Karate: The Body’s Owner’s Manual

By: Jason Kraus

When we are born, we are not gifted a “Human Body Owner’s Manual”. We never receive instructions or a guidebook on how to make the best of our physical capabilities as they develop, grow, and decline.

To understand our bodies, we must use them.

With greater use comes greater understanding.

We start with play and games, running and tumbling and crashing into things and each other in backyards and playgrounds. Many of us progress from playground play to sport and thereby further develop the capabilities these glorious vehicles have to offer.

But that stage only lasts for so long, high school or university usually, before many people quit learning about themselves.

Some people may return to the gym, lifting and setting down pieces of iron, to temporarily pursue attractiveness or try to recapture some capability they had in their youth. This is all good and fine.

But there is a better way.

The study of karate is the better way.

If pursued mindfully and with care, the learning process never stops. Your understanding simply continues to evolve as your body continues to change. The process of discovery is endless.

When I was younger and began my study, I focused primarily on what I could do with my muscles, which is a common experience but a very superficial understanding. During the halcyon days of youth, there seems to be no upper limit to what one can do physically as long as they keep pushing and avoid breaking anything.

It’s an illusion of course.

There is always a limit, but it sure doesn’t feel that way during those days.

The youth of the body is an amazing time and should be enjoyed. I honestly feel tremendous sorrow for young people (all people really but especially children) who are physically able but so terribly unfit as to never know the extraordinary capabilities that they have but are wasting.

Alas, time does catch up with us. The middle age of the body is a time when the mistreatment of youth begins to show. Bad back, knee pain, limited shoulder mobility, old tears and breaks. It’s when the payment for the casual disregard for the body’s complaints of our youth come due.

It’s hard to understand this when you are young and invincible but it happens, inevitable. It’s not the most fun, pulling a hammy getting out of bed or sleeping wrong and having a pain in your neck all day, but it’s a natural part of life and no miracle cure ™ or Secret-They-Don’t-Want-You-To-Know-video can stave off the rigors of aging forever.

I have a greater understanding of my body now than I did when it was at its so-called “physical prime”. And that understanding is not simply because I’ve occupied it for 52 years.

My understanding improved because karate (and other martial arts), studied diligently, teaches greater mastery of the body and teaches how to access parts of the body that are not immediately available to conscious use.

You can learn how to breathe in a way to slow exhaustion and reduce stress. You can learn how to generate explosive force within your body without revealing external sign. You can directly connect with another human being in a way that allows you to see an action they are going to take before they take it.

You can learn “cheat codes” to relaxation and faster ways to enter sleep. None of these abilities is earned overnight. They take time and practice. But you are capable of so much more with your body than you know.

And karate is the way to learn how to get the best from your body for as long as you keep training. Related: The Basic Basics

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Jason Kraus is a lifelong martial artist. Jason spent decades in various martial arts including traveling to and living in both Japan and Korea. He has most recently returned to his first love, Shotokan Karate and trains at Missouri Karate Association.