In our fast-paced, business-minded world, many of us tend to find ourselves sitting at a desk all day, moving from meeting to meeting, or working on computers or other screens. These things tend to take away our opportunity for regular physical movement throughout the day.
This lack of movement can have many detrimental effects. Apart from some of the more obvious physical health issues that can be impacted by minimal movement, such as unwanted weight gain or muscle loss, it is interesting to note that this lack of movement can cause many mental issues, as well.
Some of the notable side effects resulting from this lack of movement in our lives includes decreased focus and attention span, decreased creativity, and heightened stress. Fortunately, all of these things have a unique solution which can be solved via martial arts; it’s called "Crossing the Midline.”
So, what is Crossing the Midline? You can Cross the Midline by moving your own body across three planes:
- Your top half and your bottom half.
- Your left half and your right half.
- Your front half and your back half.
Crossing the Midline helps to engage the two sides of the brain simultaneously. This is key in allowing us to beat some of those negative consequence of our long days at work. Syncing up our left and right sides of our bodies and brains helps to reduce stress, increase creativity, and promote better focus and attention spans. Since martial arts heavily relies upon the use and cooperation between the various sides of our bodies and brains, it is a natural choice for stimulating this kind of mind and body cooperation. Martial arts provides a fun and engaging way to promote this much-needed cooperation in our bodies, and is often an easily accessible sport.
Here are just a few of the many ways that you will find yourself Crossing the Midline while training in martial arts:
-Punching requires the use of both your left and right arms in conjunction with each other and the rest of your body.
-Kicking, depending on which type you are throwing, utilizes moving from the back to front plane, and/or the left to right side of your body (or both!).
-Utilizing footwork and head movement at the same time allows you to coordinate your top and bottom halves together.
All of these movements can be found in a typical martial arts program and are incredible for helping you to connect the left and right sides of your body and brain together. Because martial arts incorporates the full body throughout so much of its programming, your left and right brain will get a great workout each and every time you step onto the mats. Working out your body in this way is quite literally giving your brain a workout, too.
If you are looking for a way to combat the results of sitting at a desk all day, head in to take a martial arts class. You’ll feel great physically as you release some stress on the mats, and your brain and body will thrive as you create opportunities to connect your left and right sides together.