“Train Harder”: The Discipline Behind Healing
It’s easy to romanticize healing.
To reduce it to crystals, cacao, and curated Instagram quotes. But real healing? It’s brutal. Beautiful. And built on discipline.
When I first started training at the USA Shaolin Temple, I thought I understood discipline.
…I didn’t.
I’d been running a business. Managing clients. Helping people navigate the edges of their sanity. But when Shifu Shi Yan Ming told me, “Train harder,” something in my nervous system woke up.
Because it wasn’t about fitness.
It was about focus.
Discipline, I’ve learned, is sacred.
It’s not about punishment. It’s about presence.
It’s about returning—again and again—to yourself.
To your breath.
To your power.
Even when you’re exhausted. Especially when you’re exhausted.
Shaolin taught me that healing isn’t always soft. Sometimes it’s sweat and silence.
It’s showing up when your legs are shaking.
It’s practicing forms until your body remembers what your mind wants to forget.
It’s realizing that clarity comes from repetition—and that the breakthrough only happens after the breakdown.
Why This Matters Now—More Than Ever
In 2024, the CDC reported that suicide was the second leading cause of death among individuals aged 10–24 in the United States. One in four young adults reported seriously considering suicide within the past year.¹
We are in a full-blown mental health crisis. And we’re not going to meditate our way out of it. Not without structure. Not without grounded, embodied discipline.
This is why Shaolin matters.
This is why discipline matters.
Because structure is medicine.
Most people don’t need more information.
They need consistency.
They need rhythm.
They need daily rituals that build internal safety—not just external performance.
Discipline teaches the nervous system how to trust again.
It rebuilds the bridge between your spirit and your spine.
And in a culture that’s constantly overstimulating and under-supporting us, training harder isn’t just a martial arts motto—it’s a survival skill.
Healing Is Discipline in Disguise
We don’t talk enough about how healing requires consistency.
Not a quick fix.
Not a one-time workshop.
But a lifestyle forged by devotion, and not a tip to Burning Man.
And what I’m discovering—on the mat, in the temple, and in life—is that the same energy it takes to sabotage yourself is the same energy it takes to save yourself.
You just have to redirect it.
Channel it.
Commit to it.
Just do it.
That’s the real kung fu.
Follow @AlexandriaTava @USAShaolinTemple on Instagram 🍊
What about you?
What are you training for?
Sources:
