Flowery Branch Karate - Your Teenager's Awesome Community

Reflecting back, growing up between the middle school/high school era challenged everybody – and it still does! Everything is changing during this phase: relationships, interests, hormones, emotions, beliefs, and much, much more. It’s a life defining moment. The teenage years can be brutal, but there are things that can be done to make them better.

1) Be Around Friends
A part of the teenage years is trying to find a place to belong. While some people make friends easily, others struggle with this area. By helping teens find their niche, they will naturally link with other people who share their interests.

2) Develop Self-Respect
One of life's valuable lessons is learning how to respect yourself. As it is easier to listen to negative comments produced by others and self, it's not healthy. When teens can develop that respect muscle, only good can from it. They learn to be fair and love themselves for how they are.

3) Be Around Positively Influential People
Good development can come from being around positively influential people. Teens are like plants – they will absorb everything that goes on around them. Place them around people like sport coaches or music teachers, and it will affect them positively during the teenage years.

All of these aspects are offered at Choe's HapKiDo. We love to watch individuals grow and to be a part of their lives. Students may come into our studios with the day's grit on their shoulders, but they leave our classes with a new boost of confidence. They know that they have found a community to relate to, and it's a great place to let off steam!

For more information on I Love Martial Arts Georgia, visit here.

Stress.....

Oh my the word alone can trigger a headache, we have so many possible avenues of stress from job related, to social, to financial. We use he word stress when we feel that we are overloaded, that things or a thing has become way to much. In some terms stress is a difficulty that causes worry or emotional tension, another is the reactions to adverse stimuli, physical or mental. Now we can dig deeper into the effects of stress disorders via biological or psychological  and research for days weeks and years without the definitive one reason or the quick fix. There is no one reaction to stress there is the many different reactions. Some people eat to channel the stress, not a positive way to react but there are not many positive reactions to stress. Another reaction is the one of many physical reactions hives, breaking out (acne). Not to say that  puberty and the changes from kids to teen is not a stress free zone. Acne at that part of life can be said caused from stress, for some it is the stress of body changes and the mental oh my goodness steps in and the child goes what is going on, but that is another avenue of discussion for another day. Stress does not directly cause high blood pressure but the fight or flight that our bodies go through under stress does increase the heart rate and constrict blood vessels. This a temporary reaction to the situation when the stress reaction goes away we go back to normal blood pressure. On the flip side the modern world we live in today can have many stressful events that we are unable to handle with that reaction. Now we have a chronic stress situation and our bodies go into high gear (shall we say) on and off for days or even weeks at a time. Negative reaction to this is the over eating, drinking alcohol, or smoking and that leads to the possibility of high blood pressure, heart disease, and unhealthy weight gain. Martial Arts is a good stress relief option for several reasons, first it is a physical exercise you are moving with all the punching and kicking.Hitting a target  is a great stress relief, to channel all that emotion in one focal point and release is awesome. Secondly there is the mental sides of Martial Arts the discipline to be aware of situations and how to handle them. Along with that focus there is the time to sit and meditate, this is a relaxation moment.

Meditation is a great tool for stress relief' relaxing and letting the worries of the day go. Now a days with the work and family life we need to take a moment for ourselves in a physical activity such as Martial Arts and reap the rewards of a healthier lifestyle. These rewards are for us but also our families, children, and spouses by being around to enjoy the family dynamics.
You sweat  releasing toxins in the body and you are moving which gets the blood flowing to all the parts of you.

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Confidence the great Anti-Bully.

Bullying is the use of force to intimidate, threat , or aggressively impose domination over others. It consists of 3 types of abuse verbal, physical, or emotional. Bullies do this to get self esteem or feel empowered so as to hide their own shame or feeling of jealousy. Some bullies have been bullied themselves and hide it by finding someone to bully to again regain control of their lives. Some have a hard home life and lack the self confidence themselves to be sociable. So back to the word confidence, certitude, assurance, self-reliance, belief in oneself. This one attitude or belief makes for a powerful tool or remedy in the world of bullying. If you have the confidence it shows in every aspect of your life. Shows from the way you walk, the way you talk how you carry yourself. Do you have your head up that's confidence. Walking around with head down is lack of confidence or some determine a social fear. the people that try to make it through with out being seen are usually the ones getting bullied. That is what a bully looks for low esteem to boost their low esteem or social ineptness. On the other side of the coin a person with confidence does not feel the need to bully a person or the situation. The sureness they feel in one self helps them to reach their goals on their own merits and not impose their will through threats. With their poise and leadership quality will have others wanting to help or follow, as opposed to demeaning a person to do what he or she wants. Martial Arts helps with self confidence through proper assurance and reinforcement.

A student joins a group that helps each other through out the class and outside of the classes as well. Not only does that support help the student but the individual achievements helps the self esteem more. Martial Arts shows you the way to do the kick but your the one doing the kick. The Instructor holds the target and ever so often increases its height or distance but you are the one hitting that target at that distance or height. Martial Arts is not the sit on the bench and get a trophy style sport. Martial Arts is the close knit group with individual accolades and accomplishments.  Martial Arts develops leadership qualities in individuals that follows the student for the rest of their life. Choe's HapKiDo has made society better one black belt at a time.