Could Aikido Be of Help to Mental Health Sufferers?

Early hours this morning I was having my breakfast watching ‘This morning Britain’ on TV and Susanna Reid and Alastair Campbell were discussing serious concerns about mental health, as more British people are having mental health breakdown. It was said that 1 in 4 British is now having mental health issues due to COVID-19 and all restrictions applied with social distancing adding that this is sadly on the increase like a silent and invisible disease.

Mental health was very much a taboo, no one would be really talking about this years ago until recently over the last 3 years I think. It is frightening to know that many men under the age of 45 commit suicide in UK - the highest suicide rate is for men aged 45-49 in the UK.

There are many factors that make men more vulnerable to suicide. Men are often under pressure to appear strong and not show signs of weakness. This means they are less likely to talk about any issues they are facing or seek help when they are struggling with their mental health.

Sometimes pride comes into the equation and men may think they can handle their issues on their own or worry about being a burden to others. Men are also more likely to respond to stress with risky behaviour such as abusing alcohol which increases the risk of suicide by up to eight times.

A relationship breakdown has a bigger impact on a man’s suicide risk, than a woman’s – divorced men are three times more likely to commit suicide than their married peers, whereas divorced women show no increased risk.

Thanks to Prince Williams, Princess Kate and Harry, they took a bold decision to raise mental health awareness, now the Government is recognising mental health to be tackled with NHS.

On ‘Good Morning Britain’ program Doctor Hilary Jones was highlighting everyone that there is no quick fix to this problem as NHS is massively struggling with all patients bookings for urgent appointment, operations, after care due to COVID-19. There are simply not enough staff to be able to cope with the insurge of mental health sufferers. We are still in pandemic crisis.

So, I was deeply reflecting on what was said.

I am not suggesting to have the solution to this crisis, but I was thinking about my personal situation that if I had not discovered Aikido, perhaps I could have been one of the affected patients with mental health. I will never know this to be honest.

But one thing I can say is that I have Aikido, which helped me over the years to have a sense of purpose in my life, to find my inner strength, to accept when I fail or struggle to succeed or to manage a situation or a number of situations, somehow Aikido helps me to get up every time I fall – just like Uke taking a breakfall, you keep standing up from falls.

So one would think that Uke is ‘losing’ the battle but in Aikido, this is way deeper than that Uke is not a ‘loser’ so to speak but someone who learns to adapt and take on the challenge and respond as it comes and find strength within it, like I find my own centre when I do a breakfall so I am immediately alert and ready for the next challenge.

Wouldn’t this be something that some mental health sufferers would want to feel or learn to become strong so that they can cope with their feelings in a more positive way? I would hope so.

We are all human beings at the end of the day and everyone will struggle with their challenges daily. So it is crucial to find our ‘place’ where we know we feel safe and where we can build or even re-build our strength – to me this place is Aikido.

We know that in recent years, there has been a decline in Martial Arts interest, as young generations appeared to be more focus on technology and prefer studying something that is quick to master so to speak unlike Aikido that would take years and years of practice before seeing any great results. So, would not this be great if we could encourage them to take on a new challenge or embrace a new resolution just like taking a new Martial Art like Karate, Judo, Taekwondo, Kung Fu, Krav Maga, Kick Boxing, Boxing, or even Aikido?

Not all mental health sufferers may be able to undertake a physical activity but for those who physically would be able to, I believe there could be some huge benefits in the long run.

They would quickly learn to focus onto something during practice and completely forget their worries for 1 or 2 hours session. It would give them a good relaxation releasing the good enzymes feeling, which is excellent for our physical and well-being. We know that the serum activities of those enzymes found especially in muscle, particularly creatine kinase, increase in proportion to the intensity and duration of the preceding exercise, peaking 24 hours after exercise.

When you experience an activity that you begin to relax and enjoy, one should want to return and experience more of that, like I do when I practice Aikido – any worries or stress I may feel from work, is completely forgotten during my 2 hours of practice. After a session, I actually feel great and more relax than I was before the session.

Some mental health sufferers may be lonely, lacking confidence, feeling depressed or even suffering with a post traumatic experience leaving them feeling in fear of failing so it may be very hard for them to try and return to normality without speaking with someone or doing some form of physical activity to unwind their feelings or anxieties.

I think it could help them by taking up a martial art, like Aikido which provides a good physical activity but offers much more than this with the philosophy concept and engaging our body, mind and spirit.

I can speak about Aikido, as I am a practitioner of this Art, but I am certain that anyone practicing any other Martial Arts would share my views on the several additional benefits that a Martial Art will offer than just going to the gym.

If one wishes to learn Aikido for instance, I can nominate so many benefits that we cannot find in the gym:

• we learn that Aikido is a discipline so we respect one another

• we learn to train with a good heart removing our ego and become humbler,

• we learn to apply the techniques involving our body, mind and spirit to make them work,

• we learn to stay calm and empty our mind when faced with multiple attackers,

• we learn to increase our sense of awareness,

• we learn to feel one another with the touch or human contact  - so we become extra sensitive with the feeling of pulling and pushing action,

• we learn to use good body posture, and know where the power comes from,

• we learn to relax when applying techniques,

• we learn to blend with our partner in a way that we have the upper hand of the situation etc

Personally, I see them as huge benefits to help some mental health sufferers. Aikido is obviously not for everyone but you can see my thinking here, that my experience has been so positive with my own struggles and challenges with my hearing disability that I was able to overcome them and even went much further such as travelling abroad, learn another language, setting up a business 17 years ago (still running to date) and now employing around 98 members of staff working on our clients sites across London and South East of the UK providing on-site staffing solutions within the residential and commercial sector (www.cledor.co.uk is the company I set up if you want to check it out).

So from watching ‘Good morning Britain’ this morning, I felt writing this blog showing there are things we can do helping our community.

The big question is: ‘how do we reach out to them and let them know about trying Aikido (or Martial Arts)? I am convinced that it can be of help to find a focus and a purpose in their life.

Again, I am not saying that taking up a Martial Art is the answer to resolve all their mental health issues. I am merely pointing out that there could be a way that has worked for me when I lacked confidence during my teenage time, so it could help some too.

I think this could be an amazing way to increase our numbers of students by raising awareness that many Aikido clubs in the UK (and all other Martial Arts) would welcome new students and anyone who may be having a difficult time in their life.

Finding a club and meeting new people may be a way to find your new safe place to rebuild your inner strength…