In Depth Martial Art Aspects
- Part 3 -

Dr. Hanjabam Barun Sharma *

Mental aspects is equally significant with focusing, concentration, alertness with calmness & stillness; along with breathing exercises. It is said "to hit with your mind, not with your fist."

Martial art develops first the health, balancing, strength, purity, & physical stamina needed to unify mind and body. Mental & physical unity then leads to a harmonious balance between power & peace. It teaches us how to live & how to die. It also teaches loyalty, hard work, respect, discipline, self sacrifice, and helps to develop all around maturity and self control.

Meditation, another important part, not only physically relaxes the muscles and releases any energy blockage; but also gives mental relaxation & enhances body "ki/chi" power.

When meditating, the mind should be trained not to grasp thoughts as they move through. Unlike meditation, concentration is the training requiring thoughts & is used to direct "Ki" into whatever part of your body needs to use it.

"Ki/Chi" is the mysterious, intrinsic, electrical life force/energy flow, powering the body, keeping it alive and healthy. In Sanskrit, it is called "Prana"; in Greek, "Pneuma"; in Polynesian, "Mana"; in Hebrew, "Ruah", which means "breath of life".

By improving the flow of Ki, it is possible to heal many illnesses & injuries. Distrupting the flow of this energy causes injuries/death. In so called "miraculous healing", the healer projects Ki to the patient, thereby, healing the patient.

Martial artist try to accumulate maximum amount of Ki, and use it whenever speed, power & other extraordinary things need to be done.

"Yin-chi"(-ve ions/force of gravity) will draw an object towards you, and is found in abundance in weak, old or unhealthy persons.

"Yang-chi"(+ve ions/force of anti-gravity) pushes objects away, and it is the ion-shield that protects our body and powers our strikes in battle. It is found more in healthy, young persons. Balance between Yang & Yin-chi is necessary.

Chi/Ki masters can manipulate Chi/Ki of themselves or others, & even transfer, to do extraordinary abilities- breaking super hard objects, Dim Mak (delayed death touch), Naibu-Hakai (lethal blow), extra hardening body parts, moving/even burning objects by touch/thought, paralysing opponents by pressing certain points, erasure of pain with simple touch, healing/curing etc.

Karumijutsu (the body lightening art) is a method of mentally focusing a person's Ki to any area, & by raising the center of their Ki, they can make their body light; when lowers, the body becomes heavy.

Basically, there are 3 major sources of Prana: Solar Prana, Air Prana, Ground Prana. Nature is the ultimate storage of Prana/Ki, & close to it, we can gain from it. Martial art movements, meditation, breathing exercise etc are some of the ways to unlock nature's unlimited storage of Ki.

Breathing exercises also play an important role in martial art. Shift in dominance of right & left nasal passage are linked with chemical changes in the body. Breathing in & out of only one nostril can stimulate activity of the opposite brain hemisphere.

Qi-gong & Yoga (specially Hatha-Yoga & Pranayama) lay focus on breathing exercises.

To be continued.....