman) from the movie The Karate Kid (2011)