Sometimes, I worry that I took too many head shots. I’m not saying I was any good. I’m just saying that class was like volunteering for a car accident several times a week.
On that topic, I’ve been in four rear-end car accidents. Once my head hit the back window of a pick-up truck so hard it knocked the glass from its frame. I’ve also gone through decades of leaning over drawing tables and sitting at computers. The physical effort was worsened by the tension of having to meet tight deadlines while worrying about being self-employed.
Now I’m having to go through a period of recovery. That has required physical therapy. My training has helped me consistently pursue that, and I have almost eliminated my chronic pain. I’m even improving my flexibility and range of motion.
The unfortunate truth is that martial arts didn’t provide everything I needed to prevent the problems in the first place. I naively figured that my training would help me withstand the challenges I faced. Not true. (In parallel, meditation is NOT about allowing us to continue to lead lives of unadulterated stress.) In fact, I’ve had to augment my traditional practices with new stretches and carefully targeted exercises. I’ve had to alter my diet as I’ve gotten older. I drink almost no alcohol except for a few celebratory occasions. I simply can’t eat the same foods or in the same amounts as I did when I was thirty!
Recovery isn’t limited to the physical. It includes the mental too. COVID was stressful for the whole world. The world has faced pandemics before, but not on this scale or in a modern context. Recovery has to mean keeping our mental balance as well.
The majority of the physical techniques make an excellent basis for healing. When new techniques are needed, the discipline I developed allows for swift adaptation. Once the physical therapy worked, martial arts could then kick in and change my body further. When it’s said that martial arts is good for recovery, it’s really true, as long as we attend to the full range of movements. We must change according to our time.
Recovery described here was physical, but how about recovery from mental or emotional trauma? Especially if incidents occurred in early childhood?
We do have to attend to healing from early childhood trauma. I think most of us are on that journey! At the same time, let’s not overlook how recovery has to take place on every level, from psychological to physical. It must be thorough!