Feeling drained of energy? I know why!

Have you every left someone after talking to them and feel that they have DRAINED YOU OF ENERGY? They may not be a bad person but the negative energy they could produce bottle and sell could run an evil empire for months. I have come across many such characters in my life and they tire you out with their negativity. I try to be upbeat about life but when life throws things at you like the barrels on Donkey Kong it is sometimes hard to keep your chin up (or down if you are sparring). When I started training in martial arts you would come across these characters lot; I was a young skinny lad so they thought they could take their negativity out on me ( Bully ) and make me listen to their ‘war stories’ during value training time telling me about their failed marriages and their bosses and co-workers that don’t work as hard as them and get promoted, all during the training class with not a hint of me having a go at the technique and when I did start to have a go of the technique I was quickly told it was wrong and they would explain in detail the movement we were doing so they got to do it twenty times to my one turn . The class would feel like a lifetime and I got very frustrated at not being able to learn from my own mistakes, which is the best way to learn, you can’t learn anything straight and if you did it amazingly well you would consider it easy and forget it as quickly as you learned it! Even on training courses you would be stuck with ‘haversack ‘as my friend Garry Henderson calls them People that love the sound of their own voice that would be make a glass eye fall asleep but think they are a great authority on the subject matter (like the mastermind entrance of martial arts). You would sit eating your sandwich telling everyone else to stay away from the nutters in the afternoon section of the course or you would begin to lose the will to live, but I have found that trying to stay away from nutters or haversacks on Ninjutsu courses is sometimes a tall order! Even in regular kickboxing or MMA class you have people that gel well together and others that will come to blows faster than they should even in a class that hits each other, in school they used to call it a clash of personalities that is the polite term is that they can’t stand each other. If I see this type of interaction occurring I will change the partners over ASAP, this saves a fight occurring and the bad feeling in the class. Speaking of feelings in the class I can feel the energy of the class as it comes in and of individual person’s energy, are they tired, are they unhappy and even are they angry. I have taught for so many years that the person gives off a vibe or an energy showing me what state they are in and in turn I will help them or the class to find a positive in the class, this is my job to make people go home happier than they did when they came in. As an example in a recent kickboxing class we were doing a set of pad work we have been practicing for about a month now and now that the class have a good grasp of it I started to let them play with the movements and to do that I looked for tunes that would go with the beat or timings of the pad work , so Will Smith and wham tracks came to the DJ set with amazing results the class looked like it was at a wedding reception after the Buffet when all the good songs come on ! I was dancing ( padwork) with Emma , an amazing dance teacher and brown belt she developed a cracking right cross from bobbing and weaving to getting Jiggy with it and her husband Tim ( not known for his dancing abilities) was using smooth movement to flow in his striking all improved with the music and the energy in the class. When Kerry went to leave she said it was hard not to join in and dance the energy was so positive and upbeat. The amazing Erik Paulson, a legend in the martial arts world said he does not grapple with everyone because certain people give of bad energy and he would take it home with him so now he is very selective on who he grapples with because they steal your energy, I always believe Erik he is not just an amazing martial artist but an amazing human being. There has been many times I am smelling someone’s armpit having a one-on-one grappling class when I can feel they are out to hurt me to prove they are better or they can beat me! This make no sense to me, I am helping them to grapple better and all they can think about is finding a way to hurt me or choke me out, I don’t mind tapping to people when they get me in a hold or submission but these people I would help them get me into a choke and then when I tapped they would keep the technique on so I would have to escape after they should have left go…….. I got out but it was a very steep learning curve, learning that people just want to hurt you so that they can prove in their sick twisted little minds that they are better than me. I made a decision a good few years ago I will not teach anyone I don’t like and I have done this and someone said would it effect my business and I said yes …… it’s made it better. Now I don’t go on courses I don’t want to go on, I don’t teach people I don’t like, I don’t spend time talking to people that give off an negative energy (some of the fuckers bath in it!) but I do spend time with people I love, I do try to enjoy every day of my life because one day it will be your last and I would like to be remembered by the way I made people feel spending time with me. Energy is a valuable currency don’t just give it away, give it to the right people and don’t let anyone steal off you! (In more ways than one). Whenever you are with someone tell them good things and don’t dwell on the negative, pick people up don’t but them down ( unless they don’t like you and they run at you ) always give 100% in your life because you get this one chance to do it! I know life is hard and you will have days were you would rather put the quilt over your head and stay in bed. But also take time out and have a nothing to do day or couple of hours to do your own thing whether it is reading, knitting, messing around with your car or watch motivational videos on YouTube or anything you love, do it and don’t feel guilty . Because we need to top up our energy to be able to help more people So John says take the night off! Say positive And have fun John Atkin