Meditation

Hopefully, you have worked on your breathing techniques and are now ready to advance to meditation. With meditation, you will be able to control and direct your Ki (universal life force) to where ever you need it. For example, when you get angry someone may have told you to count to ten. This is meditation and you are actually controlling your mind to calm it. When pregnant women learn Lamaze techniques, they are learning how deal with pain. Think of a juicy, tart lemon. If your mouth is watering you are actually changing the chemical balance in you brain merely through concentration. Now imagine what you can do if you actually practice meditation, and not merely chance upon it here and there in life.

Following is a good starting technique in meditation. Just like the breathing technique you learned, sit on the floor with your legs crossed, palms down on your knees, back straight, and eyes closed. Picture an apple and keep the picture steady in your mind. With practice, you should be able to increase the length of time you can hold the mental picture. When you become good at this, try to rotate the apple. See it moving in all directions, see the colors change and the imperfections of the apple. You may even be able to “bite” into the apple and “hear” the crunch and “taste” the sweetness. This technique is called visualization. You can use it with any object you please, and may eventually be able to use this technique in an entire 3D world.

If you are ready, you can try to visualize and direct your Ki. To do this, you must first understand the concept of dan jun. Dan jun refers to an area about two inches below your navel and two inches below the skin. Dan jun is the Ki center and the foundation of power and balance. Dan jun is where your kihap should originate because it is where Ki is gathered and stored. Using the same techniques as the previous visualization exercise, try to visualize the breath going into your lungs as Ki. See Ki not only filling your lungs, but also gathering in your dan jun. With practice, you can continue visualizing and send your Ki to travel through the body, or be able to send it to specific areas of the body.

It is essential to the dedicated martial artist to study breathing and meditation to be able to properly focus their power, to overcome pain and anger, and to gain confidence and peace with oneself. A martial artist that has practiced Ki development through meditation will be able to make their body light or heavy, harden parts of the body to protect it from damage, dull parts of the body so pain is not felt, and even increase power to beyond the normal limits.