A new concept of an ancient practice. Being present is a particular way is crucial in conflict. An awareness and focus that is both direct and all encompassing with no intrusions of either past or present other than what the mind requires to make sense of the present moment.
Mindfulness is the key, learning to concentrate the mind internally to achieve a level of focus/concentration that leads to an ability to mindfully take in many things in the present moment. Meditation, both moving and sitting quietly, are the practices that will train the mind. Once a level of competence is achieved then it can be incorporated into your practice.
I like to meditate on the breathe. My focus is on it and its processes, feeling it not just mentally noting it. I try to achieve a concentration/focus on the breathe and the processes as well as feeling my body, parts or in general, for tensions, etc. I have learned that if you can achieve a proficiency of brining your mind, and body, back to the moment this way it can lead to the practice of open monitoring.
This is merely the focus/concentration of the singular anchor and graduating to a meditation and practice of wide-n-spacious attentive focus/concentration of many things. It takes the singular to the multiple awareness of thoughts, emotions, sensations, and sounds that surround you where ever you go and at any moment of the consciousness of daily activities. Think of this like active listening but as active awareness. You are present as each moment unfolds in the present. You open your attention/focus/awareness to an array of experiences without getting caught up in either the content of the moment or those past/future stories it may trigger once experienced. Your instincts are allowed to see and hear the moment and in practice you train the mind to act if needed or just experience.
This is the training method you need to achieve a level of proficiency that can transcend the stationary meditative present moment practice into one that incorporates movement then on to such practice as karate or any system, martial or not.
"Be Aware ... of each experience ... as it enters your moment, your consciousness ... bring it the attentive focus necessary to "experience" the feeling and effect ... whether a sight, sound, image, thought, emotion, or sensation."
Regulate your attention from singular to wide-open, note the activity and its relevance, and then start to regulate it actively. Being actively aware means bringing the appropriate concentration/focus into play correctly and at times needed. Controlling the monkey.
You need a focused-attention for some things like listening to Sensei as Instruction is conducted the a more open-attention to allow all awareness to flow in the present moment to achieve a more creative awareness.
Meditative practice is the fundamental and moving meditative active awareness practice, such as waza and kata, are the extensions to the fundamentals that one can tweak as they progress along or parallel to Sensei's instruction.
This will lead us to a type of awareness that is important to a karate-ka. It is a type of awareness that flows between these two and achieves an awareness that promotes the ability to "see" and "hear" a situation "clearly." It allows the mind to have an appropriate response when trained and connected properly in practice. It becomes a discriminating awareness where the mind can naturally and instinctively achieve action without thought. It is a relaxed state with a trained active awareness that flows with each moment. Sound familiar? Isn't this a trait often discussed with traditional training of un-encumbering the mind so it can do things quickly and naturally and instinctively?
Focused singular awareness (micro awareness) + all encompassing wide-open awareness (macro-awareness) = a discriminative awareness (balanced-awareness?). Yes? No? Any suggestions?
Bibliography:
Smalley, Susan L. PhD. Winston, Diana. "Fully Present: The Science, Art, and Practice of Mindfulness." Da Capo Press. Philadelphia. 2010.
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