Meditating before class

[Shorinryu Sensei]

This has been discussed before, but what the heck! I tried meditating once, but kept falling asleep.

 

On a more serious note, I don't meditate, nor will I do so before, during or after a class. My reasons? As stated by others on here so far, they use it to get their mind ready for practice, to calm themselves..whatever, and that's fine. My problem with meditating to get your mind "ready to train" is that you will do in a real fight what you practice to do in the dojo.

 

In other words, if you are confronted by a thug on the street is he going to give you time to meditate and get in the proper frame of mind to be prepared to engage in combat with him? Of course not. But that's what you're teachign yoru body and mind to do by having to meditate before you practice. You're teaching your mind a habit, and yoru mind wil lget used to having to be able to have the time to focus before engaging in karate...and it will want to do that before a fight. Not a good idea IMHO.

 

What I tell my students is this. You need to leave your baggage outside the door of the dojo when you walk in here. Learn to focus on training. The girlfriend leaving you just before class will be there when you leave and you can deal with it then. Clear your mind now...and I mean RIGHT NOW, because in a fight you won't have the luxury of taking the time to do that when the fists come at you.

 

Personally, I'd say leave meditating for at home if you feel you need it, or after class is done....not before, and not during.

[strangepair03]

This has been discussed before, but what the heck! I tried meditating once, but kept falling asleep.

 

On a more serious note, I don't meditate, nor will I do so before, during or after a class. My reasons? As stated by others on here so far, they use it to get their mind ready for practice, to calm themselves..whatever, and that's fine. My problem with meditating to get your mind "ready to train" is that you will do in a real fight what you practice to do in the dojo.

 

In other words, if you are confronted by a thug on the street is he going to give you time to meditate and get in the proper frame of mind to be prepared to engage in combat with him? Of course not. But that's what you're teachign yoru body and mind to do by having to meditate before you practice. You're teaching your mind a habit, and yoru mind wil lget used to having to be able to have the time to focus before engaging in karate...and it will want to do that before a fight. Not a good idea IMHO.

 

What I tell my students is this. You need to leave your baggage outside the door of the dojo when you walk in here. Learn to focus on training. The girlfriend leaving you just before class will be there when you leave and you can deal with it then. Clear your mind now...and I mean RIGHT NOW, because in a fight you won't have the luxury of taking the time to do that when the fists come at you.

 

Personally, I'd say leave meditating for at home if you feel you need it, or after class is done....not before, and not during.

 

Excellent post Shorinryu Sensei...sums up my thoughts. Why lose training time to meditation....goes with the adage about training how you would fight.

[June1]

I really wish that we could meditate longer than 10 seconds and do it more consistently.

 

By the way, Corpand, which sensei did you speak to?

[Dragn]

For me learning MA is alot more than just learning how to fight.

 

Particularly those arts with a "do" philosophy.

 

As in karatedo.

 

"Do" refers to a way or a path of living, involving constant introspection and striving for harmony.

 

Meditation is a usefull tool for achieving a high level of inner awareness which is necessarry for someone seeking to understand the deeper aspects of their art.

 

I wish I made time to do it more often.

 

But I think if I was to start meditating in my dojo, my fellow students would think I was a bit of a nut. Which is pretty sad really. It shows how shallow many of our arts have become.

[Kara]

I don't think mediating should be for a long period of time, and yes especially in the dojo where training can be done. i like it for quick sesions to clear your mind and focus on training pre and post. it's kinda like studying i think, you relax and take in information to better yourself. well on the other hand, i shouldn't talk becuse i dont' do it enough myself.

[cathal]

The meditation isn't very long; though I personally wish 3-5 seconds can be too short a time period. Part of my personal training is in kikko, and I take it very seriously.

 

Aside from that, the meditation is a very good focusing technique.

[Karate-addict]

This has been discussed before, but what the heck! I tried meditating once, but kept falling asleep.

 

On a more serious note, I don't meditate, nor will I do so before, during or after a class. My reasons? As stated by others on here so far, they use it to get their mind ready for practice, to calm themselves..whatever, and that's fine. My problem with meditating to get your mind "ready to train" is that you will do in a real fight what you practice to do in the dojo.

 

In other words, if you are confronted by a thug on the street is he going to give you time to meditate and get in the proper frame of mind to be prepared to engage in combat with him? Of course not. But that's what you're teachign yoru body and mind to do by having to meditate before you practice. You're teaching your mind a habit, and yoru mind wil lget used to having to be able to have the time to focus before engaging in karate...and it will want to do that before a fight. Not a good idea IMHO.

 

What I tell my students is this. You need to leave your baggage outside the door of the dojo when you walk in here. Learn to focus on training. The girlfriend leaving you just before class will be there when you leave and you can deal with it then. Clear your mind now...and I mean RIGHT NOW, because in a fight you won't have the luxury of taking the time to do that when the fists come at you.

 

Personally, I'd say leave meditating for at home if you feel you need it, or after class is done....not before, and not during.

I see what you are getting at and I totaly agree (like every time I read your posts )

 

That is why when we do meditation in class (usually no longer than a minute or two before or after the lesson) as soon as we close our eyes we clear our minds like we would in a fight, so for us meditation is a way of training our minds for a potential street fight and at the same time it gets us ready for practice (if done before the class) that is just a bonus for me and defenetly not the primary thing.

 

So when confronted outside the dojo I would not need to meditate to get ready, I would turn on the switch in my head in a second (just like in meditation) and be ready.