Health/Natural: Redefining Mid-Life through Traditional Martial Arts

Traditional Martial Arts is principally a healing system that provides practitioners specific methods to improve health and build a foundation for longevity. Training techniques consider age, body type and condition, and provide a road map for the middle-aged student to purify mind and body, resulting in remarkable improvements.

After her stroke four years ago, Sylvia Smith, 62, thought many activities she had taken for granted would forever be beyond her reach. At the urging of her son, she began practicing Oom Yung Doe, a traditional martial art that has helped her, like many others, bring back much of her lost condition.

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"I feel better physically, mentally and surely spiritually than I did when I was 30 or 40." Oom Yung Doe practitioner Nancy Heilman, as seen on the Oprah Winfrey Show.

Developed and refined for centuries, traditional martial arts training promotes energy circulation, which helps remove stress and toxins, and enhances the body's innate healing abilities. This process of removing negativity can be challenging, but it is the basis for purification. With the confidence gained from knowing which specific movements to practice -- based on age, body type and condition -- the student can follow a proven path towards improvement, winning over mental and physical weaknesses.

For Smith, this principle of winning over oneself means a more immediate recovery. "In less than one year of training, my doctor told me that my numbers were good. I knew that the only thing I had done differently since my last visit was Oom Yung Doe. He said whatever I was doing to keep doing it, and reduced my medications."

Nancy Heilman, 67, a fourth-degree black belt and Assistant Regional Head Instructor has been training with the School of Oom Yung Doe for 14 years. Heilman was featured in the July issue of More Magazine for her martial arts achievements. On Thursday, February 28, on The Oprah Winfrey Show, she shared that because of Oom Yung Doe training, "I feel better physically, mentally and surely spiritually than I did when I was 30 or 40."

Dr. Charles Won-suk Kim, who has studied at Harvard University, Yonsei University (Korea), and martial arts principles for almost 30 years says traditional martial arts "is principally a healing power. Through specific exercise and movement techniques proven over centuries, the energy around us can be utilized to enhance vitality and wellness in extraordinary ways." The result: Traditional martial arts helps practitioners take control of their lives by learning to restore a more youthful condition, increasing the quality of daily life.

For more information visit the Oom Yung Doe web site.

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