MEDITATION AND THE MARTIAL ARTS

Why do some people who practice the martial arts also meditate? I can’t tell you why they do it, but I can tell you why I do. For me, meditation is an essential step in cultivating a mind and body that acts in unison. Only when your mind and body act together can you unleash your peak performance. Let me explain.

I was in great shape when I first started training in jujitsu. However, despite my cardio conditioning, I became gassed within minutes each time I entered the clench. Out of breath and sapped of energy, I quickly tapped. My instructors continually told me I was too tense. “Relax, relax,” they would say. Why was it so important that I learn to relax?

The answer is simple. When you enter a sparring or grappling match without relaxing, your adrenaline surges, your heart races, and breathing becomes erratic. This causes your muscles to become tense and deprives them of the oxygen they need to operate. Once that happens you get sloppy and make mistakes on the mat. Meditation teaches you to relax the body by stilling your thoughts and focusing your breathing. Making yourself relax and staying relaxed takes more effort than you think. Actually, it’s hard work. With practice, you can bring yourself into a relaxed state on command. Once you learn to relax in a state of quiet repose, you can bring yourself to relax while in engaged in physical activity.

So, the question is, do you have to meditate to learn how to relax your body? No, there are probably other ways. But meditation is the probably the easiest way. Mediation is to learning to relax like training wheels are to learning to ride a bicycle. There may be other ways, but none are as practical. The amount of time you spend in meditation depends on your goals. I strive for ten minutes when I wake up in the morning and ten minutes before I go to bed at night. Sometimes, I only get the evening ten. Consistency here is the main key. It’s probably more important to have a daily regiment of ten minutes, than doing twice a day every other day.

Let's Talk Elbows...

Muay Thai Kickboxing, is a hard style of martial art form originating from Thailand. This "Art of the Eight Limbs" incorporates the use of both hands, feet, elbows, and shins when attacking. This article focuses on muay thai elbow techniques.

There's basically three types of elbows you can throw. The football player elbow, Karate elbow, and Muay Thai elbow.

First, the football player elbow. These are the elbows you see thrown on the line of scrimmage after the ball's snapped. It's mainly designed to knock somebody down. It's basically a push with the forearm as a buffer. You don't do a lot of damage with it, but if you throw it hard enough you will get someone's attention.

The second elbow is the Karate elbow. Like the football elbow, the Karate elbow is thrown with the attacker's body weight behind it. This elbow is designed to smash through an opponent like a sledgehammer. The difference between these two is that you're definitely trying to hurt somebody with the Karate elbow, not just block or knock them down.

Lastly, and my favorite, is the Muay Thai elbow. The Muay Thai elbow is a nasty move designed to cut your opponent. Elbows are for close quarter combat. That means you have to step in close - you're definitely aiming for the face with this one. The Muay Thai elbow, when executed properly, draws so much blood because the sharp bone of the attacker's elbow is what makes contact with the opponent's face. The effect is akin to a cut from a knife blade.

There are a few things to remember when delivering elbows. First, as mentioned earlier, you have to be close. Keep in mind, when you step in to deliver an elbow, you run the risk of receiving one yourself. Make sure you keep your guard up with my inner forearm running in a direction parallel to your nose and torso. Some people like to keep a boxer's guard with the opposing open hand or fist resting close to or on the cheek or temple. That's fine, but I think someone with proper technique can blast an elbow through that type of guard and inflict some damage. Anchoring the palm of the opposing hand guards against this. In my opinion, it's the best way to protect against a counter-elbow strike.

Second, when training on the heavy bag, make sure you deliver your elbows strikes using solid blows to the bag. Don't scrape or drag your elbow against the bag - you'll just tear the skin off your elbow and make yourself sore. You won't hurt the bag and you won't look cool. Just don't do it.

Muay Thai elbows gives the practitioner and added advantage to the elbows found in other martial art styles. When executed properly, these elbows will devastate your opponent and end the fight quickly.

THE ZONE & NO-MINDEDNESS

The Zone and No-Mindedness are related concepts and essential in experiencing Zen in the Martial Arts. As discussed earlier, the Zone is that realm we enter into where action is automatic, instinctive. It's the place where the mind is clear and we perform at our highest levels.

The traditional term for The Zone is Wu-shin, or "no-mindedness." Before we can talk about what it is, let's first talk about what it is not. No-mindedness is not mindlessness. It's not a thoughtless mind or blank mind void thoughts or emotion. It's not just a quiet mind either. So then, what is it?

In essence, the no-mind is a state where the mind operates freely without the interference of the separate thinker. In other words, the mind functions in a state of wholeness without you distracting it with your thoughts, feelings, or emotions. For example, you're driving down the road thinking of nothing in particular. You turn into a neighborhood. You notice the trees dotting the subdivision and the cars parked along the edge of the street. You absorb the scene as a whole without thought or impression. You make no judgment about what you see. You simply drive.

Suddenly, a child runs out into the street chasing the ball. There's no time to stop or think. The action must be immediate. Without thought, your adrenaline surges. You instinctively take your foot off the gas and slam on the break. How did that happen? You didn't stop to think about it or even tell yourself what to do. Your mind simply took you (the separate thinker) out of the equation and took action freely without permission.

In this situation, the mind took the correct action because it was free to observe the environment in total without becoming bogged down on a fixated point. The no-mind is like a river flowing down its natural course, never becoming stagnated. Or, the no-mind is like a mirror - it never grabs on to anything or keeps anything, but receives every image placed before it. Make sense? Think of watching a football game. You don't concentrate solely on the player with the ball. You watch the field as a whole - aware of the total movement. In like manner, the no-mind observes the whole. It does not anchor itself to a fixed point or thought. In doing so it is moves unencumbered. It takes action freely.

So, how do we cultivate the No-mind? And what is the relationship between the No-mind and the martial arts? We'll address those items in the next post.

THE MARTIAL ARTS AND SELF-EXPRESSION. What does it mean to "express yourself?"

If you want to accelerate your personal growth and development in training, it is absolutely essential that you understand what it means to "express yourself" through the martial arts as soon as possible.

In the Western world, we think of self-expression as simply a "statement" or particular point someone makes about what they think or feel. We say an artist expresses themselves through a painting or song. Or, some may express themselves through the clothes they wear, tattoos, or other adornment. In effect, we find people express themselves by performing certain acts or behaviors in order to stand out from the rest of society. Self-expression in this context has nothing to do with expressing yourself in the martial arts.

Self-expression in the martial arts occurs when your technique comes automatically without thought, without pretense. It is the point where mind and body have come together to affect one action - one motion. For most people, this occurs after years of hard work and countless hours of drills and repetition. This type of expression goes beyond simple muscle memory. It's what others in the sports world call being "in the zone." When you're in the zone, there is no thought process involved in your performance. The action comes automatically with flawless perfection. We can all remember a time in our lives when we secured the victory or did something spectacular while in the zone - that moment when time stopped, all internal dialogue ceased for that split second when we made our winning move. For most of us, we fell into it by accident. We remember what it felt like, but have no idea how to we did it or how to repeat it.

This is what the martial arts attempts to teach us. In learning to express ourselves in the martial arts we discover how perform in the zone upon command. The Bruce Lee interview I have posted below addresses this topic in greater detail. It's well worth your time to watch repeatedly.

Imagine what could happen if you, having learned to enter the into the zone upon command for purposes of training or competition, expanded the concept to other areas of your life. What impact could living in the zone make in your business decisions? Life decisions? Your relationships?