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Thread: Martial Arts Practice as a path to Mindfulness

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    Default Martial Arts Practice as a path to Mindfulness

    Recently, there have been several articles in the popular press, including in The Economist, about the rising popularity of "mindfulness training". I pulled together some of these citations into a short article about martial arts training for mindfulness, stress relief and for enhanced creativity, with interesting tidbits about Apple (Steve Jobs) and others. While the academic research had been predominantly focused on yoga, I believe that Karate, Tai-Chi, Qi-gong, and other martial arts training conveys similar benefits.
    Your thoughts?
    Brian

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    Interesting

    A buddy of mine once quipped that he had be training for almost 20 years--and since he got into shape and stopped hanging out with sketchy people in dodgy bars he had not been in a punch up in almost the same length of time.

    So all the "other" claimed benefits of training, stress reduction, focus, concentration, discipline,exercise, etc. turned out to be far more important and "useful" than all the "bang and crash"---the "tough guy" stuff he had started training to be able to do.

    I, personally, think that most arts lead to the same general place--if you training long enough.

    Just an opinion however.
    Chris Thomas

    "While people are entitled to their illusions, they are not entitled to a limitless enjoyment of them and they are not entitled to impose them upon others."

    "Team Cynicism" MVP 2005-2006
    Currently on "Injured/Reserve" list due to a scathing Sarcasm pile-up.

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    Quote Originally Posted by FullPotentialMA View Post
    Recently, there have been several articles in the popular press, including in The Economist, about the rising popularity of "mindfulness training". ...While the academic research had been predominantly focused on yoga, I believe that Karate, Tai-Chi, Qi-gong, and other martial arts training conveys similar benefits. Your thoughts?
    I have long felt that developing mindfulness was one of the primary benefits of MA practice.

    Quote Originally Posted by cxt View Post
    I, personally, think that most arts lead to the same general place--if you training long enough.
    I agree. There are many paths to the top of the mountain, as the saying goes; from the bottom they look quite different, but from the top the view is the same.
    Yours in Budo,
    ---Brian---

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    Mindfulness and awareness are the main focus of the martial art I Liq Chuan, whose slogan is "The Martial Art of Awareness."

    http://iliqchuan.com/content/introduction

    The training methods are meant heighten situational awareness, self/body awareness, and awareness of the opponent's intent.
    Cady Goldfield

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    Hi Larry,

    In our Aikido dojo we also practice mindfulness and awareness, otherwise you may get slapped in the face or get a strong tsuki

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    My personal take is that this mindfulness type training is a poor substitute for authentic meditative training. Here's a link that discusses the phenomenon:

    http://hardcorezen.info/mbsr-article/2396

    The issues I see are directly applicable to traditional martial arts, yoga and lots of Asian traditions: People don't want to go through the hassle of committing to training in an authentic tradition: It's long, you don't get results fast enough, it's boring, you have to face up to unpleasant parts of oneself, it's bad for one's self-centered image.etc. It's all part of the "what's in it for me?" attitude that pervades our culture. So people shop around here and there, attend a few seminars and pick up a few things and try to run with it, but it ultimately proves detrimental to themselves and their students (if they have any). I believe traditional Asian martial arts can be excellent compliments to mediation and vice versa, but you need to find a lineage teacher and do it properly. This isn't perfect, of course, and you need to use your common sense and discretion, but long term, it's the best way to go.

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