Meditation

Overview

In This Section... Meditation Overview Breathing Practice Lectures

What karate does for your body, meditation does for your mind. Just as practicing karate will strengthen and discipline your body, practicing meditation will strengthen and discipline your mind. And just as a strong body without an equally strong mind is limited, karate is incomplete without meditation. When we have a well-developed body and a clear mind working as one, our actions flow honestly, powerfully, and appropriately. Such harmony can be achieved only through karate and meditation. Meditation is not religious. It is not mystical or worshipful or cultist. As practiced in Seido Karate, Meditation is free of religion, nation, or organization. Meditation, in fact, involves only yourself.

The idea behind Seido meditation is simple: in order to get the most out of your life, you must first clear your mind. To clear the mind we practice seated meditation, during which we sit and concentrate only on our breathing, to the exclusion of everything else. All we are doing is sitting and breathing-but we are doing it with our full selves.

Although it seems automatic, breathing is not controlled by the involuntary nervous system. You can control your breath or even try to stop breathing. But, after a minute or two, your body will take over and start breathing for you. In this way, the breath is the place where the mind and body meet. Thus, it seems natural that meditation should focus on the breath.

You may have noticed how in times of anger or fear your breath becomes quick and shallow. In turn, your tense and rapid breathing seems to increase your anxiety. In such a situation, what wouldn't you give for slow, calm, controlled breathing that would enable you to act more effectively?

Each time we meditate, we work on our breath. We concentrate on the breath, often counting our breaths to keep focused. We pay attention to where our breathing originates and try to make it as deep and full as possible. We monitor the frequency of our breath, letting it naturally slow down and freeing it from the constant goading of our anxieties. When we can control our breath, we can control our minds.

We take it for granted that we should clean our bodies daily, scrubbing this and grooming that. We should also clean our minds regularly, letting go of what we don't need and allowing meaningful things to rise to the surface.

As we clear our minds, we can better realize the potential of our bodies. Having developed inner strength, we can exhibit our outer strength. Keeping mind and body in balance, we can learn to grow and to keep growing.