looking for martial arts & meditation training

edzillion

hi there

I know many martial arts have a meditation component; searching around on google some dojos mention meditation in passing but do not list meditation classes.

My motivations are basically fitness and mental health. I was looking at aikido but it does seem a little defensive for my tastes.

Does anyone have any suggestions for dojo's based in dublin city that would teach meditation techniques as well as martial ones?

thanks

Doug Cartel

If you're looking for meditation, there are a few meditation groups around in Dublin. One of the main ones is actually part of a Buddhist organisation, but they do secular classes.

If you're looking for meditation in martial arts, it basically comes in two forms. There are classes where at the beginning or end you kneel, close your eyes and stay quiet for a few minutes. This is is a fairly micky-mouse practice and not much to do with real meditation at all.

The other form of martial arts meditation you get is where the martial arts practice itself is the meditation. Japanese styles have a thing they call mushin, and in BJJ they sometimes call it flow with the go. I don't know what they call it in other styles, but I would bet they have a name for it. Basically it's the state of mind where you react in a clam, competent manner to stressful situations without really thinking about it.

I think this is a more legit practice than the sitting still at the end of class thing, but the problem is that it takes a long time to get to this phase. If you want the benefits of meditation and you want to develop them reasonably quickly then I think an actual meditation class will get you there quicker.

Izanaki

As Doug Cartel suggested, I think it's better for you to join a meditation group and a martial art class separately. Considering that a meditation session last for at least 45 - 60 minutes, it's hard to find a place where you can practice both in a proper way.

Aikido is a defensive martial art, indeed, but effective to strengthen spirit, body and mind (with the correct methods) so I would suggest you to try it for a few.

My Dojo is in Harold's Cross Road if you are interested (look at my profile for details )

MaeveD

We have an Aikido seminar next weekend, we're hosting Patrick Cassidy 6th dan.
He is also giving a two hour Yoga and Meditation seminar on Sunday 17th... you're more than welcome to come along.

You're also welcome to come and watch one of our regular Aikido classes... it might just be exactly what you're looking for

PM me if you want more info

Kungfu

You might consider training in Tai Chi/Qigong. Many traditional Chinese martial arts containing elements of one or both of these or of Buddhist meditation.

This would be the case if you are looking for hard/extenal kung fu. But if you are interested in soft/internal training why not look into Tai Chi?

Google time. :-)