How deep is your style?

[CloudDragon]

I'd like to hear from all of you about how much your current school emphasizes meditation, and/or Zen studies. What do you think of the presence or absence of these things? If you do practice these things has it helped your martial arts skill? Feel free to expand on these questions.

Edited August 11, 2004 by CloudDragon

[CloudDragon]

Had problem with poll, but got it fixed

[Luckykboxer]

we meditate to open class and end class, but its a quick 10-30 second type of a thing...

 

when we do anything that is specifically challenging we will have a little more meditation but its more of a passing thing then a serious tool we use, at least at this point

[solar_kid]

we meditate to open class and end class, but its a quick 10-30 second type of a thing...

 

Same here. The "meditation" that we do at the beginning of class is, I'm told, to help us prepare for the session by clearing our mind, and to think about what we want to remember to during the session. At the end of class, we think about how we did, what we could do better, etc. It's not really about achieving any kind of altered mental state.

[sAtelitte]

They teach tai chi quan and do some Qigong seminars at our school, that sometimes slips in our kung fu training but only once or twice every month or so. Perhaps for the best cause i'm not really a big fan of internal arts

[aefibird]

We 'meditate' at end of class, but it's really more of a cooling off period. We're supposed to relfect upon the lesson during that period of time. It's only for a minute or two.

 

Apart from that, there's nothing 'internal' about my Shotokan training at all.

[Rich_2k3]

non of the poll answers apply to me, zen isnt included in any part of my training, although I do know what it is.

 

What am i gonna choose for that???

 

Maybe u should add another answer, not everyone does zen, but it doesnt mean they dont know what it is.

[ramymensa]

We don't meditate or recite dojo kun. Some of my beginner coleagues are still in mist regarding this

[granmasterchen]

we dont do much either....our form of internal enlightenment comes from years of repetition of grueling physical tasks, once the individual realizes the applications and inner means on their own is when they start growin in that aspect....

[Shorinryu Sensei]

We've never mediated in class. I have seen some dojo's mediatate for up to 5 minutes at the beginning of a class, and when I've asked the sensei why they do that, the normal reply is "To get their minds prepared to train.", or some such thing.

 

I asked the head of our system about it once and he made a good point that I pass on to my students. Basically he said, Is your opponent going to give you time to meditate before you fight him?". Of course not. We approach class with the concept that yes, you have things on your mind when you walk in the dojo's door, but they need to be moved to the side of your brain and kept there while training. You have to get your mind focused immediately in a fight, so you'd better learn to do it in class also.

 

Not that mediation is wrong, and if a student wants to do it, that's OK with me. But do it at home, or before class starts off to the side, not during class time.