Friday, 27 November 2009

Martial Arts - 5 Ways To Build Your Self-Confidence

If you appreciate a strong, healthy self confidence that carries you through overwhelming times and drives you to achieving your most far reaching goals, martial arts is for you.

A person’s self-confidence is like a muscle, it needs to be exercised in order to grow and develop. In the 20 plus years that I’ve been teaching Martial Arts in our community we have developed a 5 step approach to building self-confidence. These 5 steps can be learned by anyone – with the right guidance:

1. Correct Body Posture. The importance of the correct body posture is paramount. We all send hidden, sub-conscious messages with our body language and the way we carry ourselves. Carry yourself with pride, confidence and security. Carry yourself like a successful person and your confidence will show.

2. Proper Eye Contact. Making proper eye contact when speaking to others has a huge effect on the conversation. Have you ever been talking to somebody and instantly felt connected? Like you’ve known this person forever? Chances are, they understand the importance of body language, and proper eye-contact.

3. Goal Setting. Goal setting is talked about by everybody, and most people understand the importance of this process. Then why do most people miss their mark? Because they don’t have the discipline and confidence to see the goal through. Our process teaches you the right way to set goals and actually achieve them!

4. Communication. Inspiring those around you is critical to getting what you want. Whether they are your children, co-workers, employees or boss, good leaders are inspirational. We teach this inspirational formula.

5. Mentors. All of the skills above, a healthy body and mind combined with a good mentor or two will make all the difference in the world for your happiness and success.

Mr. Robert Jones
Master Instructor
The Academy of Kempo Martial Arts

For more information on this article or others go to Articles on Martial Arts.

Robert Jones runs three successful martial arts schools located in Bellevue, Lynnwood, and Kent Washington. He has been helping families make positive changes in their lives through martial arts for over 20 years. He has also written A Guide on How to Pick a Martial Arts School.

He can be reached at the Academy of Kempo Martial Arts. 800-508-6141. His schools can be found on the web at Bellevue Martial Arts and Kung Fu.

Wednesday, 25 November 2009

Martial Arts and the Law of Attraction - Jean Claude Vandam Vs the Secret!

Recently, a movie called The Secret came out and seemed to take the world by storm with a fairly simple message: we are attracting to us, moment to moment, people, places, resources, and experiences, based on our subconscious thoughts.

It doesn't matter whether you believe in this Universal Law or not, just as it doesn't matter whether or not one believes in gravity or electricity. Not believing in gravity wont save you when you lose your grip while hanging from the gutters if you're falling off a roof. Not believing in electricity simply because you can't see it wont keep you from getting zapped if you shove a paper clip into an outlet.

The Law of Attraction, also called Karma, the Law of Cause and Effect; some even refer to it simply as luck, coincidence, or serendipity, is simply a Universal Law that, whether believed or not, operates without prejudice 24 hours a day.

Whatever we focus on, whether wanted or unwanted, we seem to attract into our lives. If you've ever wondered what your dominant thoughts about money are, just check your wallet. If you've ever wondered what your dominant thoughts about love and relationships are, just take a good hard look at the relationships you have now.

Taking a look at what you have and what you always seem to draw to yourself; whether it be the types of people around you, the type of job or career situations, the money problems or amazing strings of good fortune you always seem to have, is a good place to start taking a personal inventory of how you might be thinking at the subconscious (or, below your active waking conscious) level.

So, what does this all have to do with Martial Arts?

Well, quite simply, the activities we involve ourselves in say something about how we think and feel. If the Law of Attraction tells us that our dominant thoughts are, at every moment, attracting to us the very things we seem to be experiencing on a daily basis, then how we are actively filling our minds and what we fill them with is paramount to learning how to deliberately attract the things, people, resources and experiences we wish to have, instead of the ones we may be having regularly that are unwanted.

Most Martial Arts typically start from the premise that we might be lacking some type of specific training or knowledge (training and knowledge the Martial Art can provide) and, because we lack this knowledge, we are probably in danger of being taking advantage of by an evil aspect of society. So, we study specific techniques and tactics aimed to thwart an attack physically and, usually, by destroying the evil attacker.

While typical Martial Arts training has many good aspects to it that can lead to increased self confidence, increased self defense capabilities , increased awareness, better physical health, and many other positive qualities, the arts that instill the premise that 1. we lack something, 2. We are in danger, and 3. We need to train to overcome or destroy the evil element lurking somewhere out there, may actually be doing more harm than good.

Thinking back to the Law of Attraction, if we actively train in an activity that is constantly reinforcing beliefs in lack, danger, fear, negativity, destruction, violence, etc., what do you think your subconscious mind does with that information the other 23 hours a day?

Quite simply, its constantly looking for experiences to get involved in or bring your way that reinforce what its being taught in the Martial Arts class.

Stay tuned for part 2 where we'll look at some of the different Martial Arts and what they offer in terms of training your body, as well as your mind, to be more than simply a "bad guy" destroying machine, and instead become a deliberate attractor of the very things one needs to fully experience life at its utmost.

Blaine Feyen is the founder and chief Aikido instructor at the Toyoda Center of Aikido and Kendo in Grand Rapids, MI. Mr. Feyen was a live-in student (uchideshi) under the renowned Aikido and Zen master, Fumio Toyoda, in the mid 90's. Mr. Feyen is an avid student of the Law of Attraction principles and teaches them along with his Aikido and Leadership Development training courses. http://www.toyodacenter.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Blaine_Feyen

Tuesday, 24 November 2009

Martial Arts

As an enthusiastic follower of everything to do with Martial Arts, my hope for this blog is to share my opnions, beliefes and tips on all the best Martial Arts have to offer.