Austin Kung Fu Academy Blog

There is a difference between going with the flow of situations and being bullied into doing things against your will.

Martial arts is known for giving people a sense of empowerment to stand up for themselves, but in a sense, that isn’t going with the flow, it is actually being confidently defiant.

The whole concept of going with the flow has an implication. The implied meaning is to accept the current situations and conditions when you would instinctively rebel them.

And as a side note, there is indeed a difference between that and being bullied into accepting what is happening. Being bullied to accept a circumstance or situation means you emotionally do not accept what is happening but you are letting it, anyways because of a confidence issue.

Going with the flow means you are emotionally and physically accepting the circumstance and situation and working with it. You can identify reasons for why it would make sense to not fight it or not think too negatively about it (notice, I said, “too”, meaning, you can think negatively, but not excessively).

Physical illness is a really good example, and very current for me. I recently became ill for a short period of time. Probably a bug my son brought home from daycare, combined with allergies and whatever else illness is floating around in the air that everyone’s been getting lately.

As a generally healthy person, my instant inclination is to deny that I am sick, and fight against it, and not acknowledge it. And I’ve done that many times.

This time around, I didn’t do that. When I felt I was sick, I knew I was and I drew boundaries of what I could and couldn’t do, and took time off, and just let myself be sick. I admitted to myself that I’m not at my 100% so take it easy.

Part of the martial arts discipline is to overcome the weakness of the mind that all too easily gives into laziness and an “I can’t do it” attitude. It is a very default way of being in humans, and martial arts is the art of combating that state of mind.

So as a disciplined martial artist, by persevering through pain and a head cluttered by negative thoughts, it is a challenge sometimes to recognize when to stop and let yourself heal, and not view that as being lazy.

But martial arts also teaches how to go with the flow of the energy around you. So if you’re sick, let yourself be sick, and come back stronger.

Going with the flow has another implication, and that is to find opportunity with challenges. Since going with the flow is accepting a situation that we normally would want to resist, the mental capacity to view that as an opportunity gives it a positive atmosphere.

I’ll use two examples. One of getting physically pushed, and another one of getting sick.

Getting Pushed – If someone physically tries pushes you, yes you can knock their hands away and push them back. Or, you can absorb their push, grab their arms, twist your hips and waist, and they will end up falling by the momentum of their own push.

Getting Sick – If you are sick, it is very easy to have a lot of internal dialogue basically saying, “Man it sucks being sick. I hate being sick. Being sick sucks!” Or you could have a thought process that is more on the lines of, “I didn’t realize I took my good health for granted. Being sick is reminding me to never take my health for granted again. I need to be more proactive about appreciating and respecting my health by eating better and exercising more.”

So the idea of martial arts teaching you to go with the flow is a pretty profound concept that has a few layers and dimensions to it.

To your health!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 10th, 2010 at 12:01 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.