Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activity in the Classroom, Part III

The Case for Martial Arts

The Institute of Medicine recently made recommendations for “strengthening and improving programs and policies for physical activity and physical education in the school environment." The recommendations were based on the fact that the physical, emotional and cognitive benefits of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) are well-documented, and that schools provide an opportunity to help children in these areas.

The evidence is overwhelming and the opportunity is at hand. As our schools once took the lead in providing vaccinations for children, they are now becoming more involved in promoting overall wellness. Nutrition, mental health, and social development are being addressed not only in addition to academic success, but in their powerful connection to it. The classroom, as a place of learning, should address all of these concerns. The need for MVPA is one that can be addressed, and therefore, it should be.

Practicing forms develops attentional skills.

Martial Arts, according to John Ratey, MD, in his book, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, involves the type of coordinated movements that cause more connections to grow between neurons. In addition, the aerobic exercise of the martial arts elevates neurotransmitters, creates new blood vessels that aid in brain development, assists in development of new nerve cells, and encourages brain cells to log new information.

Martial Arts teachers have long been aware of the benefits their young students get from their training. Parents often report that their children get better grades, have increased self-esteem, display more respectful behavior, and acquire more self-control as a result of their martial arts classes. Martial arts not only has numerous benefits beyond the typical MVPA, it is an activity well-suited to the classroom in that it has a tradition of learning, requires little or no equipment, and contains a powerful system of short and long-term goals, in the belt-ranking system.

Most martial arts programs teach a progression of movement sequences known as katas, or forms. Learning the forms helps students develop sequencing and attentional skills, important cognitive tools. The forms start with simpler movements at the beginner level, and progress to more complex movements at the higher level. The more advanced student not only possesses superior physical skills, but also greater knowledge of forms than the beginner. This emphasis on knowledge and learning lends itself well to the classroom environment.

The martial arts dojo, or training hall, can be anything from the ornate to the minimalistic, but usually require little equipment beyond the floor space. Successful dojos can be run in vacant lots, church basements, backyards or garages, and, certainly, classrooms. One literal translation of dojo is, “a place of the way”. It is a place of learning the way of a particular discipline. In this sense, a classroom is already a dojo.

Bushintai-Do belts hang in a classroom "dojo."

Grades, the external measurement of academic success, are one indicator of proficiency. They provide a clear and powerful goal for many students. The same can be said of the belt-ranking system of the traditional martial arts. While they are proficiency-based, they reflect a variety of attributes beyond natural ability. Determination, patience, and resiliency are all the keys to achieving rank, and natural ability does not provide a shortcut to success. All students, regardless of physical or cognitive gifts, progress at the same rate. This encourages a disciplined, process-based approach to learning, which more resembles an academic pursuit than an athletic one.

Martial arts is an excellent way to address the physical, behavioral, and cognitive needs of the student. The only thing the average classroom lacks, in regards to teaching martial arts, is the martial arts teacher. Bushintai-Do for the Classroom was developed specifically for this purpose.

David Quinlan, Founder and Lead Instructor

Bushintai-Do Programs

Milton, Vermont

Why Bushintai-Do for my Middle School Students: Physical Activity, Academic Achievement and Personal Development

Over ten years ago, our middle school’s drug and alcohol counselor, Cheryl, handed me a small rectangular scrap of white paper with a phone number and a name written on it:

893-8893

David Quinlan

“Call him,” she said.  “My son takes karate classes from him.  I think he could help you.”

We had just walked out of a meeting in our principal’s office, and were wondering what to do next.  Beth, my teaching colleague, and I were asked to create a general education alternative program for our students, and we had discussed some possibilities. That’s when Cheryl gave me Dave’s phone number.

“We need a less traditional classroom,” my principal, Mary, had stated at the meeting.  She was the newly hired principal for our middle school and was in the midst of restructuring our teaching teams and programs.  “We need to offer a different classroom setting, a different approach and give our students options.”

We listened closely.  Fresh from a conference on alternative education programs, Beth and I shared some of our ideas with Mary, including a description of the martial arts classes that were part of neighboring school’s alternative program, Team Thrive.  Neither of us had any martial arts experience or any experience with alternative education, but from our conversations with Phil, the lead teacher of Team Thrive, and his students, it seemed like martial arts could be a good fit.  Maybe we could do the same for our middle school students.  Bill Ayers, in To Teach, writes that “the range of opportunities for students to experience success must be wide and not narrow.”  Martial arts would certainly broaden that range.

“Go ahead. Sounds like a good idea,” Mary responded, when we raised the possibility of including martial arts in our middle school’s new alternative program.

A few days later, I held the small piece of white paper in my hand while I dialed the phone number, and left a voice message.  “Would it be possible for my middle school students to take martial arts classes with you?”  I asked, and then left my contact information.

What I didn’t know was that Dave, after years of working with adolescents, saw a need to create a martial art that was purely focused on self-defense.  Students could experience the mental and physical benefits of martial arts without learning offensive or dangerous techniques.  Drawing from his years of training in karate, judo, and Arnis, Bushintai-Do, the way of the warrior in mind and body, was developed and my middle school students were to become its first practitioners.

That was May of 2002.

Sometimes I am amazed that a brief conversation or a simple decision becomes, when reflected upon years later, a significant event.  This is true when I remember the scrap of paper Cheryl gave me with Dave’s phone number, and the intuitive decision Beth and I made to include martial arts as part of our alternative program.  That decision and Cheryl’s recommendation was the beginning of a martial arts tradition for our alternative classroom, called Team Velocity, and the beginning of a powerful learning experience for many of our students, past and present.

Over the years, I have witnessed how Bushintai-Do has helped our students grow in ways I never expected.  While students learn and practice the physical skills of self-defense, they also make academic and social/emotional gains, even though these two activities, martial arts and school performance, seem unrelated. However, as I investigated and read more about this connection, I found that current and emerging research confirms this link:  The mind moves the body and the body moves the mind.

Practicing the coordinated movements of Bushintai-Do.

John Ratey, MD, clinical associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, states that when we move our bodies in coordinated and complicated ways, such as during our martial art forms and techniques, and when we build our aerobic and anaerobic capacities, such as when we exercise or practice a martial art, we also spark biological changes in our brain cells that make us more ready, willing, and able to learn (Spark, the Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain). Dr. Ratey also claims that public schools could better serve their students by building upon this connection, and he gives the example of the public schools in Naperville, Illinois.  Students in this school district begin their day with aerobic exercise and movement activities, such as yoga, dance or martial arts, and Naperville students boast the highest achievement scores for eighth graders on the international tests of math and science than any other school district in the United States.  These students rank sixth in the world for mathematics and first for science.

Team Velocity students followed a similar trend. While pursuing an advanced degree in mathematics

Lessons begin and end with seated mindfulness practice.

education, I investigated the relationship between physical activity (aerobic exercise and Bushintai-Do) and academic performance. In a year-long study focused on my students, I was able to show a statistically significant increase in physical fitness, as well as an increase in mathematics achievement. In addition to this quantitative data, Dave and I and other teachers have collected over ten years of reflective writing that speak to this body/mind connection.   Many students often comment about their improved ability to defend themselves or mention that they are physically stronger as a result of their martial arts training, but all students eventually reveal their personal insights and growth as a result of their participation in this martial art.  Interestingly, when we ask students to describe the qualities of a Bushintai-Do warrior, students always think beyond the physical traits and mention the qualities of determination, respect, courage, resilience, strength, open-mindedness, self-control, leadership, knowledge, and heart.  

In over 25 years of teaching and learning with students, I know of very few “teaching methods” that encourage this type of introspection and personal well-being and growth. Because of integrating Bushintai-Do into my classroom, I have learned from my students what it means to be a warrior in both mind and body and believe this type of learning has made a lasting difference not only for my students, but for me as well. As Bill Ayers concludes in his book To Teach, “Teachers must understand that even as they teach, they will also be taught.  Even as they help others develop, they will, themselves, change and grow.”

Nancy Keller, Education Coordinator

Bushintai-Do Programs, Inc.

Milton, Vermont

Teacher at Winooski Middle/High School

Winooski, Vermont