A Martial Art Can Be Your Fountain Of Youth!
by
Dr. Gary S. Goodman
When my Dad used to say, wistfully, ?Youth is wasted on the young,? I thought it was so much doubletalk. The adage presupposes that youth only comes along once in a lifetime, and while this is the widespread perception, it?s wrong. You can be, and I daresay you should be young at every age, and it?s possible if you train diligently in the martial arts. If you need any proof of this proposition just take a look at oldsters in the People?s Republic of China, the millions who do Tai Chi every morning in parks and public spaces. They?re agile, flexible, and graceful, and a typical 80 year-old practitioner there has more vitality and than the average, 35 year-old American office rat. But most important, these people believe that they?re in charge of their bodies, they take responsibility for them, and they don?t yield to silly ideas that say we should naturally lose our physical capabilities as time marches on. If, at an advanced age, you study combative forms such as karate, and you spar with opponents of various ages, you?d be amazed at how well you?ll do, providing you?ve paid the price to condition your mind and body. Your body doesn?t know how old it is. If, as a 45 year-old, you tell it to perform as if it were 18, it will do it, providing you have prepared it properly. More than toughness, self-confidence, or fighting skill, the true gift of intensive, ongoing martial arts training is YOUTH. In this sense, Dad may have been more correct to say martial arts training is wasted on the young! Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone? and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service, and the audio program, ?The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable,? published by Nightingale-Conant. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC's Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. He holds the rank of Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com.
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