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Kung Fu and meditation

Meditation, like Kung Fu, is not something that can be performed easily by anyone but it is a fundamental step to gain the best results:

In combat
In daily life
In Self-defense
…

Note – This article has been asked by one of our Core Course practitioners on Patreon (see how to attend our home study classes here Learn Kung Fu online: a beginner-to-expert course).

The mind of those who are oriented towards a too hectic way of life (typically western) will have a hard time to:

Stay still and do not do anything
Stay totally silent (internally and externally)
Forget everything (problems, daily life, etc.)
Check and feel the real state of body and mind
Recognize and release all the tensions (especially the ones that we do not know to suffer)
Empty the mind (to truly focus on nothing is hard for everyone)
…

Practicing Kung Fu, one of the most common temptation (often favored by poor level instructors, read Recognize a good / bad master: 5 characteristics) is to think to train without “wasting” time meditating:

It is absolutely wrong, it means to try to pursue the Yin without the Yang
It means to lose 50% of the combat effectiveness (read Become the absolute zero)
It means to lose 75% of the self-defense skills (read /// Subscribe (it's free!) or Login to see this content ///)
It means to do not develop a strong mind, damaging the quality of our training (read Having discipline: do not contradict ourselves)
…

A note by Master Kongling – Let’s be clear, this refusal is more than normal (the biggest part of martial arts practitioners is not able to meditate) but we must resist and make this step toward a higher level of preparation; this practice, as well as being vital for achieving a certain level of results, is incredibly beneficial (both for the psyche both for the body).

How to start with meditation

To help beginners here we have a first simple approach to meditation in 6 Dragons Kung Fu:

Let’s find a suitable environment (and time) where no one will bother us
Let’s turn off all of our electronic devices (let’s take a time only for us)
The complete silence is not fundamental, the important thing is to have no distractions
Let’s get on our knees or (better) cross-legged with a pillow behind our back (to maintain it straight without being distracted by the initially involved effort)
Let’s choose a convenient position, if we feel discomfort we will not able to concentrate
Let’s put a background of oriental meditation music (we can find it online and for free, let’s try to search something like “zen meditation”, let’s avoid the tracks with spoken words)
Let’s close our eyes, gently
Let’s try to relax every muscle in our body, one by one (initially it is not easy)
Let’s breathe naturally but more slowly, without tiring us (no too deep breaths)
Let’s inhale through our nose and exhale through our mouth
Let’s imagine to practice Kung Fu solitarily, effectively, peacefully, with harmony and determination
We do not have to go beyond our ability, 5 minutes are fine to begin (let’s practice every day)
Let’s choose the right moments (waking up in the morning, going to sleep in the evening, after lunch, etc.)

Final notes

A few tips and ideas:

If this is our first approach to meditation, let’s do not try while we are nervous or when we have no time to dedicate (it is extremely counterproductive)
This is only an introductory method, we are “violating” some basic rules to make it as much simple as possible
Meditation will help us to think and to relax in any situation but only after a few months of practice
Meditation has to be a pleasure, a moment for us, if it becomes a forced practice, the beneficial effects will never come
…

In the next article of this series, we will see the second meditation method of 6 Dragons Kung Fu (read Meditation method 2, let’s do not move to the next method until we are not accustomed to this one; there is nothing less intelligent to try to speed up a mental relaxation project).

In-depth articles

Breathing for immediate relaxation – The way to use meditation to obtain immediate relaxation in critical moments
Concentration and abstraction in combat – The correlation between mental abstraction and combat

Questions

Reply in the comments and share your experience:

What are the biggest difficulties that you face starting meditation?

Author: Master Kongling

Founder of 6 Dragons Kung Fu.

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