Karate Kid is a very popular movie where Mr Miyagi mentors his student Daniel. When I watched this movie back when I was a kid I didn’t really understand it much.

I thought he used karate to beat up the bullies that were bothering him. As an adult now who runs a martial arts school, I totally get the movie and I understand that Mr Miyagi was teaching Daniel life lessons or “life skills”.

Life skills is the mental part of the martial arts, so it isn’t just physical. In our children’s program we teach something called the word of the month which are words like confidence, self-esteem, and leadership.

All the self defense moves like punches and kicks are not used everyday because it’s only for self defense….However life skills can be used in our everyday lives.