Martial Arts Warm Ups

Series Summary

Meditation is one of the purest forms of martial arts and is essential for any martial artist to become familiar with if they want to advance into the upper ranks of their art form. It may seem easy but meditation is much more difficult than you think. Try sitting perfectly still in complete silence for only 5 minutes. Time will slow to a halt and your mind will race and create images that you won't understand. Quieting your mind is the goal here and thinking of nothing, despite how easy your sister says it should be for you is not easy at all.

So if meditation and clearing your mind is not as easy as one might think then there must be some tips or tricks right? There are a few but practice is the best 'tip.' Our expert will show you a few martial art forms that focus on meditation as the core of the study. You will learn some moving meditation forms as well so this will be an active meditation series designed to focus not only your mind but also your body into complete focus.

Video Transcript

"I'm Wayne Villeneuve, Fourth Degree Certified Instructor for Expert Village. Here is a formal sequence that you can practice as a moving meditation, as well as for self-defense. To begin the warm-up segment, spread your feet a little wider than shoulder width apart. Now, begin to circle your arms in 360 degree circles. First to the back. Now reverse the direction, so that your arms are going forward into 360 degree circles. Breathing out, breathe in. Breathe out, breathe in. Now, hold the arms out to the side and gently twist. First to the left, now the right. The left and the right. Keep the muscles in the trunk as loose as you can. Now, point the toes of the left foot to the left and hold the right hand in an "eagle beak" position -all the fingers meeting in a point, and the wrist is comfortably relaxed. Hold the left hand about head high, and shift the weight to the right leg as you dip down and circle the left hand 360 degrees and shift the weight back to the left foot. A fluid, relaxed movement, the muscles just firm enough to control the body. Now change the direction so that the toes of the right foot point to the right, form the eagle beak with the left hand, the muscles of the hand are relaxed. Now hold the right hand head high, shift the weight to the left as you circle the hand 360 degrees and then shift back to the right. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out."