Has Karate developed my self discipline? A random pondering!

                                  

I have often wondered "How good is my self discipline?" I was brought up with a background in Karate which is a very disciplined art, so naturally I figured I would be good. Karate teaches respect: respect to your superiors, respect to others in the class, respect to the art & respect for yourself.
Does it teach self discipline to survive in the rigours of daily life?

What are the self discipline skills required for everyday life?
I think: Punctuality, hygiene, personal appearance, politeness, accepting criticism, working within a team, reliability, composure & attitude.


So how does Karate fit in here?

Punctuality and reliability
It doesn't teach punctuality, it is just expected. If we were late, we weren't refused entry. We had to wait on our knees at the back until invited to enter the class. I learned some patience, but not really punctuality. But, entering late meant the line ups had to move around. As I developed, I respected my class not to cause a disruption to the line up. Naturally, I learned punctuality and reliability.

Hygiene and Personal presentation
I did not learn this from Karate. But everyone else looked in good order, it was just expected. In respect to the class, to the instructor & to the other Karateka I conformed and ensured these were good.

Accepting criticism
From day 1 you are receiving feedback, being corrected, told to move forward, move back. Accepting criticism is part of the norm in developing your Karate skills. It is expected and is fundamental to the (any) developmental process. Of course when I say 'accepting criticism' I should be more careful with the wording as I actually mean 'receiving feedback'; but, it is accepting criticism. We just assume criticism is negative and many so called definitions found on the web depict it as negative. Naturally, I have become used to criticism, desensitised.

Composure and attitude
Karate teaches you to remain calm, to breathe, to switch on and off a mindset. It, also, develops a level of confidence which means you may not feel the need to get angry or upset. I feel the reason many do get angry is because they lack confidence and self-efficacy, so they counter it with emotion.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Karate and Mental Health

Karate and Mental Health  - The effects of Karate and Martial arts on health have been fairly well researched, but the effects on mental health less so. We know that physical activity can help with depression, anxiety, and wellness, so anecdotally and from opinion, it would seem likely that Martial arts and subsequently Karate would help, but does it really? A meta-analysis (a study of studies which is a gold standard in the quality of evidence) by Moore et al, (2022) analysing 14 studies found that martial arts has a positive effect on wellness and feelings of wellbeing, a moderate effect in reducing mild depression and anxiety, but did not show an effect in reducing aggression with some studies showing negative results. Therefore, it should be suggested that using Martial arts to combat aggression may be a bad idea! Having said that, a study conducted fairly recently (Parsamajd & Teymori, 2024) found positive outcomes in behavioural measures that include aggression and de...
Read more

Autism - How does Karate help?

Image
 Autism - How does Karate help? Mats Sommervold on unsplash Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) can manifest in communication issues, behavioural problems, difficulties with social norms along with many others. Working as a sports lecturer I have witnessed many cases of students with ASD that struggle in the classroom, but get them in the gym or sports hall and they thrive. They are focussed, they work well and they listen! So, I wondered whether Karate with its fairly ordered regimen, hierarchy and discipline could be a useful tool for someone with ASD. Bahrami et al. (2016) found that kids subjected to 14 weeks of Karate training compared to a control group found that communication deficit was reduced through Karate training. This is also supported by another study (Gianpiero Greco et al., 2020) that conducted a 12 week kata based intervention twice a week and noted improvements in communication, engagement and cooperation. Similar results were found in an 8 week Judo programme (River...
Read more