MMA Gym Westchester NY
White Plains, New Rochelle, Yonkers, BronxMMA Westchester NY

The benefits of training in martial arts and meditation became very clear to me when I first discovered I could have an anaphylactic reaction in a location where I could not access treatment.

This first thing you discover is you are about to pass out, but not in the normal sense. You are looking at serious damage. To prevent it, your heart springs into action, exploding and running well above 200 bpm. Your brain is foggy and you have to make a decision: panic or relax. Martial arts teaches you to have an immediate physiological response of relaxation - the opposite of an adrenal response - at the first signs of an emergency. Beginning a panic attack with your heart already running at 225 is not recommended if living is your goal.

The next chance came when my body told me it really didn't want to breathe. Rather than fight the process, I trusted that my body did not want to breathe for a reason, so again my immediate relaxation response allowed me to drop my respiration well below the limit issued by my reaction. There was no problem.

Standing was a challenge. The only way I could make it to the ground was by making my entire body like a whip, with my head at the tail end smashing full force while unconscious. In martial arts, you learn to ground yourself on one leg, where I was fine. As soon as I put weight between both legs, the crashing of the head scenario began. But I know home was grounded on one leg, and quickly jumped to safety.

Fortunately, my throat did not close, and in 15 minutes the symptoms began to release. Patience, meditation and deep breathing exercises when my body allowed brought me back to normality without any serious harm. I did speak with a doctor who assured me that many people, untrained, would not have had such a rosy outcome. I am grateful to have had good instruction in both disciplines and recognize the time in training was very well spent.