Personal Perspective: Martial arts training can help us be ready mentally to respond appropriately, and yet never take action just for the sake of taking action.
The mindfulness in martial arts applies beyond physical exchanges to written and verbal conversation.and avoiding conflict. This extends beyond the physical to all areas of human interactions. There are a lot of levels on which this works, but a key one is a mindset of equanimity combined with potentiality.In many martial arts traditions, there are extensive descriptors of mindsets that need to be trained and honed to allow for safe and decisive performance.
It is much easier to adopt the physical part of a readiness posture than it is to achieve the key mental state. When performing an actual defense or specific attack, the mind and body are committed to the specific moment and means of action. However, in a readiness posture, the mental focus must be simultaneously diffuse and attentive. This state of mind includes aspects of mushin, fudoshin, and zanshin and is meant to allow you to respond appropriately to whatever unfolds.
Applying this means letting go of preconceptions about what we think we know and how well we think we can control ourselves and others. Too often we think we are responding to a situation when instead we are having rapid reactions to the perceived intentions of those around us. We can practice and train this, though, and an effective means is traditional martial arts training.
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