con.cen.tra.tion n. exclusive attention to one object; close mental application.
– Dictionary.com
I don’t think there’s anyone who would argue that martial arts doesn’t take concentration. Forms, in particular, take concentration — to execute a form successfully, you need to focus on your movement, focus on your intent. When the masters my school speak of concentration, they’re talking this focus.
But there’s another usage of the word concentration – as in a concentrated liquid. To attain a concentrated substance, the water or solvent used to dilute it is removed, frequently by boiling, leaving behind a larger amount of the substance per unit of volume. Concentration can be done to make a substance more pure or, as with essential oils, more potent.
While we definitely need to focus on our training, at least while we’re on the mat, our workouts can cause us to become stronger. By concentrating on our practice, we cut the chatter in our minds that dilutes our abilities, making our intent and our wills — at least for the time we’re actively training — more potent and more pure. And each time we practice “boiling away” our distractions, we become better at it. We can take this new skill and apply it to the other areas of our lives, using it with our jobs, with our children, etc. I think that can’t but help us be better in our lives outside the dojang.
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Tags: black belt skills, concentration
At our dojo, Kyoshi talks about the “shoe rack” as important. As you remove your shoes before going on the floor, we’re supposed to leave behind all our thoughts about the outside world. And concentrate.
@bbat50. That’s a great thought. I’m going to have to adopt that.