Categories
Benefits of Martial Arts Instructor Resources LIFESKILLS

Kata for Focus: Helping Children with ADD/ADHD?

As parents, educators, and mentors, we all have times where we wish a certain kiddo had a little more, well, FOCUS!

Focus is a particularly salient problem for children who are diagnosed with ADD/ADHD. Countless anecdotes will tell you that martial arts are good for kids (& adults) with ADD/ADHD.

But no one really knows WHY martial arts help work to control ADD/ADHD.

But as someone who’s been teaching martial arts for over 15 years, I have some thoughts. For one thing, it is well known that ALL children focus better in school when they are given ample opportunities for vigorous exercise! Vigorous exercise also contributes greatly to physical health. Martial arts certainly covers that category!

But in my opinion, there is something else. Traditional martial arts are different because they include something called forms, sets of movements that are memorized and performed. The difficulty level usually increases with rank, and forms are evaluated as part of a student passing from belt to belt.

So, what is it about forms that help cultivate skills for focusing–not just for ADD/ADHD kids, but ALL children?

Categories
Benefits of Martial Arts LIFESKILLS

What Makes You a Better Person, Better Martial Artist

Categories
Benefits of Martial Arts General Instructor Resources

A (Student-Generated) List of Ways to Show Effort in Class

14

I was cleaning out files, and I found an exercise I had my classes do about a year ago.

I sat the class down and explained that I wasn’t inside their heads. I couldn’t tell what they were thinking, unless they told me with words or acted a certain way.

We broke out into groups. I gave each group a sheet of paper and assigned a scribe. Together, the group created a list of “Ways to Show Effort in Class.” 

Categories
Benefits of Martial Arts Instructor Resources LIFESKILLS

3 Tips for Getting the Most Out of Martial Arts

Focus

Maybe you’re new to martial arts. Maybe, you’re a long-term student and you’ve hit a plateau.

Either way, my 3 tips for getting the most out of your martial arts class will help you reflect on the process. Are you really doing what it takes to get the most out of your martial arts class?

And what does it really take to get good? Get better? Get past the plateau in your training?

Ultimately, the control is in your hands. You need patience, goals, and mental presence in class. Click “read more” to find out why!

Categories
Benefits of Martial Arts LIFESKILLS

Lifeskills: Martial Arts, Patience, Willpower

Black belts

Here’s the latest in my 2015 Lifeskills series. In a series of blogs, I’ll examine which skills are cultivated by martial arts OTHER THAN kicking and punching. Skills like resilience, patience, and performing under pressure, which can help anyone in other areas of their life.

The Marshmellow Test is a Stanford study which showed that the ability to resist temptation, even at a young age, had far-reaching effects on everything from grades to salary.

To put it simply, patience matters.

So what does martial arts have to do with being patient?

Patience, grasshopper. Click the “more” tag to find out!

Categories
Benefits of Martial Arts LIFESKILLS

Lifeskills: Martial Arts and Balance (literally, figuratively)

balance 4

Howdy, folks! Here’s another entry in my 2015 blog series on “Lifeskills.” In other words, what are the skills that we teach our martial arts students that transfer over and apply to other areas in life?

  • Respect, performance skills, confidence, resilience, leadership, balance, the ability to handle pressure, etc. ALL of these can be used ANY time to meet school, work, and life goals.

Today, I’m going to talk about martial arts balance. Literally. Figuratively. Click that “more” link!

Categories
Benefits of Martial Arts LIFESKILLS

Lifeskills: Respect & How Martial Arts Invites It to Grow

Howdy, folks! Here’s another entry in my 2015 blog series on “Lifeskills.” In other words, what are the skills that we teach our martial arts students that transfer over and apply to other areas in life?

  • Respect, performance skills, confidence, resilience, leadership, balance, the ability to handle pressure, etc. ALL of these can be used ANY time to meet school, work, and life goals.

Today, I’m going to talk about martial arts R-E-S-P-E-C-T. For us, respect starts and ends with self-respect, but also includes respect for property and respect for others (even those we don’t like or agree with).

taekwondo bow, Martial arts respect
Sempai Jonas working with a white belt. Nice bowing!

I was thinking today: a lot of martial arts instructors talk about respect being a part of the martial arts.

But, do we really know HOW we work to cultivate an atmosphere of respect which transfers over to “real life?” More after the jump!

Categories
Benefits of Martial Arts LIFESKILLS

Lifeskills: Persistence & “Sticking With It”

Howdy, folks! I’m kicking off 2015 with a blog series on “Lifeskills.” In other words, the skills that we teach our martial arts students that transfer over and apply to other areas in life.

  • Like respect, performance skills, confidence, resilience, leadership, balance, the ability to handle pressure, etc. ALL of these can be used ANY time to meet school, work, and life goals.

Today, I’m going to talk about persistence. The ability to stick with it. Until the goal is met.

test anxiety

I was thinking today about how to have a conversation with a student who is ready to quit. Obviously, I wanted to talk to them about not quitting. People quit martial arts for a lot of reasons. But this student needs martial arts. A lot of us need martial arts, more than we realize.

I thought I’d share a few of my thoughts about persistence, martial arts, and quitting–and why it’s so vital that kids get a chance to wrestle with these skills before they become young adults.

Categories
Benefits of Martial Arts General Special Events

NWSMA & Fudo Yama Students Make Donation!

 

Students, parents, and Senseis from NWSMA & Fudo Yama after making their donation.
Students, parents, and Senseis from NWSMA & Fudo Yama after making their donation.

Students from Stanwood’s Northwest School of Martial Arts and Fudo Yama Karate-Jutsu made a donation to the Stanwood Food Bank on Monday, December 16, 2013. The donation ended a month-long competition between the two schools to see who could collect the most food.

We’d like to shout out a big “THANK YOU” to our parents for helping our kids collect the food!

And to everyone in the Stanwood-Camano area, Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and warm season wishes from all of us at NWSMA!

Categories
Benefits of Martial Arts Musings

Integration in the Martial Arts

I recently read “The Karate Code,” an e-book collection of short essays from Japanese Karate masters. In it, each master picked one word to describe karate, and then offered some thoughts to help sum up karate in a word.

Not an easy task.

If I had to pick one, right now, I’d pick “integration.” I like the sense of fullness and evolution that it embodies. (It probably also reflects my age. It’ll be interesting to see what I think in five, ten, twenty years).

Sensei/YDN Caitlin doing her form at a tournament.
Sensei/YDN Caitlin doing her form at a tournament.

Integration.

The more I think about it, the more I think integration is (or should be) at the heart of what we do both inside the dojo and out.