WHEN TRAINING, YOUR MIND SHOULD BE STILL

What should your mind do in training? Whatever you want it to do. It depends on your goal. When training, your mind should be still. Especially with your form. If you want to have a healthy body and mind, your mind should be still.

What is a still mind? One that is thinking absolutely nothing. One that has completely let go of mental chatter and all thoughts about anything, including any goals you have with training... Having a still mind means merging with your form. This is an art. It is like playing an instrument, painting or dancing in this regard. A practitioner merges with the form. The form is an expression of your Self, your essence.

One way to reach into this essence and move from it is to have a still mind. As soon as a thought arises, like “what do I have to do today?” “what if I’m doing this wrong?” “I’m cold, hungry, tired, etc.” “oh look, s/he’s cute, I want to show how good I am” “look at me, I’m tough/spiritual/good at Kung Fu, etc.” “that guy made me mad earlier, I’ll show him” etc., just bring your attention back to your breathing and movement. Listen to your movement and your surroundings. Any thought at all will divide you and interfere with you doing your form, and as a result, your Kung Fu won’t be as good as it could be. Even good thoughts like “how can I share this with other people?” or thinking about otherwise good things can divide you and even stop your actual practice and improvement. This happens all the time.

Just let your mind settle down and do your form, that’s all. Be aware of what pulls your attention out as you do it and bring it back in. Take notice of how you feel before and after a session, and once you start to feel that good feeling, deepen it, with every time you train.

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