One of the things that I truly love about martial arts is the mental focus that’s required. My mind can be harried by a laundry list of things to do or some emotional unrest or financial worries, but when I step on the mat to train, all of those concerns take a backseat to the current moment. They have to, or there are consequences; without focus in martial arts training, it’s only a matter of time before you get punched, kicked, submitted, or “stabbed” with a plastic knife! But the martial skills we’re learning are based on very real situations, and if we don’t focus in practice and fail to train the techniques with our minds fully engaged, then we’ll never truly learn the skills that could save our lives or the lives of our loved ones. Additionally, if we aren’t focused in practice we are also detracting from our training partner’s (or even the entire class’) learning. That’s why it’s as crucial to develop the ability to focus as it is to develop a strong jab-cross.
Focus isn’t something that most of us have automatically. Like many life skills, it has to be trained and developed and constantly refined. Everyone has different ways of teaching themselves to focus. Personally, I like to take a second to take a deep breath when I remove my shoes and bow onto the mat; most days I consciously try to think about how truly fortunate I am to be able to train, and how I need to respect myself and that gift by making the most of my training time. That usually works for me, but maybe the person next to me in class needs to create some sort of mental scene or picture the people most important to him or her in order to get into the proper training mindset. It’s different for everyone and something we all have to discover for ourselves. The motivation to focus can also change depending on the class and your goals- I think about very different things when I go to a kickboxing clinic than when I’m headed to a Krav Maga class. The same is true for Jiu Jitsu, sparring, Kali, or Mixed Martial Arts…you have to find what works for you.
Some days we focus better than others; other days we may need an extra reminder! But I think we owe it to ourselves and to our training partners at Elite Training Center to always try our hardest. Again on a personal note, I find that letting go of life’s worries and hassles in order to sweat and focus on training for an hour or two is cathartic…often I leave the school finding that the worries I had no longer seem so daunting and at the very least I feel more physically and mentally equipped to deal with the ups and downs that are a constant part of life.
K.Toney
