Meditation/Mentality/Energy Levels

[Johnny Drama]

I wanted to make a topic on meditation and the mentality one should have while they train/fight. Basically, how it effects energy levels during sparring. Here is my situation now, what I'm doing, and what I'm noticing.

I train Gi Brazilian Jiu Jitsu mostly. I have a heavy background in internal martial arts, mainly Tai Chi and Hsing I. The guys I train with now, for the most part are complete animals who train every day. I basically train the same amount. I am in pretty good athletic shape. I eat well, I sleep well. I don't do drugs. I don't drink. I don't stay out at clubs. I take supplements (creatine, multivitamins, protein). My lifestyle permits me to rest before training most of the time, and I show up well rested usually. The only thing I do that could be a negative is I have lots of sex. But, you only live once and high school sucked for me so I'm making up for lost time. Anyway, moving on.

Despite sparring nearly every day and getting tons of rest, I noticed I would gas out quicker then most of my peers. I tried running on a treadmill and adding in conditioning on my own to help with the training. It definitely had a positive effect, but not a large gain. I'd say this training was about two weeks time before I stopped doing it do to a heavy grind.

I have a really chatty mind. I think a lot. Some thoughts are positive, others are negative. I do expend a ton of mental energy. I also sit at the computer for long periods of time which leave me feeling exhausted. Before I get ahead of myself though, let me get back on tangent.

I thought about having a chatty mind. I realized that regardless of the type of thought, highly positive or highly negative, it did not matter. Sometimes I would feel invincible before class and have all sorts of confident thoughts running through my head, but when the time to train hit, I would spar and become afraid. Even if I didn't becoem afraid, I still gassed quite a bit. I was investing a heap of energy just thinking before and during training. I tried to cut down on thinking. I started meditating.

Basically, my meditation was this. I'd go up on my apartments roof, in the hot sun, wearing little clothing. I'd close my eyes, breath though my nose, sit cross legged. For the most part my breath was deep and controlled, although sometimes I did the yoga fire breathing method that some of you might have seen Rickson Gracie do. I tried to let go of all thoughts. No matter what it was, I considered it a distraction and just tried to still my mind and see what I was really thinking/feeling. I concentrated on my breath, the sensations of the air against my body. I would do this for about 15-30 minutes per session. 1-3 sessions per day, some of them would be inside though.

I would also do Zhan Zhuang meditation as well as basic Tai Chi. I found this worked best after the sitting meditation. I would do Zhan Zhuang mostly with my eyes opened, and tai chi was always with open eyes. I found this worked as a type of "bridge" in comeing back to the real world while keeping the mental state I had gotten in meditating. Again, all thoughts and visulization were tossed out. Regardless if they had me as a superman. I threw them away. I was just trying to "be".

I found that I had greatly increased energy levels. I also had increased clarity of thought and confidence under high stress situations. I found myself waking up far earlier too. I specifically picked training partners with endless endurance to practice against, and found I could match or exceed their energy. I noticed these guys were basically young, carefree guys who didn't seem to think much, if at all. They possessed tremendous energy.

Obviously, there is more to it then "Don't think and you'll have more endurance".

When I got cocky and stopped training the meditation, or started thinking about how good I did last session, I gassed out and found myself tapping from exhaustion again.

Has anyone found similar results? Can anyone offer specific advice regarding meditation, sparring, and/or mentality to have during training? Any and all comments are appreciated.

Also, I'm going to try and spend much less time on the pc. Ironic that I'm writing it in this post, but I feel its a huge sap on my energy.

[DeusTrismegistus]

You are definitely on the right track. When I meditated regularly I had much the same experience.

In a very general sense thought can cause tension. Or more accurately I would say it masks tension. If you are constantly thinking you are not feeling, if you aren't feeling then you won't notice when you are tense. In the last couple weeks I have noticed that I have a huge amount of "residual tension" for lack of a better word. So I noticed I was bruising which is what tipped me off. I never used to bruise, at all. I literally went for every bit of 7 years without more than maybe 2 or 3 faint bruises. I did something very mundane last week that left a huge nasty bruise on my arm and that clued me in taht I had gotten much more tense lately without realizing it. I have been much busier at work lately and under more stress than I have ever been in my life. So last few days I have tried to be constantly aware of tension in my body and when I notice tension to relax and let that go. My friends already say I am in a much better mood than I was a couple weeks ago. So by meditating you are making yourself aware of tension and letting it leave the body which uses less energy, and then this also decreases unecessary tension while sparring or rolling.

As far as specific mindset I have always thought I fight better when I am not thinking. You hit the nail on the head when you say just "be". The mindset during meditation and fighting for me should be identical.

My only advice to you would be to be very aware of your posture and alignment while sitting and doing standing. If you are aligned properly everything should hang off the frame, if you are not aligned properly you can cause tension.

[Josealb]

Johnny, have you seen the movie Peaceful Warrior? It should give you some great ideas, considering your chatty mind, and give you some insight on what the whole "not thinking" issue.

[Johnny Drama]

DeusTrismegistus, thank you for the reply and pointers. I appreciate them and will think about what you said.

Josealb, thank you for the recommendation. I'll rent it tonight.

[JessOBrien]

Wassup Johnny!

I have benefitted a lot from meditation type stuff crossed with martial arts.

One thing that Tim Cartmell told me that stuck with me was that doing a long Tai Chi form wasn't supposed to mimic a fight or whatever. It is to train your mind to stay awake, alive and in the moment for as long as possible. If one could do a long Tai Chi form without losing focus or drifting off mentally, imagine how one could apply that within a moment of time during a sparring match! I believe this is one of they keys to why IMA does what it does-- Xing Yi's san ti and Ba Gua's circle walking.

If I do those things with my mind chattering and blazing away, I don't get much out of it. But by striving to just "be me" and let the thoughts drift by, I find myself in a much more relaxed and alert state. That helps me in sparring a lot.

I think it might also be part of the solution to avoiding Freight Train attacks. When someone is barrelling in on me with a barrage of heavy strikes, my only hope is to react faster and more efficiently. No specific technique will work unless my intuitive timing and proprioceptive awareness is stronger than my opponents. And even then it doesn't always work!

Just a few thoughts.

-Jess O

[qiphlow]

good topic.
seated/standing meditation has helped me to be more relaxed mentally, and consequently more relaxed physically (body states and mind states often mirror one another), which means that i expend less energy when doing push hands/sparring than when i first started doing IMA. i'd say that meditation and IMA definitely go well together, but of course YMMV. as far as the chatty mind thing goes, i like to use the observing technique when i sit: just watch your thoughts as if they were a movie or a tv program. trying to stop thoughts only gives energy to the process that creates them in the first place. so the idea is that by not feeding the process, thoughts arise with less frequency and eventually will stop on their own. also you learn to not attach to the thoughts so much and you learn not to identify with them so much.
there are a million and one meditation techniques. the best one is the one that gets you the results you want!

[Johnny Drama]

Jess, thank you for sharing that. I'm going to focus more on my Tai Chi/Hsing I practice. I gave up the five elements and basic forms when I began intensely studying BJJ. I think its time I bring them back.

qiphlow, thank you. Good stuff.

[Johnny Drama]

Johnny, have you seen the movie Peaceful Warrior? It should give you some great ideas, considering your chatty mind, and give you some insight on what the whole "not thinking" issue.

I watched it. It was really good. Thank you. It gets me in the right mindset.

[everything]

Johnny, I have a similar background. Mainly taiji from an early age. Currently training mainly bjj. Have noticed the same things about zhan zhuang and energy. One thing I'm trying to experiment with is "zhan zhuang" on the ground. Have you tried that? My instructor put us in mount and told us to relax - I doubt most people in class really relaxed. Do you notice you are tense when rolling?

[DeusTrismegistus]

Johnny, I have a similar background. Mainly taiji from an early age. Currently training mainly bjj. Have noticed the same things about zhan zhuang and energy. One thing I'm trying to experiment with is "zhan zhuang" on the ground. Have you tried that? My instructor put us in mount and told us to relax - I doubt most people in class really relaxed. Do you notice you are tense when rolling?

Do corpse pose from Yoga. Or Yoga in general, lots of positions on the ground to relax in.

[Darth Rock&Roll]

May I suggest you read this:
http://www.amazon.com/Posture-Meditatio ... 1570622329

I got this book as a gift from my sifu some years ago and it has some nice little keys in it that will enhance your meditation practice.

looking within is where you will find your answers.

[Eisenhans]

I found that relaxation while sparring goes a long, long way. I mean, why do hours of conditioning if you just can stay relaxed to get endurance?

Yeah, I'm lazy as shit

[Johnny Drama]

Do you notice you are tense when rolling?

There is definitely some tension, especially when rolling with people of a higher skill level. I notice its not their pace which tires me, its something else. I'm getting better at weight distribution and letting that pin my opponent down rather then tight grips. I am fairly relaxed in bad positions I think. I really don't want to hang out in them though, especially in gi training. So, I am trying to escape constantly.

Do corpse pose from Yoga. Or Yoga in general, lots of positions on the ground to relax in.

Thank you, I will.

May I suggest you read this:

That looks excellent, thank you. I'll pick it up asap.

I trained last night. I woke up feeling sick, and didn't think I'd go in. I planned on a light day/night at home. I ended up going out in the afternoon, then training for two hours, then going out some more after. I still had mental chatter while I practiced, but tried just to observe it and not add to it. I felt it helped, its a gradual process. The big victory was actually going to practice when I felt I couldn't.

[DeusTrismegistus]

May I suggest something to try that requires a partner.

Have your partner put you in a very uncomfortable position, then just try to relax in that position. Let go of tension and pain and just try to feel what is happening and observe. Then move to another position and repeat.

[Darthwing Teorist]

May I suggest something to try that requires a partner.

Have your partner put you in a very uncomfortable position, then just try to relax in that position. Let go of tension and pain and just try to feel what is happening and observe. Then move to another position and repeat.

Good suggestion.