The Mind and Martial Arts: Meditation, Mindfulness

by | Mar 2, 2015

Martial arts can help us bring focus in our minds and clear a path for productive thinking. A long time ago, I was working in a small, busy engineering sales office. The phone would ring all day every day. My job was pricing and quoting new projects. I remember working long hours and how my mind would hurt at the end of the day.

I had also just started to learn meditation and mindfulness for martial arts. One weekend, I went to the grand opening of Barn Dojo run by my teachers, Stephen and Rumiko Hayes, in southern Ohio. I took a long weekend for the trip. Stephen Hayes started our training with some basic movement drills as well as drills that required our minds to stay on track. It was very hard to stay on track– my mind kept going back to my sale numbers from that past week.

It turned out everyone was having the same problem. Stephen stopped the class and had us work on some basic meditation and self awareness exercises. The remainder of the weekend was more productive and fun because of these methods. 

Boston Martial Arts Center