markusan

Buddhism is different from Western Religion because it's practice is based on developing strong single pointed concentration. Theravadan buddhism also puts great emphasis on gaining insight(seeing things as they really are, not polluted by mental attitudes) so that the techniques developed in sharpening concentration and developing insight can also be turned to martial arts technique...or any other physical or mental activity. The common method to gain single pointed concentration is to concentrate on one's breath alone until the mind becomes expert at holding that concentration. Knowledge of the breath is also an essential of the martial arts. So in these ways buddhist meditation or any other mindfulness exercise is a tangible and practical help to one's martial arts.

This post was originally published as an article in a dedicated KarateForums.com Articles section, which is no longer online. After the section was closed, this article was most to the most appropriate forum in our community. Much is said in all sports about that illusive state of being in the “Zone”. I think the term has been corrupted in popular culture to merely describe a day when everything is going well, the punches and kicks are landing, the putts are dropping or the top spin lobs are landing on the right side of the back line. I think it’s far more than that and in some ways much less. After many years of competitive running, martial arts training and meditation practice, I think the zone is quite simply a state of mind-body and one that with practice and the right mental conditions is readily repeatable. But, it can be tricky. My first experience of running in the zone was many years ago training hard for a marathon. I could make the distance comfortably but was having trouble maintaining a respectable pace and I knew the problem was my breathing. So, on the advice of an inspired coach, I changed my training to less miles and more speed, adding sprint training, working anaerobically as well as aerobically and always thinking hard about my breathing. Eventually over the miles, the mechanics of breathing stopped being a narrow focus and turned into a light, more general attention. Part of my mind was now gazing almost with a soft focus on the breath, noticing it’s detail but in almost from a distance and bingo – I was in the zone. My legs were no longer straining, my lungs were no longer bursting, arms were swinging free on loose shoulders and the mind was immersed in a kind of calm euphoria. I was running the Tan track in Melbourne (Australia) skipping past lunchtime joggers and a pack of surprised harrier club runners. Try as they might they couldn’t catch me. After that episode, I thought my running would never be the same; I’d broken through some sort of barrier. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case and try as I might; I could not deliberately repeat the experience. Over the years it did happen again, but significantly, only when I wasn’t trying. I had similar experiences in my martial arts training, particularly after I had attained a reasonable level of skill and experience, though the feeling is obviously different to the steady rhythmic nature of running in the zone. The only way I can describe the sensation in a sparring situation is that the nature of the fighting changes from “me fighting you” to a wider experience of just fighting. No me, no you, just movement, strategy, action, reaction and flow – most importantly flow. One of my favorite references texts is probably the shortest book I own, but one that I keep going back to year after year, reading and rereading. It is the kendo classic, the Book of Five Rings by Myamoto Musashi. It was a gift from a martial arts brother who’d also gleaned much wisdom from its pages. A passage I carry with me is from the Water Book chapter under the heading ‘The Gaze”. It goes: These are simple words but for me are loaded with deep wisdom, applicable to far more than a kendo duel. In my view they offer us the key to finding the illusive Zone. To practice martial arts or any activity effectively we must have some level of concentration. Any concentration is better than none but if we look inwards long enough we will notice there are different shades of concentration. The first type, which I’ll call initial concentration, is hard and narrow. It focuses on a pinpoint and seeks out the finest detail, burning it into the mind’s eye. It is the most concentrated concentration, but like a tight flexed muscle, resists change, is slow to react and has a limited life span. Though even this exhausting concentration can be given more stamina with practice. The third type of concentration (I know, I missed one...be patient) is muddied concentration. It has a very temporary nature, can be disturbed easily and quickly lapses into daydreaming. It can be refocused but will lapse again before long. The second type of concentration is what I think Musashi’s large broad gaze referred to. Its nature is light, attentive and fast, but not narrow, quick to follow and most importantly relaxed without being lazy. I think the Zone is in this state of concentration and carries with it the feeling of balance and equilibrium without effort or tension. There are a few prerequisites to attain and hold this state of concentration and they all require training, both physical and mental. In martial arts the requirement for fitness is a given and is intimately linked with skill. Skill comes through practice and training. Training develops fitness. Fitness makes training and skill development easier and more enjoyable and so the wheel turns. Fitness also allows us to concentrate better. If we are tired, sucking air into burning lungs, our legs and shoulders burning, we risk lapsing into the muddied concentration I spoke of earlier. We may not lapse into a daydream but our minds will be distracted by how tired we are, how many blocks we’re missing, drawing our attention inward rather than on the game where it should be. So the first enemy of concentration is tiredness, dragging our minds from the balanced state of concentration to the muddied interrupted state. Then there’s fear, but it operates at the other end of the scale pushing us into the first type of concentration - the hard, focused, immovable concentration. Notice none of these concentration states are in the mind alone, the mind and body react as one. When we fight with fear, whether it’s fear of our opponent or fear of losing, it introduces tension into mind and body, slowing us down, magnifying pain, missing opportunities. The mind is so focused it excludes possibilities like the freedom to quickly adjust strategy and to be creative. These are distractions it discards in order to center more effectively. A short philosophical note: remember back to when I was describing the feeling of fighting in the zone. It is not a feeling of I am fighting you, rather only a sense of the activity of fighting, of strategy and of being one with the moment. Anything that brings us back to the feeling of “I am fighting you” brings us out of that balanced concentration back to the very focused concentration. In that sense it is the ego that is dragging us back to the inferior focused concentration. If we can relax and drop off fear, not only fear of pain but fear of losing our “self”, going into the contest we have a much better chance of finding the zone and hence performing at a much higher level. Perhaps that is what is meant in Budo circles by the strange statement that to win, a warrior must enter the contest prepared to die.

I've read literally hundreds of books on meditation, but I agree with the other posters, just keep doing what you're doing, join a group or go see a buddhist teacher. If I spent as much time meditating as I do reading I'd be much further along the path. Focus on your breath going in and your breath going out. Each time you get distracted just gently bring your attention back to the breath, and the rest will happen/ One way to "find your centre" consistently is to focus on the happy feeling you get when you give yourself time to sit quietly. Tell yourself "this is my time" and think about smiling.

Could I suggest that you do NOT aim to hit the floor with the follow through. Sure, punch through the board, but make sure you have plenty of clearance underneath. The only reason you don't break your hand when you are breaking boards is because the board breaks first. If you follow through to the floor, you can safely bet the floor is not going to break. I speak from experience breaking tiles. I broke six tiles with a two knuckle punch at a demonstration a couple of years ago and misjudged the strike. The tiles broke but the floor didn't and I had a very swollen hand the next day and a couple of compressed fractures. It made typing a very uncofortable experience for a couple of weeks.

Thnks for that I think Vito but tell me, if a man makes a statement in a forest and there is no woman there to hear him, is he still wrong???

Thanks martial man for correcting my spelling mistake. It is Jhana, and my understanding of that term is that it means meditative absorption, or meditation stage. My old Theravadan teacher Pip Ransom, told me its literal translation is merely meditation and it is the root of the Japanese word Zen which also means simply meditation.. Pip was a student of the German buddhist nun Ayya Khema who started the Wat Temple near Sydney Australia. I refer you to her book When the Iron Eagle Flies, Penguin London 1991. This book deals with the Jhanas in great detail and outlines eight in two sets of four. Another book is an old classic, Concentration and Meditation, by Christmas Humphries, Element Publishing, Rockport MA, 1968 pp 179 to 186. He describes eight Jhana in two groups ie rupa 1-4 and arupa 1-4. and again describes the characteristics of each but not necessarily the transitions. A third reference is The Opening Of The Wisdom Eye, the Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso, Quest Books, Wheaton Ill, 1966. pp 84-104. It is one of the D.L's earlier books and I found it a difficult read early in my meditation practice, but much clearer now in hindsight some three decades later. On p84 he says..." the worldly attainment of the absorprions is of two sorts, of form and of formlessness both of which have four levels" he then goes on to explain how to attain each level and progress to the next. My final reference ( though there are many more readily available) is a non-buddhist text, Peace Of Mind, by Dr Ian Gawler, Hill of Content, Melbourne, 1987. Ian was afflicted with a virulent form of cancer in the 70s and survived using a variety of conventional and alternative treatments. He lost a leg and several ribs in the process. For the last 20 years or more he has run the Gawler Institute near Melbourne teaching cancer sufferers and others profound meditation. He also travels the country teaching meditation. On pp 32 and 33 of his book he describes seven stages of meditation. From my limited knowledge he appears to be describing, very accurately the first seven Jhanas. I cannot comment on the nature of the eighth as to this date that state has eluded me. However Ian wrote that book 17 years ago and I have not spoken to him for two or three years, so he may have another stage to add to the list by now. As I say I am no expert, just a student, and In my first post was merely suggesting that dear john enjoy the sinking feeling he experiences, but at the same time I'd suggest there's more. Reading is ok but I've found the important thing is to practice. To me using meditation only as a form of relaxation is like using your home computer only to add up your shopping bill. By the way I am not buddhist, but I like the buddhist methods, especially Theravadan insight meditation and Zen methods(Koan study, Shikantaza and Kinhin) for their simplicity and lack of overt mysticism and spiritualism. Methods aside, I think they all teach us simply to be awake in the moment.

If you think going from one ma to another is tough try going from ma to snowboarding. I tried it the other day. In a fighting stance I always keep my front foot really light. If you do that on a snow board(and I just couldn't break the habit) you end up rocketing down the hill at a million miles an hour and you can't turn. I got more bruises in a day than I have in a year in the dojang.

Look at the Kung Fu or Karate equivalent. Is Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon martial arts?I think It is the entertainment rehearsed version of martial arts performed by some pretty good martial artisits. Maybe wrestling is the same. There seems to be a lot of skill in not only executing the moves but also being dropped on your heads from six feet in the air. And for big guys they move pretty quickly. I don't think you get those skills from a bottle of steroids.I've never had a go at that activity so I would be reluctant to write it off as an inferior skill.

Just as a matter of interest, there was a case in the first half of this year in Melbourne Australia where a club goer was charged for killing a nightclub patron in a carpark with a spinning heel kick during a massive brawl. The incident was widely covered in the press. https://www.news.com.au/common/story%5Fpage/0%2C4057%2C7559796%5E1702%2C00.html To me this is another illustration of too much emphasis being put on martial arts as a way to win street fights rather than as a way of self discovery.

The weird sinking feeling is what the theravadan tradition calls first Jahna. It is the first of the eight stages of meditation, the first four being physically definable and the second four being the mental or mind versions of the first four. If you want to progress your meditation sit with that sinking feeling for a while and then formulate an intention to progress your meditation, tell yourself that you are now ready for the next stage. Now focus on your mouth and scalp and feel a smile forming. When you are relaxed and ready you will progress to the second Jahna which is characterised by a feeling of joy. At each Jahna there are two things to notice and remember to make repetition of the exercise easier. Really look closely at the sensations you are experiencing and remember the state of mind it took to get there, the single pointed concentration and the intention to move forward. (You describe not being allowed to move your eyes, I think inadvertently your eye position has become your point of mental focus. That's ok but it is a very delicate state. Maybe Concentrating on your breath would be more robust and you'd be less likely to be distracted. With practice you'll be able to get out of your chair and change your position or even chage to a walking meditation and still maintain your meditative state. With lots of practice you can carry over a meditative state to day to day activity) One trap, particularly with second jahna, which is a very pleasant place to be, is to want to stay there. Nothing wrong with that, but there's better stuff ahead so again formulate that intention to progress.

Being a sceptic too I would agree it is more likely to be blocking the nerve paths. The asian acupuncturist said the needles relax the muscles allowing more blood to flow, and hence promote healing. I don't believe in ki or chi as a particular energy flow, I was merely defending the efficacy of accupuncture. I think the concept of ki as some sort of mystical energy flow is probably another misinterpretation of an old asian concept. I think of it more as synchronicity. when all your systems are working together, mind, body, breath, balance etc....when everything is just right it produces greater than normal power.

Tae Kwo Do does have some flashy kicks of little practical application, but that's not all it has. Have a look at the ITF patterns, eg Won Hyo and Hwa-Rang, both are almost identical to Shotokan patterns and include arm breaks, hand and wrist locks, pressure point strikes, knee and elbow strikes, groin strikes, one of the moves in Won Hyo can even be taught as a leg capture and knee lock.So just because you've seen the fancy kicks, don't assume that's all there is. And since when was TKD the only martial art that does a flying side kick. I was told early in my ma career by a Japanese sensei that it was used by chinese peasants to unseat mounted soldiers or bandits. Most of the karateka I have fought in all styles tournaments have been able to deliver effective head high turning kicks and spinning heel kicks. Does that mean all their other techniques are ineffective "on the street". Personally I don't train solely to be effective on the street. An din answer to the previous posts, learning to block is essential, my school teaches the student to block everything and to try turn every block into a strike. And yes a street fight may end up on the ground, but my priority would be to try if possible to avoid the fight in the first place, then to try to finish the fight standing and at a distance and fast, and only resort to close in our ground fighting as a last resort. I am small so I am reluctant to go into a clinch with a big guy.

I don't knopw of anyone who specifically teaches a Musashi's way but I have met many good ma instructors, absorbed in their arts, who are familiar with his work and can guide the student about it's meaning. But I've found that the best way to absorb it's teachings is in hindsight. In other words, keep practicing your martial arts and keep reading and re-reading the BOFRs. Nobody can teach you how to attack with a "sticky" feeling but when you do it you will recognise the feeling. The same for "looking at things at a distance as if they are close, and looking at close things as if they are at a distance". These things are a part of any martial art, they are not a specific way. Musashi's way was the way of the sword, the book of five rings can be applied to any martial art, or any conflict situation, small or large scale.

I can't give an opinion on ki but I can certainly add my support for accupuncture as a treatment for injuries. I have a long term back hip injury that occasionally plays up. I have tried many conventional and alternative therapies, The two that give me measurable relief are physio therapy including stretching and traction, and accupuncture. It gives me real relief. the interesting thing is the first needle goes into the lower back and is quite noticeable, the second needle goes deep into the back of the knee, and though I can feel it enter there's no pain. Each needle's entry, there are five in all give a completely different sensation. I have no idea what they do but they sure do something. The relief is only temporary, it seems to relax the muscles and the pressure on the sciatic nerve, but then I go back to training and mess it all up again. Now if it is placebo...I don't care, as long as it works.

Imagine that a person comes to TKD class for the first time. He/ she is not a streetfighter, just a normal everyday person. He/she trains hard, does lots of TKD sparring for four ot five years and gets a first degree black belt. In that time they have inevitably learnt to punch faster and harder, learnt to block, learned to keep a defensive guard, learnt to move their feet quickly, learnt not to be intimidated by a flying side kick to the ribs or an axe kisk to the face. Maybe they've learnt that they can still spar with a cracked rib or a broken finger or corked thigh, or a broken nose. When they started they could do five pushups...they do sets of 100 for their blackbelt. They can now do the front splits and almost do the side splits, break five tiles with a punch and with a combination of barefoot kicks and knife hand strikes. Is it remotely possible that that person is still no better at fighting than when they first walked into the dojang?

Take a deep breath folks, you can't go hitting everything that gives you a firght, you're acting like a fraidy-cat not a martial artist. If you do have to act with spiderman type reflexes maybe you could put up a defensive move rather than send your little brother to hospital.

how do you get experience withouut doing it? And the other bit about pull a punch in sparring and you'll pull it in a real fight???? That implies that any one person can only ever fight at one intensity. That's not the world I live in.

There are many fighting skills that can be learnt through sparring that can't be learnt through drills, and that includes point sparring. Point sparring is great for learning how to set up an attack and find or create an opening on your opponent. Semi and full contact teach other skills includnig how to take a hit and keep fighting. Also, minor injuries are great teachers. I don't mind quite junior students learning how to spar under good supervision. The odd bump and bruise can tell us a lot about our own techniques.

LIke all tactics and strategies, smiling will work on some opponents some of the time. You can't rely on it to have the same effect every time and if you do you're asking for trouble. That said, I think it's good to go into a sparring, or a self defence situation, with the mindset that you know there's a good chance you'll get hurt, but you're going to enjoy the contest anyway. I find I smile at training partners who I've been sparring with for years, because we ar very comfortable with each other and we are really having fun, trying to score points against old friends.

On the efficacy of the front kick.... In one of the few violent situations I've been in outside the dojo a friend of mine from our TKD club was at a pub, and a much taller guy grabbed him by the throat in a one handed grab. My friend grabbed the guy's wrist with both hands and front kicked him hard just below the sternum. The guy not only dropped like a bag of patoatoes but also lost consciousness. My friend has done a lot of hard weight training for many years and has a very strong kick. Applied well by the right person it seems to me to be a very effective kick.

I teach my students not to cross their belts at the back only because the other way makes situps and rolls more comfortable. I've never been insulted by a crossed belt, all the ones I've seen have been untidy, but very polite.

We don't do anything in isolation, what we do affects others...cause and effect. Long term marijuana usage is linked with schizophrenia, and other disociative conditions. Someone has to foot the bill fot the problems and medical bills, and the heartache. I have a few old friends who ain'rt who they used to be cos they got hooked on the weed.

I grew up with Bruce Lee movies and the Bruce Lee legend. He was a great martial artist but he was also an actor. The documentaries were chosen snippets designed to make him look good and the dramatisations are so conflicting that they are all likely to be a long way from the truth. From what I can see in real life he wasn't the hero he was cracked up to be. He was obsessive and from my observation, an egotist preaching humility. Humble achievers don't break their necks trying to make it big in movies. Great to watch, but not so great a role model.

I like to think of chi from the other end. Not that it something we have to develop but rather something that is there and we just have to uncover. Take most animals for instance, pound for pound they are much stronger than us. I think part of the reason for this is that their mind isn't constantly giving them reasons or excuses to hold back. I have seen many students become stronger not only by becoming physically stronger but be shedding inhibitions, gaining confidence and developing controlled aggression. I think it's our minds that hold us back and the more we clear them and release our hangups the more we can focus our energies on one technique or movement, uninhibited. That's what practice is about, making the movement automatic, removing the thought process that hold back or adulterate the move. The power that can be developed by only expending energy on the one movement then can seem super human...well normal inhibited human that is. I look at ki as a quality rather than an energy flow. I think meditation helps develop it by clearing the mind distractions and mental inhibitions we accumulate through our lives. Sorry, in 30 years of training, including with wing chung and chi gung practitioners, I haven't ever been affected by a remote strike that I know of so I can't believe it yet.

I shadow box, but only when i'm away from home and don't have access to a bag. Shadow boxing is good if you really concentrate on building up speed but make sure your technique is clean. Practice alternating punches high and low, always visualise your exact target, like the nose, stermum, temple etc. Be specific and make sure you change your hand to suit your target. I use it mainly for speed and co-ordination, but I always return to the bag to add a bit of reality. Start at the head and work your way down to the groin target by target, then work back up. next pick on high target then one low working your way to the middle. Then just go crazy and punch till your lungs burn.