The 5 Extraordinary Benefits of Martial Arts

While I am no martial arts expert, I enjoy training and taking advantage of the benefits they deliver. I like to train just to train. I find martial arts fascinating and enjoy the camaraderie. The bad news is that martial arts are often misunderstood.

For me, it’s about discipline, meeting awesome people, training your mind and strengthening your body. This all will vary greatly depending on what art you choose. It’s incredibly easy to start, and there are so many different arts to choose from, you’d be crazy not to at least try and see how it feels.

What stops most people is intimidation. If you’re like me, you will be afraid in the beginning, but once you get past that first hump, you’ll be glad you did. When I took my first martial arts class, I went alone and I was a bit afraid. I was 16 at the time and had no idea what I was doing. In hindsight, it was one of the best things I’ve ever done, even though I ended up quitting six months later because of an injury. A few years later I picked it up again and here I am.

Here are some of the benefits that I've realized:

• Coordination
  Every martial art will increase your coordination. Some more, and some less. Karate may not improve your coordination as much as Capoeira, but they both make you stronger and flexible in their own way.
  
  What’s important is that you pick something where you enjoy the trainer, the people and the art itself; otherwise you’ll end up quitting.


• Friends
  You’d be amazed at how friendly the people are. This also depends on where and what you train. The more aggressive arts will obviously attract a different group than something softer.
  
  As you try different arts, you’ll quickly see if it’s right for you. I personally love practical arts, which means I can use it in real life. Luckily, I’ve never needed to do that, because I’m a pretty friendly and easy-going guy.


• Humbleness
  A martial art with a good teacher can transform the way you think. You may go in with one mindset and come out a completely different person. Now, I’m not saying this will happen instantly, but definitely over time.
  
  Many martial arts are considered “dangerous”, so many kids are told to stay away from them. It isn’t the art itself that is dangerous, but how it is taught. Always look at what values the teacher has. Is he humble and friendly? Or does he use a more “old-school” way of teaching?
  
  Use common sense to pick a good teacher. Listen to your intuition. If there’s any common trait I’ve observed in good teachers, it’s humbleness, and this has definitely rubbed off on me.


• Discipline
  You will go through periods where you absolutely do not feel like going to class. It will feel tough and nothing seems to work when you do train.
  
  Discipline is a cornerstone in all of the old arts, and something that is required in whatever you do. If you can make it past the six month mark, you will be ahead of the large majority of people.


• Mindset
  One of the biggest benefits I’ve noticed from martial arts is the psychological part. When you start out, you’ll probably be scared of putting your heart into what you’re doing.
  
  We aren’t used to attacking and defending. It’s a whole new playing field, and it opens up your mind. Once you allow yourself to get in the zone and improvise, something in your reality changes.
  
  When this happened to me, my performance (if you can call it that) doubled and everything I did flowed. There are many benefits you can derive from martial arts. I’ve always been fascinated by the psychological improvements that I have experienced.

There are many different martial arts you can choose from, so it doesn’t have to be all-out fighting if you aren’t into that. Usually you will get one-free pass to see how a class is. Take advantage of that and try everything you can find!

Written on 4/16/2010 by Henri Junttila. Henri is addicted to living a free and passionate life. He runs the Wake Up Cloud, where he shows you how you can learn how to find your passion and live consciously.

Photo Credit: RodrigoFavera

Why and How You Should Find Time to Read

As a kid, I was exposed to a strong reading culture. Although my parents were not well educated, they clearly understood the importance of reading and our house was full of books. I remember visiting friends’ houses and being amazed at how little books they had around!

The benefits of reading are enormous, and we could probably come up with hundreds, but for me, there are a few benefits that really stand out. Let's talk about the benefits and then I'll discuss how to fit reading into your busy, non-stop life.

1. Reading broadens your horizon – it gives you access to new perspectives and ideas. It can give you a whole new way of seeing things.


2. Reading is an active mental process. You have to be intellectually engaged when you read, and this can keep your mind sharp and alert. Your brain, like a muscle, will develop with greater use. There is even research suggesting that people who are more mentally active have a lower chance of developing certain degenerative brain diseases in later life.


3. Reading builds discipline. Like any habit, it can be hard to build the habit of reading. But by setting aside a time each day to read and sticking to it, you are disciplining yourself. This discipline will ripple out and affect other areas of you life – if you can read regularly, then you can also exercise, write, or do anything else you would like to do on a more regular basis.


4. Reading builds focus. When you read, you have to concentrate. Reading, for me, is a form of meditation. If you read regularly, you are more likely to be able to focus on other things.


5. Perhaps most importantly, you learn new things through reading. Of course, you need to put what you read into action, but reading the right things can give you amazing new ideas. You can tap into the minds of all kinds of people. Books are a way of communicating with the world. They can change your life.

I suppose most of us would agree that reading is a beneficial thing, but making time for reading can be a real challenge. Here are a few things I’ve found useful in trying to build this rewarding habit.

• Switch off the computer
  Like so many other people, I spend a lot of time ‘reading’ on the Internet. The benefit of the Internet is that I have access to an enormous amount of information and can access it with an ease which would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. But there is a downside, of course – there is so much information that I easily get distracted, and end up flicking from one site to another, never really reading anything in detail.
  
  So the first bit of advice I would give for really getting into a serious reading habit is – switch off the computer! Pick up a real book, sit down and start to read.


• Go to bed a little earlier
  I keep several books by my bedside and I usually read a chapter before I turn out the lights. This can be a really good way to end the day – it distracts you from any problems you might have had during the day so that your mind can settle down, and can make you feel sleepy.


• Throw a book into your bag
  Carry a light paperback around with you. When you find yourself waiting for something, on the train or bus, or just bored, you can get the book out. Reading will alleviate your boredom and can make your journey fly.
  


• Join a library
  Yes, they’re still out there! Libraries have changed a lot in recent years and are now hubs of information. But the main activity of the library is still to provide books, and there is little more enjoyable than spending a couple of hours perusing the shelves, delving into the pages and choosing a few really good reads.


• Choose the right books
  It’s important that reading is not a chore: it should be a real pleasure – something to look forward to! I remember, as a teacher in the UK, witnessing the endless initiatives to get kids to read. They almost never met with much success. And then, suddenly, everyone was reading – kids, adults, old people – sitting in cafes and on railway stations and airports, sitting on benches and walls and even on the floor – just reading. Why? Harry Potter had somehow managed to inspire a huge chunk of the population. People found that reading the Harry Potter books was enjoyable, and so they were busily turning page after page while the world went by.

It’s a shame that our education systems so often turn kids off books, but if you’re enjoying reading, then you’re likely to keep doing it, so go and find a book you love!

Written on 3/31/2010 by Mark Harrison. Mark Harrison writes about personal growth, communication, and increasing personal wealth. Check out his new book, Thirty Days to Change Your Life.

Photo Credit: Jayel Aheram

Harness Your Subconscious Wisdom by Asking The Right Questions

"What is the meaning of life?"

Ha, gotcha! That is just one of many, many questions that have nothing whatsoever to do with this article.

Now how about these questions:

• Why does this always happen to me?
  
• Why do I always screw up?
  
• What's wrong with me?

We'll look at how such questions literally poison your mind. And then we'll look at how to flush out that poison and replace it with golden elixir of awesomeness, by asking empowering questions!


Your subconscious is a non-critical, non-judgmental targeting machine
Think of your subconscious as GPS navigation for your car. You put in your destination and the navigation leads you there. It doesn't criticize your destination; it doesn't ask questions. It simply takes your input and provides you with the best way to achieve it.
Your subconscious works exactly the same way. It's non-critical and non-judgmental, which means it takes everything you feed it at face value.

So what happens when you ask questions like "Why does this always happen to me?" and "What's wrong with me?"

Your subconscious will feed you plenty of reasons why bad things always happen to you, and dozens of things that are wrong with you! Some people always ask themselves negative questions and then wonder why they end up sabotaging themselves and feeling like crap.

That would be like a person consistently telling their car navigation to go to Middle of Nowhere, Utah. And when they got there, they would get angry and yell, "Why did you take me here? I wanted to end up in Miami!"

How you feel and what you achieve of comes down to where you direct your mind. And questions are by far the most common and most powerful tool for directing your mind. So let's see how to use them more effectively.

How presuppositions direct your mind
Most questions contain presuppositions. A presupposition is a "fact" that's embedded in the question, which you will have to accept as true in order to answer the question.

For example, if you ask "Why is John always mean to me?", it assumes John is always mean to you.

(I also heard a fun example from a psychologist recently: "Which is happier, a knife or a fork?" He vehemently argued a knife is happier, because it's more versatile and useful. I disagree. A fork has three smiles and a knife has only one. Of course a fork is happier! (Either way, the question presupposes that either a knife or a fork is happier than the other.))

Similarly, a lot of questions that people ask themselves contain negative presuppositions.

"Why can't I ever get this right?" presupposes you can't get it right. In fact, it presupposes you can't ever get it right!

"What's wrong with me?" presupposes there is something wrong with you.

And so on.

And your subconscious automatically accepts these presuppositions when you ask it a question. Remember - non-critical and non-judgmental.

Luckily, you can replace those negative presuppositions with empowering presuppositions!

Examples of empowering questions
Instead of asking "Why do I always screw up?", how about you ask "How can I most easily do this?"

This question presupposes:

• It can be done
  
• You can do it
  
• There are several possible ways to do it
  
• It will be easy

How's that for empowering presuppositions!

To help you drive the concept of empowering questions deep into your subconscious, take a few moments to answer these:

• What are you grateful for in your life?
  
• What great things happened to you in the past week?
  
• Where in your life could you benefit from more empowering questions?
  
• How will your life continue improving when you use empowering questions?

(Take a few moments to answer.)

Notice the effect? Good! And it's all done just by asking yourself the right questions.

To finish off, I'll leave you with one more question:

What empowering questions could you ask yourself RIGHT NOW to start moving towards the life of your dreams?

Written on 3/6/2010 by Vlad Dolezal. Vlad writes Fun Life Development, a blog about making personal development fun. Check it out to discover ways to improve your life that don't feel like a hard job. Alternately, you can follow Vlad on twitter.

Photo Credit: flikr