meditation and sanchin

IJ · Post by IJ » Wed Oct 15, 2003 3:08 am

Outpatient medicine lecture today was on meditation. Key points made (speaker has been doing research on the matter since the mid 60s):

--60-80% of office visits concern complaints poorly controlled with "traditional" medicine
--frequently involve pain, stress, anxiety, depression, exaggeration of minor complaints etc
--meditation reduces heart rate, blood pressure, response to pain, anxiety, stress and improves well being
--every culture he'd looked in from 800 BC to current had some variant with two key meditation components: a focus on breathing, and some repeated element, usually a word or phrase, often with religious significance, to the exclusion of other thoughts.

Sounds a heck of a lot like sanchin to me. I asked about active meditation and he said he's seen the "relaxation effect" in people in noisy environments, in uncomfortable positions, or while running. We also did meditation for 10 minutes, and it was fairly cool. Find somewhere calm, sit still, inhale and exhale, and say something over and over on the exhale. When you start to think of other things, just come back to your word. Newbies and experts, experiences are welcome.

2Green · Post by **2Green** » Wed Oct 15, 2003 4:14 am

Lots of people are freaked out to discover that they actually have thoughts, and cannot tolerate the silent "alone-ness" with them.
They need a constant hubub around them to block out their own mind.

Check out "Zen in the Martial Arts" by Joe Hyams.
It's a very small book, but large in content regarding this subject. Most amazing is the chapter where he contracts a rare malaria-like disease and credits his Zen breathing with saving his life.

I have never experienced the mental aspects of Sanchin meditation, but I have experienced the awareness of my mind throughout my body, instead of lodged in the cranium where it usually is. This is a really cool sensation but I wouldn't call it meditation.
Now I'm used to it so it isn't novel anymore, but it was quite amazing at first!

Karate so far has been full of these neat surprises.
I think one of the reasons I continue is purely selfish: just to see what's around the next corner.

Hope you enjoy that title I suggested, it's worthwhile.

NM

M. Keller · Post by **M. Keller** » Wed Oct 15, 2003 5:05 pm

We had a meditation seminar before we started A&P. They claimed that 10 minutes a day could make us significantly more efficient. I think it's helping me a bit, particularly during high volume work periods.

Our guy focused on the breath, and had us recognize distractions (noise, pain, stress, anticipation) and file them away. I asked him if he ever focuses on other things, but he claimed that the breath is always in the present, and therefore ideal.

Interesting stuff....

Mike

Mike

Bill Glasheen · Post by **Bill Glasheen** » Wed Oct 15, 2003 5:33 pm

Interesting...

There has been so much hoopla over the "inbetween technique" breathing many Uechika do in sanchin. However what you are discribing, Ian, is a beneficial aspect of ANY breathing method done in conjunction with a repetitive task. This is a point lost on many of the power breathers; another case of mistaking the moon for the finger pointing at it.

What is the benefit of meditation in martial arts? Well we could listen to what the "lotus eaters" say, or listen to what the "martial art du jour" folks say (such as the RBSD crowd). No matter how you spin it, there is a benefit to controlling autonomic function and cognitive processes in the fighting realm. In my book, anything that enhances the mind/body awareness is a step in the right direction.

- Bill

IJ · Post by IJ » Wed Oct 15, 2003 7:01 pm

Seems to me this might be a useful thing to stress or at least review in class, since your modern American is statistically a lot more llikely to be helped by something that can reduce stress, blood pressure and heart rate than by self defense tactics. Learning meditation thru karate would be kind of like getting fancy foam mattresses out of trips to the moon--probably more fun than just doing it directly.

Bill Glasheen · Post by **Bill Glasheen** » Wed Oct 15, 2003 7:36 pm

Funny you should mention that...

I just bought one of those Tempur-Pedic® mattresses the other week. Cost me a fortune, but I believe it was worth it. I have broad shoulders and sleeping sideways on a normal mattress seemed to wreck the circulation in my tired arms. Now, no more waking up with sleeping arms.

FYI... HealthyBack®

Back feels better too!

Back to the thread...

- Bill

IJ · Post by IJ » Thu Oct 16, 2003 4:15 pm

Ouch... that site lists a queen at $1900; there are cheaper places to buy. I'm glad to hear it works... My back is stiff every morning on my conventional mattress. Meditation-wise, I found it interesting that I was able to meditate to good effect on a crowded bus but not as easily at home in a dark room with a bored cat trying to distract me now and then. I definitely do feel relxaed and recharged after about ten minutes though.

Bill Glasheen · Post by **Bill Glasheen** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 4:18 pm

I didn't pay list. Never should on any of this stuff.

- Bill

IJ · Post by IJ » Thu Oct 16, 2003 4:23 pm

Glad to hear it though I would have been surprised if you did

... the only people I've found sleazier than the car people are the mattress people, who deliberately make their prices generally unknowable and all their products un-comparable to confuse the shopper. At least with the foam there were only a few variables and I generally knew what I was getting.

Akil Todd Harvey · Post by **Akil Todd Harvey** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 4:52 pm

What about meditating on the mattress as a means to get a better price.............psyche out the salesdweeb.......see who has more time on their hands, you or the salesman......

Interesting how a few deep breathes and repeating a word or two can increase saratonin levels.......in my electrical class we do a bit of meditating about the resistance of a particular device as we calculate the ohms...........

Sorry, I had to slip that one in.......

Seriously, as if that was possible, the Uechi form of meditation is a wonderful thing that has enabled me to focus my mental energies in diverse tasks (more than just self d-........defense or delusion) .......

Be Well,

ATH

IJ · Post by IJ » Sun Oct 19, 2003 4:42 am

I'm not sure if it's what you're doing or what you're NOT doing that helps... or what's happening to my serotonin. But either it's the meditation, or the new mattress, or the soft rotation I'm on, life has been better recently

Deep Sea · Post by **Deep Sea** » Sun Oct 19, 2003 3:07 pm

Sickness is as sickness does.

My wife has very sick and in much pain even with prescriptions. I put her on a flight to Seoul for non-traditional medicine early this morning. I hope to see her again.

Bill Glasheen · Post by **Bill Glasheen** » Sun Oct 19, 2003 6:07 pm

My positive thoughts are with you and your wife, Allen. I hope she gets the care and relief she needs, and the quality of your lives are made to be the best they can be.

- Bill

Post by **gmattson** » Sun Oct 19, 2003 6:14 pm

Sorry to hear that Chong isn't feeling well. Please tell her we are all wishing her a speedy recovery.

meditation and sanchin

meditation and sanchin

Al..