Training for both sides of the Brain

About 20 years or more ago, I found some research that was being done on how the brain functions. The human brain is constantly cycling from left to right and back to left again, in what doctors and researchers believe is the brain’s attempt to conserve energy. It also serves to ensure that we don’t use one side of the brain too much and cause ourselves overwhelming fatigue.

The thrust of the article happened to be how the martial arts train people to help their brains do this cycling back and forth. When we walk normally, we step forward with one foot and swing the arm on the opposite side. Not only is this natural movement for balance, but it is a part of that same cycling method. I will discuss this more below.

The left side of the brain deals with logic, analytical thinking, mathematics and language use (controls our speech, language learning, recognition of words, letters, and numbers, and foreign language learning.) It controls the right side of the body and receives information from the right side visual field.

The right side of the brain deals with creativity, including art and music, sculpting, intuition, spatial concepts and holistic thinking. It controls the left side of the body and receives information from the left side visual field.

All the same, we have to remember that both sides of the brain cooperate in most activities, and so we don’t want to oversimply how the sides of the brain work.

How does martial arts training assist with this process? By doing things with opposite sides of the body. So for example, when you step forward into a Left leg forward zenkutsu dachi, (or chungul-jaseh if you are in a Korean style) and throw a reverse punch with the right hand, you are strengthening your brain in its process to control, use and preserve energy. This principle applies to every stance and every technique you use.

So the more we do these kinds of exercises, the better we get at doing them, but also working our brains in one of the most important functions.

Additionally, we become very conditioned to our “one-sidedness” with our daily lives. Consider how adept you have all become in driving cars. We sit on the left hand side and can very accurately describe where our car exists in time and space, every time we drive on any road or highway. It has to be that way or we would have so many more accidents, and they would probably be fatal more often than not.

But have you ever driven on the right side of the car, as they do in England? Suddenly your spatial perception and your knowledge of where you and your car exist in time and space is altered. (and traffic circles in England are plentiful and nerve-wracking.)

So remember to train in opposites every chance you get. Not only will you attain greater skill in your martial arts, but you’ll be doing your brain a huge favor!