Introducing Three Kata of Mind Training
Mind training works best when we go step by step. People cannot “just sit” just because they have been advised to. It is no different from handing someone a violin for the first time and tell them to “just play.” They will not be able to do it. If you show them how, it will work better.
We all know that physical training is essential. Your body works. You feel good. You can do what you need to do. Mind training is equally important.
In physical training we use kata. We have a form to follow. We can tell when we are succeeding and when we are falling short. We learn what to do. We learn from instruction, from experience, and from the example of others. We become skillful as we repeatedly aim at a clear objective.
Mind training needs a form and an objective as well. Sometimes beginners get an instruction to “just observe your thoughts.”
Beginners cannot just observe their thoughts. They try. But instead of observing their thoughts, they think. What do they think about? What they always think about: their girlfriends or boyfriends, their rivals, what they want, what they fear, and how soon will it be time for lunch. Even if they don’t mean to. Even if they are strong, sincere people.
Our habits of mind don’t suddenly change just because we begin mind training. We need a kata, a form to follow, and to master. Just as in karate kata, when we fall short, we detect it, correct it, and return to training, aiming at what we are trying to achieve.
In mind training we place our attention on our breathing. That is the first step in the first kata of mind training.
It is easy to feel the physical sensation of the breath moving in and out. By keeping our attention on it we are learning a practical skill: to remain in the present moment. For high-performance under pressure this is an indispensible skill. To achieve the serenity needed to see through the distortions thrown up by our ordinary, turbulent mind, being in the present moment, without distractions or disturbance, is also essential.
Being here now is not always best. We need to be able to look ahead, to plan, to forecast. Sometimes we need to review the past and learn from it. But during the period of mind training, we set the past and the future aside. We let our attention remain on the sensation of the breath as it moves in and out. When we notice our attention drift, we return our attention to our breathing, in and out.
As we make that correction, as we return to the mind training kata, we do not disturb our mind further, we just make the correction and keep on practicing. The feeling is a little like driving down the highway. We may notice our speed is too high or too slow, and adjust it. We may notice that we have drifted a little left or right in the lane. We correct that. We don’t make a big deal about it, elaborate it in our mind, think “I am such a bad driver,” or anything like that. We just fix it and continue on our way. That is what we do as we practice mind training.
Training to keep our attention on the present is a useful tool. It is not the goal. Once we are stabilized in the present, we can detect what is going on in our mind. That is the second step in the mind training kata.
Ordinarily our mind is working much faster than we notice. Impressions, sensations, feelings, intentions are appearing, lingering and vanishing at high speed, mostly unnoticed. This mental activity produces what we do, say and think. It guides our life. But we hardly notice it.
When we settle down enough, in the calm, clear present, and attend to our mind, we do notice. We can cultivate wholesome states. We can detect negative states and get rid of them.
There are five specific states we watch out for. These five states obstruct deep calm. In step two of mind training kata we recognize these states and deal with them wisely.
Phase one is developing mindfulness – sustained present-time attention. Phase two is using mindfulness to release disturbance and defilement from the mind.
Then we are prepared to do more advanced mind training kata, the third phase: we can examine experience not just on the surface, but examine its nature more closely. We experience without distortion or elaboration.
This advanced training is not secret or esoteric. It takes preliminary training to do it because it challenges the way we are accustomed to thinking and acting. which get us into trouble. It illuminates a new way that is joyful, positive and healthy.
In this third level of mind training kata, we investigate our mind, observing three fundamental characteristics of experience which, without training, we overlook.
There are many reasons that people do physical training. Some reasons are good and some are not. Some reasons are deep and some are shallow. But those reasons don’t remain the same over a lifetime. As people train, they change. They may mature. Their understanding of training changes. As the vista of life’s possibilities opens up what they want to do with their physical training will change.
This happens in mind training as well. People might be motivated at first by wanting to be spiritual, wanting to be peaceful, more focused, or to relieve stress. As they practice, they discover deeper experience, and a happier and healthier life. Like good physical training, if you do it right, it works that way.
From the start, in physical training we get stronger and faster. That doesn’t go away as our training evolves, as we explore deeper dimensions of movement, combatives, and vitality. We cannot rush. We can persist, sometimes with great energy.
We also cannot hesitate. We train diligently, applying appropriate pressure at every moment of training: enough to challenge us beyond what is easy, but without excess, frustration or injury.
The three kata of mind training are: the cultivation of mindfulness, the cultivation of concentration, and the investigation of experience. I will describe them in more detail in the next articles in this series.
***
Post copyright © 2025 Jeffrey Brooks, MountainKarateNC.com, Yamabayashi Ryu, Mountain Karate Dojo, in the mountains of western NC.
Photo by Michael Lushington
***
read True Karate Dō by Jeffrey Brooks
“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