Meditation for Martial Arts

[aharris84]

So I started up a new-to-me dojo doing Okinawan Goju-ryu Karate-do and Okinawan Kobudo and Im liking it and all that. At the beginning of each class we start with five minutes of stationary meditation, which I have experienced at other martial arts studios, but I just started to think about it today.

The thing Im thinking about is this- Is stationary, physically relaxed meditation what people need these days? I am postulating that there was less of a disconnect between most peoples' bodies and minds in preindustrial times for the reason that they simply did more physical activity and their livelyhood often depended upon being able to manipulate their body. This is as opposed to today when quite a lot of people are completely unaware of their body and their work is completely mental. The point of this is that stationary/relaxed meditation seems to me to be able to create an even larger disconnect between mind and body (and really anything that is outside you) and the benefit of this in preindustrial times would have been to have students of martial arts be able to sit down and think objectivly about something through meditation. But today our brains are conditioned to do that from childhood and it seems that what would benefit martial arts students of today more would be a type of meditation that increases body awareness (specifically I am thinking of the Zhan Zhuang Chi Kung exercises).

Anyone have any thoughts on this? I am specifically thinking about meditation and as a tool for increasing the understanding of martial arts, but thoughts from people who use it for other things would be welcome as well.

 

[smith02]

martial arts & Meditation

My friend the relationship between meditation and the martial arts is a multifaceted one, meditation is one of the practices in which martial artists engage in order to prepare for combat, while the physical exercises constituting much of the discipline of the martial arts might well be considered meditative practices.

 

[dswithers]

"Still" meditation has many forms and goals. You seem to be speaking about the type where you empty your mind completely of all thoughts, which is very useful in todays stressful, rush around world, but only the first level. After you empty your mind fully, then you start to try to feel your body, the air flowing in and out of your lungs, your heartbeat, the flow of blood pulsing through your veins, and then finally the flow of chi through your body. Once you master that (after many years or even decades of practice), then you can learn to move your chi outside your body and learn to sense the chi flow in others bodies.

 

[R.Lewis]

A lot of the time it better to use the oportunity to practice "stillness".

Rather than meditating try to practice being still and relaxed. you must be sensitive and feel that when you relax you start to sway or drop. You will learn to control this over time and be able to stand or sit perfectly still and be relaxed at the same time.

I asked my Karate instructor why we did this about ten years ago and he said this.
"How do you expect to be able to move well, when you cant even stand still!"

This is where the idea of "stillness in motion" comes from.

 

[Hadouken]

aharris84

Let me get straight to the point: The main objective of meditation is not relaxing. Is not to feel your surroundings. Those are only side effects.

The main objective of meditation is to be YOURSELF, and to achieve that you must live in the PRESENT; if you do, you will be centered on everything you do and you will be unstoppable. That is why you meditate before any class, so you can focus on your training at its fullest.

So, next time you meditate in class, do that, simply let go, ignore EVERYTHING that comes to your mind and senses, and be yourself truly.

- Hadouken
Teacher

 

[tcguy]

I agree with dswithers, meditation takes many forms and has many applications. Without experiencing your class or the meditation you are doing, it is hard to discuss the intentions of your teacher though i have seen classes that incorporate mystical types of things just to make their classes seem "authentic".


I feel that everyone in our mechanized society needs "stillness". There is so much running around, phone to ear, that no one slows down to hear their own breath (or own thoughts!). Also, in my own experience, one of the greatest benefits of learning martial arts for self defense is learning to remain calm in the heat of the moment and meditation is an avenue for learning that.

I believe that all the old masters meditated and that meditation, having taken a back seat to other parts of training is one of the major separators between true masters and the many so called masters today. Many schools have no meditation whatsoever and really, if you think about it, a lot of modern schools are nothing more than crappy kickboxing.

Lao Tzu, in "The Tao Te Ching" said, "without going outside...I may know the whole world", meaning by understanding one's self, one may understand everyone.

I think that standing meditation you mentioned, which is useful in developing chi, is best either used alone or before other training and that, seated, quiet meditation is best used alone or after training.