Hi so please forgive me if anyone has answered this previously on another thread. so i got to black belt in a different Martial art before, however after spending a two month period off training an no longer enjoying my art anymore i decided to now start a new Martial art. everything is going well however i find that i am constantly very tense in my body, this trait or tension in my body often transfers to my outer MA life as well. I was wondering in the context of Martial arts if there is a way i can get rid of my tension better in my body, i have tried meditating and trying to focus of being relaxed however still struggle. i know part of it may be going into a new art i was to impress however i feel that just trying to hard although plays a part isn't my only problem as i often found i was very tense before and i know this can make learning new techniques harder and effects speed... if anyone has any advise on how i can relax more in training this would help a lot.. Thank you
Practice more. Very simply any time you try a new activity your body is unaccustomed to the motion paths required for the movements. Watch someone doing archery for the first time and watch someone who has done it for a few years. One will have a nice, clean, fluid draw with tension in only the right places while the other will be tensing up unnecessarily. Your body is activating a whole bunch of extra muscles to try and stabilize and pull through the untrained lines of movement. As you improve at the motion paths your body gets more used to the proper way to do things and now knows exactly what to activate and when and can leave the rest relaxed. It's called technique and it will only be built by repetition and focus on good technique.
Have you thought about cross training an Internal art? Tai Chi Chuan? Learning relaxed power in TCC can transfer over to other "external" arts. It sounds like this may benefit you in life and help your other arts. (I am sure if I hadn't started TCC that I would have ended up one of those hunched up little old ladies.) Finding a good TCC school is particularly difficult, but if you can, I think it might be what you are looking for.
Thank you for the reply guys.. understand completely what your saying think perhaps i'm worrying a little too much when really because the movements are different an im re'learning it will take time before it becomes more natural and i can relax into it, as you said the muscels have to learn the movement as much as the mind and putting things into practice.. goes into knowing how to do something and being able to do something being two things an with more time and practice i'll get it i think... i do get anxiety so i must admit i put myself under more pressure than i have to as i try to get things perfect first time were as it takes time for the body to adapt... i know that is not exactually what you said so forgive if i paraphrase a little or mis understand but i'll definetly carry on practicing an try not to just expect over night sudden changes as i sometimes do. I have not tried tai chi however i have heard some great things about it i have they are seem to flow very well as if its natural almost like there patten is both true got the applications in and power yet also like its a meditation, so i'll look more into this. Thanks for the quick replys guys i'll do my best to put what you have both said into practice.
I practiced Taekwondo for several years and left sometime after achieving my second degree black belt for several reasons. And now I am practicing two different martial arts, and I am familiar with that new student tension being mentioned. For me it is not just being "new" at the art and not as comfortable with the techniques and movements (read new way of using your body), but it is also a matter of.. "hey I have a black belt, I *should* be able to perform at a high enough level" but the thing is.... you kind of have to "forget" your old martial art self while in class. There's the physical forgetting and there is the performance/work level forgetting. Physically, although some principles can be transferred across many martial arts and you may find yourself saying things like "i know that".. mentally you do, but physically the expression is likely very or somewhat different. The biggest thing for me is the perfectionism, which probably comes from having a black belt elsewhere... that expectation to perform has to be let go in order to let go of some of the tension in my experience. It may not be a matter of practicing relaxation (like meditation) but a self-conversation and trigger statements when feeling the tension building, like "I am learning something new, and I have no expectation from myself other than to be open to this". I have a feeling that the tension you are feeling is a self-imposed expectation and fear of not meeting it. The way I am approaching my new classes is that I am in no hurry, we each learn at different rates, the only one judging me is myself, as long as I am willing to learn and am eager to try then I am ok... and I also try to focus on how the movement/technique "feels" internally and not perfecting it quite yet.... and THAT listening really helps me regain the relaxed focus. The other thing I have always done is focussed on slower speeds. This automatically decreases any tension I am feeling. Not sure how much sense I am making, but this has been my experience. I too am interested in knowing which two martial arts (old one and new on), because that may have an impact here.
I hear ya. I have my own HEMA club. I've been teaching since 2007, for good or ill. I also do Japanese swordsmanship. A couple of years ago I took up Judo, essentially busting myself down to white belt, again. Relaxing was hard, because Judo is pretty scary as far as martial arts go, far scarier than having a 4 lb. piece of steel flying at your head at 30 mph, at least to me. Going from HEMA to JSA wasn't so bad, since swords are well, swords. But you just keep at it. Start by working on relaxing. Don't worry about trying to impress. No one at the new dojo cares at all. Remember you're a white belt and enjoy the fact that there's no pressure and no one has any expectations of you. As my co-instructor says "never give up being a student for being a teacher".
Hey sorry late reply guys work has been chaos and between that and training i've had little time.. my previous style was Karate, currently doing tae kwon do. thank you invicticated i found your post very relatable as i'm practicing a lot now something i rarely had to do before and although im learning fast there is still that having to think more of my relaxation than even technique, trying to put my previours to the back of mind yet that 'this should be easier for me' i get that at times and its hard to get it to go as i too find i'm a perfectionist... tbh i have depression have had it about ten years now so i beat myself up at times and find i have to have sometime either perfect first time, or get something if i can becore the next lesson which although is often, when it takes longer i get very irratated and find i can get tense if i can't often i find i want to be seen, noticed and oneday respected as a goal, now more than ever in life so i'm trying perhaps a lil too hard. will definetly try and treat this as if i'm completely new (as i am to this style my habits to however at times show) because i think at times previours can hold one back an make learning new things harder even if in ways more easy. I will definetly try my best langen i know i worry what others think too much an try to impress too much were as i should just relax and enjoy it as much as i can, will be focusing on my relaxation a lot and have been trying to better my breathing to further help my body naturally relax. Again sorry late reply you've all been amazingly helpful with this im grateful for all the advise/help given.
May I ask what sword style you practice? It's more typical for sparring to be done with bokken than iaito, in my experience. I've actually never heard of iaito (or shinken) sparring...sounds mighty dangerous to me, and spar-worthy iatio are on the quite pricey side.
I strongly suspect that his post is referring to the HEMA sparring rather than anything in Japanese arts, where it's more common to see either kendo-style shinai or fukuro shinai for sparring. In HEMA the more commited students will eventually move on to sparring with steel weapons - these are designed not to have a sharp edge and to be flexible on the thrust, but make it much easier to understand how blades grip one another when performing binds. Obviously such sparring takes a lot of padding - the rule is that no skin should be left exposed, vulnerable areas (face, chest, abdoment, throat, groin, knees, elbows, wrists and hands) must be covered with thick padding which will protect against both percussion and a broken blade thrust. I haven't quite committed financially to buying the additional armour and weapons to allow me to spar with steel, but I look forward to it. Fully agree with you that sparring with shinken would be madness. The protection you'd need to wear for any kind of sharp sword sparring to be even remotely safe would be cost prohibitive, and even then armour must be imperfect by its very nature.
These two are very closely related when you think about use of internal/ core muscles and delivery of power when needed. Having done TKD (which style are you doing btw?), I can say focus on your breath, and then focus on where the movement comes from (and relax into it). Don't focus on where the movement ends or you will stiffen up and not complete it properly, and it will not be effective. That is my experience. I am in no way an instructor. If you focus on the from and move through it.... it works better. And that can be used in the patterns as well to make them pretty powerful (later though). I suggest when you are learning patterns, take your time, go slow, be accurate in the technique first. slowing it down to really really slow and controlled movements can help quite a bit. Practice at home when you can. Those patterns can go with you anywhere. Rinse and repeat... and just keep going and try to have fun. Nothing bad is going to happen to you if you make a mistake or if you haven't perfected things. It takes years and years an years (and a lot of good instruction and practice) to get really good at any martial art.
