Martial Arts

Focus on the Process

 

ESTABLISH HEALTH FIRST

As you evaluate and start to establish your priorities for the New Year I encourage you to pause and ask why you are wanting to do something. It’s easy to want to jump right into things - for example start running to prepare for a marathon.

 

In your enthusiasm don’t skip the preparation needed for a good baseline of health. Is the purpose about running, or taking care of yourself? After all, why are you wanting to create new fitness goals in the first place if not to become healthy

 

TENSION CAN MASK DYSFUNCTION

I had a friend who went to a CrossFit gym multiple times a week and ran regularly in preparation for a marathon. They were unaware of how much dysfunction they really had. They trained regularly and pushed hard, so they must be in good shape, right? 

 

Unfortunately it doesn’t work like that. Excessive tension and a lack of sensitivity and awareness can cause us to be unaware of what our internal state really is. They were struggling with their training and had regular injuries. Frankly, they were a wreck.

 
 

WALKING COMES BEFORE RUNNING

I encouraged them to back up a step and instead try walking first. I asked them to just casually walk the distance they were running. No time constraints, no pressures, or worries of any kind. Just walk and listen to how their body felt.

 

When they attempted the walk they reported back that it was horrible. They didn’t even get halfway through and their body hurt so much that they had to stop. If you can’t even comfortably walk a certain distance, does it honestly make sense that you would be able to run that same distance without some sort of price to pay? 

 

BUILD HEALTH - THEN PERFORMANCE

If you want to start running, then let's get the legs healthy first. Start with regular massage to the feet, legs, hips, and spine, plus regular walking. Take the time to remove excessive tension, improve circulation, and get the joints healthy. 

 

Once walking can be done easily without creating pain or soreness, start alternating walking and short distances of running. Slowly replace walking with more running until you are running the desired distance. 

 

This approach will take longer to develop. But once you reach your desired goal it will truly belong to you. Just because you stumble across the finish line doesn’t mean the process of how you got there was beneficial for you.

 
 

FOCUS ON THE PROCESS

Part of what makes changing your health so difficult is we suffer through a process towards a goal that is too far away. We get distracted and define success by whether or not we finish the race in a certain amount of time, regardless of the actual physical cost. 

 

Instead of enjoying the process of getting healthy, we accidentally take something that was supposed to be good for us and turn it into something that is destructive in order to achieve a very narrow and superficial goal.

 

I think the trick to being consistent and patient is to learn to enjoy the day-to-day process of improving our lives. The process in Konstantin’s course can help you build quality time with friends and family. Enjoy the feeling of getting out of bed when your joints are pain-free. To feel empowered and to improve your health, get the course now and rebuild yourself from the inside out. 

 

Taking Care of Family

IMG_3122.JPG
 

STRUGGLING WITH PAIN

I like to share a short story with you about a recent situation between a friend of mine and his daughter.

 

Shortly after our Konstantin Health Course first launched, he asked his teenage daughter to walk on him to help with some back issues. He told me that when they first tried, it was a disaster. Neither one of them was happy and it wasn’t allowing him to do the work he needed.

 

He was smart enough to see rather quickly that this wasn’t working and he stop the walking massage. He then asked his daughter to sit down with him to watch a 20 minute video from the Konstantin Course. They had a short talk about what they had learned and made sure they were on the same page in terms of process and objectives.

 

FAMILY HELPING EACH OTHER

They then tried the walking massage again. He said the difference was night and day. His teenage daughter was now able to give him a good walking massage that allowed him to work in the way that he needed. They both had a good experience, and both learned something during the process.

 

His daughter commented on how much work it was to keep her awareness and attention on him and give him the right levels of stimulation. She realized both people needed to be sensitive and fully engaged in the massage. It wasn’t about randomly just stomping on him.

 
IMG_1065.JPG
 

LEARNING TOGETHER

I was thrilled to hear this story because this is exactly why this course was put together. It isn’t meant for one person to just sit down and binge watch 14 hours of instruction. It was intended to be shared just like this. Sit down with a friend or loved one, watch 20 min of relevant video, and then try the work together

 

By exploring a few different drills you can get a sense of your priorities, and then start working it consistently. The video is there for continued reference and further education as you are ready for it. If you have back pain you can go straight to the "Restoring the Spine” section and pick out a drill that seems relevant. You and your partner will get a quick understanding of the theory and objectives of each drill and you can start working immediately

 

BUILDING AWARENESS, SENSITIVITY, AND CONTROL

Massage drills are a critical tool for preparing the body because is acts as an honest bio-feedback that lets you see the internal state of the nervous system, tissues, and psyche. People will often think their legs are healthy. Then you start to walk on them and they freak out. They realize that their fascia and muscles are dry and tight, the joints hurt and are scared, and the bones feel fragile. They realize very quickly that things are far from healthy. They may be fit and active, but they are performing on top of dysfunction. 

 

Active massage work helps you build the internal awareness and sensitivity to feel your baseline health. You develop the control to pull tension and fear to the surface to be processed and released by the nervous system and psyche. This same awareness, sensitivity, and control can then be applied to your other activities. This allows you to adjust your training to ensure continued growth and health without damaging your body and psyche. 

 
 

EMPOWERMENT OVER YOUR HEALTH

This New Years start taking responsibility for your health and help to improve the health of the ones you love. Start shifting priorities and make slowing down and taking care of each other important. Konstantin’s Course provides simple drills for every part of the body, giving you a resource that will be valuable for years to come. If you're consistent and patient in your efforts. You’ll feel completely different and much better at the end of the year. Get the course now to start learning and sharing today.

Unfortunately, the online course is not available at this time. We hope to make it available again in the future.

 

New Years Priorities Not Resolutions

 

PRIORITIES NOT RESOLUTIONS

Happy New Year!

This year I encourage you NOT to make the typical superficial, and often short-lived resolutions. Instead it may be time to shift your priorities. Everyone has more to do then there is time available in the day. So rather than asking yourself what you have time for, you need to ask yourself: what are the priorities that you'll make time for
 

Our health and the health of our loved ones should be one of our our top, if not THE top priority in our lives. Everything else is built on sustainable health. Nothing will disrupt you plans quicker then an injury or illness.

 

HEALTH IS BUILT ON CONSISTENCY AND PATIENCE

When it comes to your health there are no quick fixes or magic pills. Every piece of marketing out there would like you to believe otherwise - but it's all bullshit and we know it. 
 

Health comes from consistency and patience, nothing else. A temporary surge in exercise or radical diet means nothing over the long haul. It's how we choose to live day-in and day-out that shapes us. Its what we do repeatedly for months and years that determines our health and the quality of our lives. 

 
 

PREPARE THE BODY
STOP TRAINING ON TOP OF DYSFUNCTION

Unfortunately all to often we try to make changes and invest lots of time and effort into new exercises, but we don't get the desired results. Why?
 

It's because we don't back up and go deep enough. We want to start running, but never think to make the feet and legs healthy first. We want to lift weights overhead, but don't take the time to heal our spine and shoulders. We are attempting to add training on top of our dysfunctions.  We need to stop fighting our unprepared bodies in our efforts to change.  

 

CREATE NEW WAYS OF LIVING

I encourage you to slow down and make a priority out of healing and preparing your body for the life you want to live. If you have been neglecting yourself for years this will take time and patience. No quick fix will work. Real change comes from creating new ways of living day to day. 
 

You'll need to build simple habits that focus on cleaning out and healing the body and psyche. It's amazing what can happen in 10-20 min if repeated on a consistent basis

 
 

CONSISTENCY IS THE KEY

Start with one simple drill until it becomes a normal part of your day like brushing your teeth. Then add another. If you can incorporate 2-3 things on a daily basis, real change can and will happen. 
 

A walking massage once in awhile doesn't do anything, not really. But a 15-20 min walking massage done 5 times per week for months and years can completely change your body and psyche. It will change you for the better. 

 

5 DAYS PER WEEK CHALLENGE

Konstantin's Health Workshop is filled with simple drills like this that can help you heal and prepare your body for the life you want to live. I challenge you to have the patience and foresight to pick one drill that is important for your priorities and actually do it regularly
 

See what happens if you do it 5 days this week. It may only be for 10-15 min, but do it. See how you feel. Then try two weeks, then a month, and so on. At first it's gonna sucks and probably be painful. Go slow and be kind to yourself. But if you actually do it consistently, I guarantee it will be much better in 6 months, and completely different in a year.
 

Ideally if you can do it every day great. Reality is 5 days a week is good. If you miss a day and it's 4 at least your doing it more days then not each week. You need that kind of consistency to heal your neglected body. 

 
 

DO IT FOR THEM IF NOT YOURSELF

Most of the drills Konstantin shares are done with a partner. All of the principles can be applied to self massage using soft rollers, balls, and other tools. 
 

But I encourage you to apply this work regularly with family and friends. It not only brings you closer together but provide accountability to stay consistent
 

It's much easier to skip out on yourself, harder to blow off the massage your spouse or best friend is counting on.

 

ITS TIME TO SET YOUR PRIORITIES

Remember real change comes from creating new ways of living day to day. If you repeated today everyday for a year, where would you be? What would your priorities need to be today, to become the person you want to be a year from now?
 

Only you can answer that question and only you can do the work. Forget the quick resolutions, instead step up and set new priorities for your health. Konstantin's Health Workshop gives you tools to help you do just that. Get the course now and get started on the new year and the new you
 

Good Luck and Happy New Year.

Unfortunately, the online course is not available at this time. We hope to make it available again in the future.