Imagine if you could take your physical strength and kick it up a notch by adding in a few other ingredients to the mix.  Wouldn’t that be an awesome combination?  That’s exactly what I did and I’m about to share the secret behind this explosive life-power that I’ve discovered from my martial art.

When you think about martial art strength, it is often physical strength that comes to mind.  Pick any martial art movie and you see it.  Look at any martial art poster or motivational picture and you notice it.  The martial artist is often depicted in media as a physically strong person. While physical strength is an excellent byproduct of martial arts and a great personal goal, there are a couple of other strengths that produce martial art power.  What are these amazing strengths?  What more can you possibly strengthen if not the physical self?

How about the mind and soul?  The mental and spiritual? If you allow it, these creative and personal strengths infiltrate your life through your mastery of martial arts.

 

Physical strength can wane.  It all depends on how many times you practice per week and if you supplement your practices with weight training.  What if suddenly you cannot practice due to illness or issues or commitments? The physical strength diminishes until you can continue physical training again.  Mental and spiritual strength in the martial arts are completely different from physical strength.  You may refer to them as  a lifestyle or a mindset. You can  stay strong in these areas, no matter your physical health. They do not fluctuate depending on training times or how many days you spend on the mat or the gym.  Once cultivated they are here to stay. Combine them with physical strength and you have an explosive combination.

You create a trio of power when you combine your martial art mental power and your spiritual growth with your physical strength.  Even if the physical strength lapses, the two remaining strengths offer you powerful defenses against life’s daily struggles, or even the biggest personal battles and challenges that you face.

I’ve experienced many personal obstacles and battles.  I know that most people would have given up, yet I pushed through and persevered.  They would have walked away, or said to themselves, “That is too big an obstacle for me to fight.”

Whatever dire situations you face and whatever destruction has funneled its way into your life, never forget that you have choices. The first decision to make is how to face your obstacles. Will you use your spiritual and mental strength?

I often remind myself that if I can achieve a black belt, then later a second degree (while pregnant), then I can persevere through anything.  If these strengths can relentlessly guide my path in martial arts, then they can guide me in life, too. Mental and spiritual strengths are  difficult to develop, but as you achieve proficiency in them you recognize that you have reached higher ground.  Compare this to your martial art struggles.  There was a day when you could not perform a certain skill or didn’t understand a concept.  Over time you figured it out or practiced it enough until it finally made sense.  That perseverance and stick-to-it attitude is mental strength.

When you are totally focused and think only of your technique or when the world is quietly swirling around you as you practice your martial art, you are experiencing a spiritual strength.  It exists somewhere beneath the surface of ordinary and allows you to emerge in a new light.  Competent.  Proficient. True.

From one belt to the next you are more confident, self-assured, and you begin to believe in your own power.  Your martial art spiritual side grows as you accept that you can achieve.   You notice that practitioners have weaknesses and no one is perfect and there is a sense of relief in knowing that. What a revelation!  You are now free to believe in yourself.  Your spiritual and mental strengths deepen.

As you age, or if you suffer from an illness or setback, physical strength may be difficult to maintain.  The spiritual and mental strength, however, will never let you down.  Working out the mental and spiritual muscles brings life-long results.

It’s up to you.  Will you flex your mental and spiritual muscles?  If you do, you will not be disappointed.  You will see life – and you – in a whole new purposeful and powerful way.

xoxo

Andrea

__________________________________________

PICK UP ONE OF MY MOTIVATIONAL AND INSPIRATIONAL BOOKS! 

https://goo.gl/Yco5GF – Martial Art Inspirations for Everyone – This book is a series of reflections to read at your leisure in topics ranging from uniqueness, negativity, mindset, struggles, new beginnings, personal power, beliefs,instincts, and more. 

https://goo.gl/dGfX1q – The Martial Arts Woman – This book shares some of my personal stories about being a woman in martial arts, but more importantly has chapters from more than 25 other women martial artists that explores applying martial arts to life. Some of the stories are amazing and unbelievable. You will be inspired! 

Keep your eye out for my next book:  ****How to Start Your Own Martial Art Program****