The Power of Meditation and Martial Arts
Meditation and martial arts work well together as tools to connect the body, mind, and emotions, and to support health. The use of breath is central to both. Slow, controlled breathing can help calm the nervous system, steady you under pressure, and help you recover your composure between rounds. It won’t make you immune to blows, cold, heat, illness, or aging, but it is a skill every fighter can train.
Breathing practices can shift your mental and physical state. Emotions equal ‘energy in motion,’ and they can often be calmed by slowing the breath. Check your breathing when in different emotional states, learn to identify patterns, and then alter them by controlling the breath. Deep emotional issues and trauma rarely shift in moments, though; if they are weighing on you, a qualified mental health professional can help.
Trained Ninja warrior Jinichi Kawakami would spend hours staring into the flame of a candle until he felt he was inside it.
Meditation and Brain Structure
Research on how meditation affects the body and brain has been ongoing for many years. Using tools such as fMRI and EEG, these studies have found support for some traditional claims, especially for stress and attention, although many of the studies are small and the results are not always consistent.
Imaging studies have linked meditation practice to differences in white matter, including the corpus callosum, and in grey matter, which may relate to communication between brain regions. Some studies also report lower activity in brain areas tied to self-focused, negative thinking. These findings are promising, but many come from small studies, and it is not yet clear what they mean for everyday performance.
Early research suggesting that meditation may affect brain structure and function is exciting, but the science is still young.
"A famous Zen master, Shoju Rojin, was the bastard son of a Samurai family. After he almost died, he went to study Zen and became a monk. One day a warrior fought him with a sword. Rojin defended himself using only a metal fan. The monk won. When the warrior asked how Shoju Rojin was able to do this, he replied, “It’s simple. When your objective perception is clear, you don’t miss one of ten thousand things.”
An Eight-Week Study of Brain Changes in Memory and Learning Areas
One would think that many years of meditation practice would be required to produce physical changes in the brain. A small Harvard-affiliated study used MRI scans to compare volunteers before and after an eight-week ‘mindfulness’ meditation program (see below) and reported increases in grey matter density in the hippocampus, an area involved in memory and learning. The study was small, and later attempts to replicate this kind of finding have had mixed results.
The researchers also reported grey matter changes in areas involved in regulating emotions and self-referential processing. A related study linked reduced stress with changes in the amygdala, a brain area involved in stress, fear, and anxiety. These are intriguing but preliminary findings.
Two Studies of Experienced Meditators
Several studies in 2009 reported that experienced meditators showed differences in brain structure compared with people who don’t meditate. Because these studies compared groups at a single point in time, they can’t prove that meditation caused the differences.
One study was performed by a team working with Peter Vestergaard-Paulsen at the Center for Functionally Integrative Neuroscience at Denmark’s Aarhus University, explored the effects of long term meditation on brain structure. They reported these findings in their paper, and in Neuroreport:
Using magnetic resonance imaging, we observed higher gray matter density in lower brain stem regions of experienced meditators compared with age-matched nonmeditators. Our findings show that long-term practitioners of meditation have structural differences in brainstem regions concerned with cardiorespiratory control. This could account for some of the cardiorespiratory parasympathetic effects and traits, as well as the cognitive, emotional, and immunoreactive impact reported in several studies of different meditation practices".
Peter Vestergaard-Paulsen
Aarhus University - Denmark
Another research team publishing similar results in Neuroreport worked at the Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, Department of Neurology, UCLA School of Medicine. They reported:
"Meditation practice has been shown not only to benefit higher-order cognitive functions but also to alter brain activity ... meditators showed significantly larger volumes of the right hippocampus. Both orbitofrontal and hippocampal regions have been implicated in emotional regulation and response control. Thus, larger volumes in these regions might account for meditators’ singular abilities and habits to cultivate positive emotions, retain emotional stability, and engage in mindful behavior".
Meditation Practice and Brain Changes
Meditation requires a certain amount of discipline just to sit down, or stand quietly, focusing only on being here ‘now,’ or attending to the breath, or watching thoughts flow by like leaves in a stream. This repeated practice may help train how you respond to stress and emotion, although researchers are still working out exactly how.
Learning meditation teaches us how to become and remain sharply focused, less distracted by ‘monkey mind,’ or by physiological responses, and over time it may influence how the brain functions.
Martial Arts Masters Look Young
Some martial arts masters tend to look much younger than their age. Much of this is attributable to ongoing physical exercise. Early research has also looked at whether meditation affects telomeres, the protective caps on the ends of chromosomes that shorten with age, but the evidence so far is preliminary.
Statistical Difference in Telomerase Activity
In a small pilot study of family caregivers of people with dementia, those who practiced a 12-minute yogic meditation daily for eight weeks showed a 43 percent increase in telomerase activity, compared with 3.7 percent in a group that listened to relaxation music. That is an interesting result, but it came from a small group, and higher telomerase activity is not proof of longer telomeres or slower aging.
Relaxation Group
Meditation Group
Telomerase is sometimes nicknamed the “immortality enzyme” because it helps maintain telomeres, but that nickname overstates what is known about it.
Telomerase is an enzyme that helps maintain the DNA caps at the ends of our chromosomes, called telomeres. Longer telomeres have been linked with better health and slower cellular aging, but one short study can’t show that meditation slows aging.
Psychological stress has been linked to lower telomerase activity and shorter telomeres, which in turn are associated with higher health risks. That is one reason researchers are interested in whether stress-reducing practices like meditation could help.
Meditation can help reduce psychological stress, though whether that improves telomere length is not yet known. Telomere length is one marker researchers use to study aging. Each time a cell divides, telomeres get a little shorter, until eventually the cell can no longer divide.
Meditation Techniques Improve with Practice
Martial arts masters know the value and power of meditation, and now modern science is finally catching on. It is a skill, and like any other, improves with practice. A difference will be seen and sensed between the kung fu master meditating, the ten-year sanshou practitioner meditating, and the new practitioner still hoping to achieve a clear mind while meditating.
It creates and supports a positive state of mind and increases martial power, in part by creating a laser focus and heightened awareness.
Meditation can help lower stress, which matters for overall health. Harvard Medical School researchers have begun to study how meditation techniques may affect the genes and brain activity of people under chronic stress.
Their research found that relaxation practices, including meditation, were associated with changes in the activity of genes linked to stress, inflammation, and immune function. These are early findings, and what they mean for long-term health is not yet clear.
Using the Stress Response
Martial artists constantly get stressed in the Octagon, in the dojo, on the mats…and then there’s Life. Stress and inflammation tend to show up together, and create havoc in the body, especially when they remain for long periods of time. The human body simply isn’t built for that.
It was set up for having a fear response kick in from the sympathetic nervous system, escaping from that dangerous situation, then have the parasympathetic nervous system take over, calming, soothing, and relaxing again.
The recovery period that’s supposed to follow escaping the ‘danger’ never shows up in modern life, it seems, where there’s always another stress, whether being late for work, because of the traffic jam, the baby threw up all over your best suit, sitter was late, coffee spilled, money’s short, dog got sick, outta milk, etc.
Ongoing pressures like these have been linked to health problems such as high blood pressure, a weaker immune response, headaches, anxiety, and depression, and they can make conditions like diabetes and asthma harder to manage.
Sometimes hassles just keep coming, and that’s when stress and inflammation can get ya. Meditation is one tool that can help you manage it.
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Meditation can help calm the body’s stress response, allowing us to breathe and take that badly needed recuperative ‘down time.’
Ancient Energy Maps and the Nervous System
Some researchers have pointed out interesting parallels between ancient meditation ‘energy maps’ and modern Western diagrams of body systems.
Research on the autonomic nervous system (ANS) finds that the ‘body/energy map’ first created in ancient India and preserved in Tibet basically mirrors that which has been created by modern Western science; the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems in Tibetan and in Western diagrams show lateral or side dominance at all levels of the brain and body.
That dominance generally lines up with the traditional map, though variable and alternating in energy and connections, both ‘maps’ unexpectedly showing right-sided sympathetic dominance and left-sided vagal dominance.
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Current studies of alternate nostril breathing, breath-slowing, and breath-holding practices suggest that breathing and meditation practices can influence the sympathetic nervous system (SNS), as well as the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS).
Sun Tzu, Art of War
So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you can win a hundred battles without a single loss. If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose. If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself...
Meditation Has Done “Amazing Things”
Dr. Wayne Jonas has done his time in the Armed Forces. Dr. Jonas served as Director of the Office of Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health and is a well-respected researcher who has long been open to studying alternative medicine.
Dr. Jonas has described seeing patients who seemed to will their own recovery, and others whose long-standing pain eased with acupuncture. "I had seen things work; amazing things," said Dr. Jonas. He ran staff meditation sessions at the Institute three mornings a week. "It may not yet be written down in a five-star medical journal. That doesn't render it illegitimate." Personal observations like these are a good reason to study a practice, but they are not proof that it works.
Meditation Keeps The Mind in the Most Alert and Present State
Amishi Jha is a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Miami who has studied the effects of meditation on service members, and she had this to say. “This type of training has been considered soft, not hardening.
That somehow it’s going to weaken instead of toughening, that it’s going to make people less precise and more passive. But it’s not going to the spa and getting a massage. It’s the exact opposite of your mind. It’s being in the most alert and present state that you can imagine.”
Stress Slows and Impairs Wound Healing and Repair
It has long been suspected that stressful events impact health in a massive way. It turns out the immune system communicates bidirectionally, or both sends and receives information to and from the endocrine system and the central nervous system. Stress actually reduces immune system functioning.
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The new field of psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) is beginning to understand key mechanistic evidence about how and why stress, and the deeply intense emotions it creates—which can include ‘good’ stress, by the way, if there’s ‘too much at once,’ for instance, having a baby, giving a wedding, in-laws, and family all visit, combined with graduating college and getting a new job---can impact the body and cause physiological changes that affect health.
All this creates delays in wound healing. Meditation simultaneously interacts positively with different systems and is one effective way to quickly lower stress. This is important since stress alters and inhibits wound repair.
Samurai Warriors
Samurai warriors of ancient Japan practiced Zen meditation every day as part of their essential training, and they have long been acknowledged as a pinnacle of fighting ability and power. Mokuso, loosely translated, means meditation in Japanese, but a more precise translation means, “warming up the mind for training hard.
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Ancient Samurai warriors used meditation to sharpen their focus and composure in combat. Tradition also credits it with helping them cope with and recover from injuries, although that is not something research has shown.
Ninja Warriors
Ninja warriors were taught intensive meditation techniques during training from a very young age. They used meditation to become ‘one’ with the flame, the inner self, and become the balance of Yin/Yang in order to ‘disappear,’ and escape enemies. According to tradition, they also envisioned their wounds healed and themselves as whole again.
They also had a system of hand movements that paired together with intention as a physical/mental aspect of meditation and applied intention. These hand movements had different aspects. One particular hand symbol was called "sha," and it was used to invoke the energy of healing. It looked like two hands clasped together in prayer.
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Research shows that stress can slow wound healing, so lowering stress may help, but meditation itself has not been shown to speed wound healing. Ninja warriors practiced ninjutsu and were the lower class assassins, spies, and espionage aspects of ancient Japanese feudal society.
Their training techniques held meditation in the highest regard, using it for mental control, emotional strength, and honing mind and body into one singular ‘blade of death.’ Legend says ninja warriors could hear a pin drop in the next room and used meditation to slow their experience of time, and they valued it during times of injury.
Ninja warriors also used meditation to practice ‘extreme hyper-awareness,’ or deep mindfulness, which helped them develop an almost prescient awareness of all that occurred around them, whether during training, spying, war, or assassinations.
Ninja Warrior Jinichi Kawakami Meditates
Ninjutsu can be translated as the ‘art of enduring,’ or the ‘art of stealth,’ and the only admitted living ninja warrior is 63-year old Jinichi Kawakami, who started training in Ninjutsu from the age of six.
Then he had years of grueling training with Buddhist master Masazo Ishida, learning how to mix chemicals that caused explosions and made smoke, climb walls and jump from heights, go for days without food or water, and survive extreme heat and cold. Kawakami is the 21st head of the Ban clan, a dynasty of secret spies with a 500-year history.
His training made him able to hear a needle drop in the next room and cut a victim's throat from about 20 feet with a throwing star. Junichi Kawakami was taught how to be ‘invisible,’ and says ninjas were specialists at gathering information and disseminating disinformation while never being seen.
”We also have a saying that it is possible to escape death by perching on your enemy's eyelashes; it means you are so close that he cannot see you ”
Ninja Warrior
Jinichi Kawakami
What Samurai and Ninja Warriors Got Right
Samurai warriors and Ninja stealth warriors both had the right idea. They practiced meditation to cultivate their minds and spirit. Research has shown that stress inhibits recovery, and undoubtedly the elite warrior culture inhabited by the Samurai and Ninjas was teeming with stress-inducing situations. Meditation can reduce stress, and some studies show it can lower cortisol, the ‘stress hormone.’ Stress can slow wound healing, but whether meditation itself makes wounds or injuries heal faster has not been established.
Daredevil had it Right
Fans of the Netflix original series Daredevil watch the crazy beatings hero Matt Murdock takes on a daily basis, and he meditates to recover. That is fiction, but real institutions, including the U.S. military, are studying how meditation can help with mental and emotional stress.
Military Men too Tough to Meditate?
A martial culture like the U.S. military would not ordinarily seem like a logical place to look for and find people practicing meditation.
One Army unit that trained in meditation and other mind-body practices ended up being called the Jedi Knights, partly because of wearing T-shirts saying in Latin, “May the force be with you.” The nickname also reflected reports of their strong performance compared with their peers.
According to those accounts, they scored well on biofeedback tests and psychological evaluations.
Daily meditation was one part of a broader training program, so it is hard to credit it alone for their results. Tracy Quantum also teaches meditation to military personnel, and when doing so always starts by drawing attention to other military cultures that used meditation to great effect, especially the Samurai, who revered it as the ultimate mind-sharpening weapon.
Meditation a Better Way to Train the Military
The Pentagon has a program teaching Generals how to meditate, which clearly illustrates the importance and gravity being accorded to alternative medicine in general, and meditation in particular.
In 2008, another scientific study of meditation in the military went on trial. Major Jeffrey Davis’s elite Marine unit was deployed to Iraq and received training in meditation. Davis may or may not have valued meditation before, but if not, had a complete change of attitude. “We look at all of these weapons systems around us as necessary for war,” he says. “But it’s the human mind that operates all these things.
If I can find a better way to train a Marine—if I can teach him to react quicker, to think quicker, to learn quicker, to act wiser in an ambiguous situation—the better off we are.” And that better way to train a Marine now includes meditation.
Meditation is an essential aspect of martial arts training utilized across the world, though the thrill of combat and excitement of training tends to grab the spotlight.
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Martial artists who do incorporate it into their daily practice, however, typically tend to be those who are in the game for the long haul.
Why Meditation Works
It turns out that our brains do not contain fixed hardwiring. They are adaptable, and internal circuits and neural pathways change with practice and mental exercise. Researchers have proposed that meditation may encourage new connections between neurons, a process called synaptogenesis, and possibly the formation of new neurons, but these ideas rest largely on animal and early human research.
Meditation Helps Get Your Mind Outta the Fight
Meditation allows envisioning forms, katas, footwork, timing, holds and throws as a type of study, practicing moves inside the mind while purposely slowing action down. Many practitioners also say it helps time seem to slow down in the heat of action. This phenomenon is not exclusive to the martial arts, however.
Many athletes call it the “Getting in the Zone.” Former UFC Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture put it this way. “Although most fighters believe that the fight is 90 percent mental and ten percent physical, they train 90 percent physical and ten percent mental. That is going to have to change as MMA continues to evolve or those fighters will be left behind.”
Meditation helps get your mind outta your own way, and outta the fight. It gives the ability to shift things around and try it another way, with different approach, power, state of mind and flow, allowing intensive mental practice while engraving precise patterns into brain cells to up warrior fighting skills.
Source: David Shankbone, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Source: David Shankbone, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Getting Into the Zone
“Although most fighters believe that the fight is 90 percent mental and ten percent physical, they train 90 percent physical and ten percent mental. That is going to have to change as MMA continues to evolve or those fighters will be left behind.”
Randy Couture // UFC Legend, Former UFC Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight Champion
Pentagon Using Alternative Medicine and Meditation
Meditation may help some people manage PTSD symptoms, the effects of traumatic brain injury (TBI), and chronic pain, alongside medical treatment. Post-traumatic stress disorder disrupts the lives of many service members with depression, mood swings, rage, and insomnia. Brain trauma affects many thousands with emotional swings, learning problems, memory lapses, body tremors, chronic pain, and sometimes speech problems.
Chronic pain is affecting soldiers and veterans, and its causes include ‘phantom limb’ pain felt in a limb that is no longer there, herniated spinal discs, amputations, and many other issues. Medication is an important part of care for many of these conditions. The concern is overreliance on medication alone, particularly opioids and sedatives, which carry a risk of dependence. Never stop or change prescribed medication without talking to your doctor.
Prescription drugs are a common treatment for PTSD, TBI, and chronic pain, three major conditions facing the military. Because these conditions are hard to treat and some medications can lead to misuse and addiction, military and veterans’ health systems have been looking at complementary approaches, including meditation, to use alongside standard care.
Prescription drug misuse and overdose among service members and veterans have become a serious concern, which is one reason safer, complementary approaches are getting more attention.
Sleeping pills, antipsychotics, and pain pills can have significant side effects, and some carry a risk of addiction, so they need careful medical supervision. Mindfulness programs have shown modest benefits for chronic pain and stress in some studies. Meditation is generally safe, but it is not free of side effects: some people report increased anxiety or depression, and it should be used alongside, not instead of, prescribed treatment. Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, Professor of Medicine Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, is one researcher who has studied meditation extensively for chronic pain conditions.
A True Martial Artist Uses the Restorative Qualities of Meditation.
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Meditation Saves Money
Research has suggested that people who took part in a relaxation program combining meditation, yoga, and other mind-body techniques used fewer medical services in the following year. That points to possible health care savings, but the study was observational, so it can’t prove the program alone caused the drop.
Different Kinds of Meditation
In general, meditation is easy. Sit, stand, or use slow movements like walking, yoga, or tai chi to focus the mind on nothing, or on a flame, on your breathing, the feeling of motion, or the sound of a stream flowing nearby. Then try keeping your mind focused only on what you choose.
Some days it’s easier, some days more challenging, but it is always working correctly, even on those challenging days, because the very effort of trying to achieve ‘no mind,’ or connect with the ‘All,’ and find complete open awareness, will still teach, heal, and guide the practitioner.
The intent and effort is important and matters greatly. Mindfulness meditation typically means focusing on the breath, allowing thoughts to flow by, without grabbing onto them, and without judgment. Meditation mindfulness techniques may focus on breathing, or sensations within the body, especially if doing moving meditations such as tai chi. In all methods, the intention is primary, always to consciously control focus and attention, while clearing the mind of distractions.
It teaches the meditation practitioner to observe his/her own consciousness while breathing, and BE-ing still inside.
Books on Meditation Practice
Reading about meditation will never replace sitting down and doing it. A good book can, however, explain why the practice works and show you exactly how to begin. The three titles below approach the subject from different directions. Two come from brain science, one from the Chinese martial tradition, and together they cover the why, the how, and the way it carries onto the mat.
Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom
Written by neuropsychologist Rick Hanson, PhD, with neurologist Richard Mendius, MD (New Harbinger, 2009), this book pairs 2,500-year-old contemplative teachings with modern brain research. Hanson explains that the brain evolved to keep our ancestors alive, and the result is a built-in negativity bias that keeps scanning for threats.
That wiring serves you well in a sparring round. It wears you down the rest of the day. The authors include guided meditations and mindfulness exercises aimed at training calmer, more focused states, and the diagrams make the brain science easy to follow. Of the three, it offers the clearest explanation of why a regular sitting practice changes how a fighter handles stress.
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Hardwiring Happiness: The New Brain Science of Contentment, Calm, and Confidence
Written by neuropsychologist Rick Hanson, PhD (Harmony Books, 2013), this book builds on the idea that the brain has a negativity bias: it holds on to bad experiences more readily than good ones. Hanson lays out a simple practice for taking in good experiences so they leave a more lasting mark.
For fighters, that means deliberately savoring the good moments in training, like a clean technique or a hard round finished strong, instead of replaying only the mistakes. The exercises are short enough to fit around a busy training schedule.
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Qigong for Health and Martial Arts: Exercises and Meditation
Written by martial arts teacher Dr. Yang Jwing-Ming (YMAA Publication Center), this book explains the ideas behind qigong and walks through breathing exercises, movement sets, and meditation drawn from the Chinese martial tradition.
As its title suggests, this book focuses on qigong exercises and meditation from the Chinese martial tradition, which makes it the most directly connected to training on the mat of the three.
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Ponder this...
Meditation has a longer résumé in the fighting arts than most modern training tools. The research covered above links regular practice to changes in brain structure, to stress hormones that slow wound repair, and to the telomerase activity that hints at slower cellular aging. Samurai and ninja relied on it centuries before any of that was measured. Today the Pentagon, and fighters at every level, are rediscovering the same edge.
None of this is mystical. Meditation is attention training, no different in principle from drilling a hip throw until it becomes reflex. Some sessions will feel effortless. Others will feel like wrestling your own mind for ten minutes, and those sessions count just as much. Start small, ideally right after class when the body is tired and the mind is quiet, and let consistency do the work.
What has your experience been with meditation and training? Do you sit before class, after, or not at all? Share what works for you in the comments below.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What Are the Benefits of Meditation for Martial Artists?
Research reviews show meditation, especially mindfulness, can modestly reduce stress, anxiety and depression symptoms and may help attention and emotional control. For fighters, that can mean calmer nerves before competition, better focus in training, and an easier time switching off after hard sessions. Benefits build with regular practice and are generally modest, so treat it as training for the mind rather than a quick fix.
Does Meditation Help Recovery From Training and Injuries?
Meditation does not directly repair muscle or heal injuries faster. What it can do is lower stress and help some people sleep better, and chronic stress and poor sleep can both get in the way of recovery. Some studies also show mindfulness programs can help people cope with chronic pain. Keep following medical advice for any injury and use meditation alongside it.
Can Meditation Change Your Brain?
Some imaging studies have found differences in brain regions tied to attention and emotion in people who meditate, and a few short-term programs reported small changes. However, many of these studies are small, results have not always replicated, and it is not clear what the changes mean for everyday performance. It is fair to say meditation trains attention, but claims that it reliably grows the brain are overstated.
How Do I Start Meditating as a Martial Artist?
Start with five to ten minutes a day. Sit or stand comfortably, focus on your breathing, and when your mind wanders, gently bring it back without judging yourself. Many martial arts already include this in mokuso at the start or end of class. Moving practices like tai chi or qigong also work. Consistency matters more than session length.
Are There Any Risks to Meditation?
Meditation is safe for most people, but it is not completely free of side effects. A small number of people experience increased anxiety, low mood or unsettling memories, particularly with long or intensive sessions. If you have a history of trauma, PTSD or other mental health conditions, work with a qualified teacher or mental health professional, and never use meditation as a substitute for prescribed treatment.
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