By training consistently and sincerely, we are taking care of our bodies.
We also need to take care of our minds. They require at least as much attention to detail and persistence in practice as developing our physical conditioning and skills.
You can see everywhere you go – people take good care of their pets.
They protect them from danger.
Feed them good things.
Train them.
Then they will be healthy and strong.
If it wanders off, it will come back.
It will be there with you.
Most people treat their minds much worse than that.
They leave their minds open to whatever comes by.
They don’t train it.
They don’t nourish it well.
They do ask it to do much.
Which is wasteful. And dangerous.
As everyone knows, minds can do difficult things: pursue what is valuable, endure, persist, create, invent, investigate, understand, love, defend, inspire, be powerful, courageous, generous, clear and purposeful. Minds can be peaceful.
You can change your mind.
Your mind can change your life.
A mind can change the world.
Leaving their minds open to whatever flies in, people wonder why they feel stressed, confused, depressed and anxious.
Why they can’t keep their minds on anything for long, or get it to do anything much more than dally, and then move on.
No wonder people are easily disturbed, tempted, obstructed and enraged.
Who wants your mind to be that way? Who tolerates it? Who encourages it? Who enforces it?
They may not understand what is happening to them, or what they are doing.
But we do. We are training our bodies. We use our minds to do it.
Every punch, every kick, every turn, starts in the mind. With conscious intention, in response to a command, during practice. With spontaneous action in the heat of the moment, cultivated through training, executed by the mind and body together, much faster than the conscious mind, the cognized will, could ever do.
It is not only us who are doing this. People are waking up to what our toxic culture, toxic food, toxic tech-bound field of view, our toxic customs, and carelessly constructed steel and stone world is doing to reduce us, make us sick, helpless, isolated and fearful.
In the dojo we train our bodies. That is easy to see. Over time it is easy to observe.
That trainng, like everything we do, begins in the mind.
The intention to punch, to take a step, look toward an opponent, listen carefully to an explanation of a technique, all begins in our mind. Then it manifests in movement, in skill, and in physical transformation over time.
How you stand, how you fight, how you look, what you do, how often you train, how hard you train, all starts in your mind.
Your mind trains your body.
Your mind guards your body.
Let your mind train your mind.
Let your mind guard your mind too.
Thanks for your hard training tonight.
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Post copyright © 2024 Jeffrey Brooks
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“One of the best books I’ve read in years, inviting and compelling. Jeff Brooks moves effortlessly from martial arts to Buddhism to consciousness studies, self-transformation, and related fields in this wide-ranging and Illuminating study that has much to offer both novice explorers and veteran practitioners. A splendid achievement.”
— Philip Zaleski, Editor, The Best Spiritual Writing series
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