Martial Arts and Daily Living

Martial Arts

Focus

Many students ask - what do I do with my eyes? Where do I look? Regardless what the practice is - standing, walking, moving - eyes are looking straight but your mind does not register information taken by your eyesight. The gaze is turned internally, observing your muscles, your legs, your hands, scanning every single part of your body with your mind. I used to go to crowded places to train for competitions - the more distraction the better it was. Well, no doubt, I learned how to focus and keep final destination constantly in my mind - perfection of the body posture, allowing the energy to flow freely like cleaning blocked pipes or dirty chimneys. Meridians are fresh, blood circulates to all parts of the body, there are no blockages and as qi starts in your dan tian it swirls through the whole body and is being released into the ground. To reach perfection you first hear about what it is that you are looking for and then step by step focus on each requirement until you get it and lift yourself up to new horizons. I take focus as another insight for daily living.

Flexibility

A lot of people are put off by the idea of martial arts for a simple reason that you need to wake up early and practice outside during winter. In my opinion these are such minor components of the whole practice and if you do get into practicing at dawn and during the winter than you are already into it that much that it does not matter. Your teacher may be flexible enough to assist you in learning whenever it is convenient for you, some teachers take it easy during winter and if you have a spacious apartment you can practice at home. So, first of all martial arts teaches about flexibility. By being flexible I mean physically and mentally because it is all connected and one directs the other.

Calm

Another simple implementation of martial arts in daily living is that you learn how to keep being focused and relaxed while doing strenuous exercise. The practice gets your body to twist in new directions, to use muscles you haven’t used before, to learn what ‘natural posture’ means in terms of martial arts. After a while your body becomes soft outside (for the observer) and hard inside (you experience the flow of qi in your body). Simply, if you manage to keep your body relaxed during strenuous exercise then in daily living you can maintain being relaxed in stressful situations. Needless to mention, daily practice enables you to remain calm and focused despite the circumstances and the environment.

Patience

Recently I have been translating for Liu Sifu - he has new students who do not speak much of Chinese and I am amazed (again and again) how much patience he has. Each student is treated in a new way, with new perspective, so much appropriate for their personality. I stopped asking how he does it, each time it is just as if he knows how nature works. Of course, practicing ba gua was helpful for increasing this insight (amongst other things). As I translate I keep rushing ahead, giving my perspective on what is being said, talking about my experience while he sits calmly and waits for me to finish. Never a single comment, never a single request. I look at new students practicing zhang zhuan (standing stance) and keep thinking: they must be bored, there is so much more to it! And yet, I realize - their mind and body are so occupied maintaining the proper standing stance as it looks simple to an observer while the person practicing has busy time thinking of all things that need to be done - usual case with internal martial arts. I learned patience by living in China and I know that patience is part of every journey - accept the fact that beginning is slow and that some things you will do well, some will be hard.

Determination and Discipline

Over the course of 7 years of practice I have learned one thing about internal martial arts - there are times when I enjoy it, when the flow of it is so natural and free, by body wakens and mind empties itself accepting nature as the only guide. As everything else in life, there are also times when I am lazy, I dread waking up in the morning, my body rebels, practice seems boring and I question if there is anything coming out of it. Liu calls these times “guan” (”pass”). Each guan is blocking the way towards new learning, realization and expansion. So there is physical guan, lazy guan, guan of doubt etc. It is our choice to stop and retreat from practice or to continue and see what awaits us behind the obstacle. Usually it is expansion of physical and mental experience: body becomes stronger, mind reaches new horizons. However, it does not mean that if you pass one guan you have finished with that lesson. For me, lazy guan keeps coming back but the time needed to pass it is getting shorter and shorter. Lessons are fulfilling enough for me to realize that determination and discipline is what takes me further towards abundant and balanced living.

With flexibility, calm, focus, patience, determination and discipline I look forward to every new challenge.

Tags: exercise, martial art, martial arts

MRSA part 2

From: Cindy

If you haven’t read this excellent post by TheBigKlosowski, you’re missing out.
How to avoid deadly staph infections while training

I have some life experience to add to the MRSA article. I am a massage therapist at a martial arts school, so you can imagine what sort of ickiness I combat when I’m on the job.

Ask how often the mats/machines/etc are cleaned.

TIP 1

One way to stay clean without a shower is to place a hand towel doused with alcohol in a freezer bag before leaving home. Stick it in your gym bag (no worries of a bottle spilling in there!). Toss it in the wash with your uniform (which I highly recommend washing after each use!). If Lysol is more your thing and you can’t find any to borrow, ask the manager of your facility and joke how you “don’t want to take the gym germs home.” They’ll understand!

TIP 2

Another more proactive tip is to put up signs at your facility. I work at a martial arts school, and my “germ campaign” this summer included hygiene notes at the sink, at the hand sanitizer station, near the shoe shelf, and anywhere else I could think of.

MRSA is also common in schools, which is why it’s especially important to stay vigilant if your training facility allows children. Additionally, two family members of mine (a nurse and a corrections officer) BOTH contracted it on the job in 2007.

Further, the nastier big brother of MRSA is VRSA, which is resistant to Vancomycin (the drug used to treat MRSA).  YUCK!!!

Best of luck in your training!

–Cindy

EDIT: added 10/4/08 in light of:

1. 2008 - International Year of Sanitation
2. October 15, 2008 - Global Handwashing Day (lots more info here) 

TIP 3
Ask what your gym policy is: if they say “um” or they have to ask someone else, that’s a bad sign!

TIP 4
No tank tops, since sweat is more likely to get on equipment (or your partner).

TIP 5
Wipe down equipment, especially in dumbbells and “quick sequence” fitness equipment. 

TIP 6
DO NOT use a towel, water bottle, or mouthpiece you’ve dropped on the floor! I see people do this all the time.

List of nasty stuff you’ll be avoiding:

bacterial meningitis
candida (yeast infections) 
cryptosporidium (in pools, causes diarrhea) 
e. coli (found in human feces) 
flu virus 
giardia (rare, found in hot tubs) 
HPV (no lie, human papilloma virus) 
MRSA
onychomycosis (another fungus) 
pseudomonas (skin infection from hot tubs) 
strep bacteria 
tinea pedis (athlete’s foot fungus)
VRSA 

If you want gross pictures, check out www.gymsoap.com

Tags: alcohol, children, clean, facility, gross, hygiene, mats, MRSA, staphylococcus aureus bacteria, tips, VRSA

How to avoid deadly staph infections while training

Like many healthy people, you probably have some Staphylococcus aureus bacteria — usually simply called staph — on your skin or in your nose or throat. Most of the time, the bacteria cause no problems or relatively minor skin infections. But staph infections can turn deadly if the bacteria burrow deeper into your body, invading your bloodstream, urinary tract, lungs and heart.

There is a new threat of MRSA, an Antiobiotic resistant form of staph that has been lurking in gyms, dojos, and training facilities worldwide. MRSA, or Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, killed more people last year than the AIDS virus. Find out the symptoms and treatment of MRSA infection and how to protect yourself at the gym from this “super bug.”

How can you protect yourself?  BJJToolBox.com has some great tips on avoiding staph infections while training.  While the focus is on Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, it applies to all martial arts.

Here’s a few tips from BJJToolBox.com that I thought were particularly good.

If you have to wait to get home to take a shower, make sure and keep some alcohol cleaner handy for the ride home.

…

3. DON’T ROLL WITH OPEN SORES
Keep ALL wounds / infections, particularly those that continue to produce pus or to drain, covered with clean, dry bandages. Pus from infected wounds can contain staph bacteria (MRSA) to others. A couple of recent outbreaks among football players began when one team member had a boil, and the infection was spread to other team, members.

Read the whole article here.

Tags: BJJToolBox, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, martial arts, MRSA, resistant staphylococcus aureus, skin infections, staph bacteria, staph infections, staphylococcus aureus bacteria