What I Love Most In Martial Arts

Taken me two years to take apart what I built to enjoy my martial arts journey in my 20’s and 30’s, but finally became non-optimal in my current life. I needed to focus on recovery, rather than performance. Health over performance. Critical distinction.

It can be subtle. Tai Chi has “performance” aspects (development of attributes) but also health (alignment, flow, balance, relaxed focus, etc.) so it is suitable for both. Want more fitness? After your first daily repetition, perform another, going faster with deeper postures. Hold a specific position low with powerful breath engagement, and breathe through the intensity until you are shaking and sweating. Do push-hands with a partner, slowly increasing speed and intensity until you are almost sparring — but keep the flow.

Ah! I just realized I’ve found what I wanted to talk about today. The various flow drills. These are my all-time favorite martial arts activity, and I want to arrange my life so that I can do them for an hour a day. Need to find the right partners/teachers/students of course. But THAT’S what I really love. I took great pleasure in banging bodies back in the day. Now…eh…not so much. I like to feel good when I wake up in the morning. Sigh. I so remember when I could bounce out of bed, write all day, fight all night, bed down with my sweetie, then get up the next day and do it all over again.

MAN that was fun. I hope everyone has some analogous experience of integrating real balanced intensity into their lives.