Almost half of all teenagers in Australia are facing psychological distress, according to recent studies. Japanese martial arts skills are helping some build resilience.
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TRANSCRIPT:
A karate session is in full swing at a Japanese training hall called a ‘dojo’ in Sydney’s north. An experienced black belt teacher is working with 17-year-old Aiden Jacobs, who is studying for stressful final year exams.
"I'm feeling a little nervous. I mean, it's what you expect. If it wasn't for karate, I wouldn't have such a, I guess, resilient mind and calm head all the time."
Karate is an unarmed martial arts and combat skill developed over many centuries in Japan. The ‘empty-hand’ technique takes time and patience to master, says high school and karate teacher Harrison Saito.
"I've been training on and off since I was about 11, 12 and I’ve learned from my father who has been training martial arts actively for 50 years."
Father Kazuo ‘William’ Saito learned karate as a child, growing up in heavily bombed Japan after World War 2.
"I was born in 1945, yeah very dangerous. To survive, I had to be strong."
His son Harrison Saito says violent gangs were a constant threat.
"He grew up in a really rough area, so he fought a lot and he used martial arts, not as competition, but pure self-defence."
For Mr Saito, now aged 81, honing childhood survival skills led on to national championship victories.
He began teaching in Australia soon after arriving in 1978.
Harrison Saito is proud to continue his father’s legacy through their martial arts academy, Shinbukan.
"I want students to be more clear-minded, see things not as impulse but more levelheaded. I want kids to understand what true courage is. Fear will always be there, but learning how to sit with that uncertainty, bringing yourself to a functional baseline and acting more true to yourself."
According to Australia's National Youth Mental Health Foundation, Headspace, almost half of all young people are experiencing high or very high levels of psychological distress.
Dr Brian Moore is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Wollongong, whose research examines the effects of physical activity on youth mental health.
"I conducted a series of randomised control trials that examined the impact of martial arts training on secondary school students' resilience and self-efficacy. The studies looked at 283 school students that had an age range of 12 to 14 years. And the results found that martial arts training improved resilience and self-efficacy, so we're promoting wellbeing through physical activity."
Dr Moore says martial arts can promote a sense of mastery and accomplishment through providing opportunities for self-improvement.
It may have broader social benefits, too.
"Across Australia and globally, government and youth outreach groups use community focused sports as an intervention to lower juvenile justice crime rates and keep communities safer. Having said that, it's really important that we remember that while martial arts might have mental health benefits, it's not a psychological therapy."
James Bolton has trained in martial arts for more than a year.
The 44-year-old works as a project manager in construction and has faced mental health challenges.
"There were several burnouts over the last, kind of, 10 years. Two of those were depressive and one of them was anxiety based. The anxiety one was very much like a panic attack and that was kind of fogginess of the mind, like someone's hit you with a sledgehammer. Your nervous system is all kind of wired, so it's not a great experience, at all."
Mr Bolton says mastering martial arts skills like stance, blocks and kicks is part of the training but it’s also about building the mind.
"The person that walked into this dojo a year ago to the person that is here today is almost unrecognisable. I think in terms of physical fitness, state of mind, focus, calm. The stress that has just dissolved out of this body and the resilience and resistance to taking that stress back on, is absolutely rock solid."
For Aiden Jacobs, who has trained for four years and dreams of a career in acting, patience is key.
"I got a green belt, the black tip, and that just means I know the basics pretty well and I know how to keep a calm mind and stay focused. I think that at the end goal it's black belts. But I do realise that it's how much you grow mentally and that's been the biggest lesson."
