Do you perform Mokuso?

[Zaine]

At my first school I thought it wAs strange at first. I was having a hard time keeping me eyes closed, waiting for the hokey thing to be over

That's the usual reaction. For most, we get into MA because we want to learn the physical side of it for various personal reasons so when we come across something like Mokuso we find it a little abstract and odd. Then, however, we learn that MA (at least traditional MA) is so much more than the physical and we warm up to it a lot more.

It creates (for me) the continuity between sessions. It's sort of like the training light was switched off until that moment, then work, school, stress vanishes and you are ready

I like that way that it impacts you, that is pretty cool.

[Canadian77]

We do this at the beginning of each class, and I always use that short time to picture all my stress as a big cloud floated out the dojo door. My mind is 100% on karate after that until after class. It sounds silly, but as a Mom of little kids my life is full of little stresses, and this really seems to help me.

[Spartacus Maximus]

I find it frustrating that there are still karate people out there who think mokuso has anything to do with religious or spiritual practices. Mokuso is not a ritual. It is part of training and an exercise in focus and awareness. Both are essential for quick response to an imminent threat.

If you are less than 100 percent aware of your surroundings and ready to move when you are doing mokuso, then you are doing it wrong and without purpose. This is my okinawan sensei explanation and to emphasize his point he will randomly test us in mokuso by suddenly grabbing our neck and pulling forward. Woe be he who does not immedialty break away and counter. In karate everything has a defense /counter application. Even if it does not appear that way. People who think it is religious/spiritual ascribe it that meaning because they are ignorant or were taught without explanation of the true purpose.