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Aikijutsu Academy of Indianapolis Senso-Ryu Hombu Dojo |
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Outside Meditation Area
Zen
Meditation & The Martial Arts
You
can study a martial art for years and be the best in your dojo, but when
that day comes when you actually have to defend yourself in real life, you
cannot. Fear over comes you, you make mistakes, your heart is pounding,
you are sweating, and none of your techniques seem to work. Why? It's
quite simple. In the dojo, while you practice, you know it is not real.
Outside of the dojo, when your life is threatened, now it is real! What
can you do?
One
way is to practice in the most authentic fashion you can. Keeping in mind
that the dojo is a controlled environment, training must be as realistic
as possible. Attacks must be full contact and intended to strike through
target, not stop an inch before it. Hard physical contact must be made at
all times between students. Defense against surprise multiple attacks must
be practiced repeatedly to be sufficiently engrained in muscle memory.
Now, despite all of this hardcore physical training, there will still be
something missing.
The
most effective way is through Zen meditation. Zen meditation has been
taught in conjunction with the martial arts since the days of feudal
A
major problem confronting martial arts today is that many instructors
instill false confidence in their students, having them believe that they
can actually defend themselves in life threatening situations without
realistic physical / internal training. What is worse is that a lot of
these instructors do not believe that an internal training is even
necessary because they themselves have never been in such a situation.
They believe that they can simply “turn it on” so to speak when it
"hits the fan". It unfortunately doesn’t work like this.
The
physiological effects of violence and fear
When
we are quickly agitated or perceive sudden danger a chemical change occurs
in our brains. This causes our heart rate to rapidly increase. When this
happens, you may perceive your surroundings in a “tunnel vision”. Some
will say that their hearts went into their throat, everything became
blurry, everything happened so fast, etc. They will begin to shake and have
a slight hearing loss due to an adrenaline dump. This has happened to
everyone at one time or another. This feeling can be very slight or very
pronounced but enough to throw all of your techniques off by a hair. You
will miss your target or be late to block an oncoming attack.
Through
the daily practice of Zen meditation, your normal heart rate will lower.
Your pattern of breathing will actually change. With daily meditation, you
will begin to breathe from your lower abdomen or hara (Jap.) in long deep
breaths. This is the way that babies breathe or a person who is sleeping.
This is why people who practice daily meditation are more centered,
calmer. At the moment of danger your heart rate will still rise, but only
slightly, keeping you much calmer to deal with whatever situation has just
occurred and allowing any techniques that you have learned to "come
out". This
will also keep your mind focused, so that it is not running all over the
place in fear. This is why Zen was so important to the Samurai while in
battle. Without Zen meditation training, the Samurai would be worrying
about getting killed instead of killing the enemy. This of course would
result in their death. Moral opinion aside, Zen served the Samurai's
purpose.
The
True Art of Peace
On
a more altruistic note, Zen meditation can also give the defender the
option of not killing or even hurting the attacker. Since the defender is
in control of his own mind, he is not just allowing chaos to determine the
outcome of the altercation.
Many
martial arts profess that they are peaceful, non-violent arts. This
is a noble sentiment. But without the internal training, it cannot
realistically be achieved.
©Copyright 1992-2008
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