meditating?!?

Question

i heard meditating is helpful for reaction times and awareness in martial arts. id like to try it but how do you do it and should i take a class or something(if they exist?!)
please help

p.s im not into 'theatre crap' as you call it. i take martial arts seriously and have trained hard to be where i am today. just asking adivce from people who know better in this certain area than me

Answer 1

As a practicing buddhist and a long-time martial artist, I would steadfastly reccomend the meditation. Meditation does not change your physical body but changes your mental makeup. Meditating is not "escaping from the world" like many believe, nor is it a "cooldown" although people use it for both of those things. Meditation really is a very active thing.

What happens when you meditate a lot is pretty simple. Your ability to focus and your awareness of the position of your body and how you fit in your movements increases.

Sit straight up, it helps to have a cushion under you. Close your eyes most of the way, some people do it all the way. Breathe in and out calmly and slowly through your nose and either try to empty your mind of the chaff without FORCING yourself, simply letting it empty, even as new thoughts enter, or try to focus on one thing, like your breathing. There are classes, but the practice is simple.

A buddhist teacher once said to me, "Don't let any one school or teacher tell you to do things one way. This defeats the purpose of the meditation because it distracts from the meditation." Her advice is the best I have ever received on that subject.

Focus yourself on emptiness or something, keep it up.

The same teacher once said to me, "Sit to your limit, plus one minute." By this she means to sit just a little longer than is comfortable, so you can extend your meditation time.

I am thrilled to hear you are interested. Please do not base all martial arts experiences off of the comments of people who do not have the patience to get into their training in the fullest degreee. You WILL be better for the meditation. Take it from someone who has succeeded with that instead of people who have failed or not even tried.

Answer 2

I am a bit dissapointed in the reaction from other people you are getting from this question.

I do believe that you will gain a lot from meditation. However meditation in and of itself will not improve reaction time, but the combined efforts of meditation and training will yield results. Meditation trains the mind to focus on what is at hand. Be it relaxation, breathing, sleep, a technique or what have you. Thus training with a sharper mind, in focus to your training, you will improve. Awareness in Martial Arts is greatly improved with meditation. Running through senarios and forms in the mind prepare you for possible courses of action. Awareness of possible flaws in your own movements. Many things can be achieved by meditating. I cannot guide you online on how to meditate. Like many other things it is highly and individual thing. Focus on what is at hand and only that. Block out all other things. Do that successfuly and you will be able to improve. Keep up your spirits and don't let others tell you that you can't. Good Luck.

Answer 3

Meditation can improve your reaction time by allowing your mind to focus on the attack and not be distracted by other things. No, it won't make time slow down or allow you to see a hummingbird wings flapping. While it can improve your reaction TIME, it doesn't substitute for TECHNIQUE. Yes, you will still need to practice the techniques (but I'm sure I don't need to remind you of that).

I'm not aware of any specific classes on meditation. The basics are pretty simple though. Find a quiet place and sit with your eyes closed. Breath in through the nose and out through the mouth. Clearing your mind doesn't really work. What you should do is concentrate on what it is you are about to do. If you are about to spar, think about your techniques. Try one specific technique. Repeat it over and over in your mind. The idea is that you block out all the other distractions and only see the task at hand. Just like any other form of training, don't expect this to work overnight. It takes time. It also takes dedication.

Good luck!

Answer 4

I'm a black belt in Karate and in the system I was at we meditated every day before and after class. I didnt really feel that it was helping my focus, speed, or awareness. The only thing meditating really did was become a nice cool down at the end of a hard class. But the way that we did meditate was-
You sit in indian style (legs crossed or w/e) and then you close you eyes and breath in thorugh your nose and out through your mouth. And your suppossed to meditate and think about and idea... like tenacity, speed, or agility.

Answer 5

I meditate at the same time as i favor to relax or imagine issues over. i do not imagine that is non secular in spite of the undeniable fact that many faiths do it, in spite of the undeniable fact that some do not realize that they are. i exploit my personal visualizations besides as those I discovered from books and the "witchschool" website. As for web pages, i'm particular there are a range of accessible, yet i don't recognize any off hand. the in effortless words element that could keep me from meditations may be from kin, buddies or the phone interrupting me.

Answer 6

i dont see it raisin ur reaction time... but if u do it enough youll be more relaxed all the time and ull be in the here/now.... witch will have you down on the ground pickin up a paper b4 it hits :D.. ne ways why take a class on it.... hold on ill give u sum websites... oh an "the zen way to martial arts" is a good book... ill just give u the web sites cas thats less work 4 meh and a better understandin 4 u

http://www.sumikiri.org/ki/kimainframe.htm
http://www.eclecticenergies.com/chakras/open.php (take the test first)
http://www.angelfire.com/electronic/bodhidharma/zazen.html
http://www.stenudd.com/aikido/ki-exercises.htm

there ya go... ne ways yea long controled breaths good pressure let the thoughts pass eyes half open.. all that good stuff and its in through nose and out mouth and yea yupchagee is right all the way through his answer.. and there r ppl like "i can teach you to control fire with your ki".. like this sitehttp://members.fortunecity.com/kisociety/undergroundsociety/id5.html
ye athere r lots of sites like that that have tutorials for like kameahawave and a ki sword and crap like that...... but ey i guess its possible.... hehe...

Answer 7

Meditating helps you focus on what you need to be doing & block out everything else. Technically, what you improve is not your reaction time but your perception time. Better focus enables you to recognise what is happening more quickly. Off hand, I don't know any books to reccommend, your instructor should be able to guide you. There are meditation classes, but I think that there are a lot of quacks in that business.

Answer 8

i am indian and practice medation more than 10 yrs have in depth knowledge in this field but everything can,t be discuss here u can contact me through my e mail because medation is not just a exercise as many will ltold u it is sacred and spritual activity to reach to god but i can tell u few useful points which is healpfull 4 every one ,meditation is a ancient art develop by indian saints ,it improves a persons skill ,it relax ur mind and body as well as ur soul. all power are stored in our mind so by practice yoga or mediation we improve our soul power . but deep will not help u in reaction times because reaction time is mainly depend upon the reflex or fastness of ur eye movements . 15 minutes meditation daily will help u in ur case. how u can do it. 1. u need one small size cloth sat on it fold ur legs as padhamasan 2. close ur eyes 3. relax , straight ur back but do not try to hard 3. if ur are indian, chant gayatri mantra without pronouncing it means chant should be come through ur mind,if ur christan then chant any one line holy sentence by repeating u will learn medation 4. in ur earlier days u will feel uncomfort but afte few days it will become easy

Answer 9

You wanna increase you reaction time? Wrist and Ankle weights. Sprint exercises. Shuttle runs.

With weights on your arms and/or legs (careful not to much, even alittle too much can cause strains and sprains) have someone spar with you.

Meditation may be calming, but other than that it's magical chi BS. Don't pay someone to teach you that. You breath in slowly through your mouth and exhale slowly through your nose. Close your eyes, picture a peaceful scene in your head. Paint positive thinks in your mental picture.

Answer 10

Meditating is helpful. I think you should take a class so that you can get a hang of it. After that you can start meditating on your own. Or go buy DVDs on meditation.