YMCA Internal & External Training

(YMCA & RWB Members Internal and External Training in Summer 2013)

Introduction

My first publication of the subject of sport psychology research in combat sports was published in Truwaza Martial Arts Times. It is good reading and can help with the technical jargon presented in this posting. A Western academic understanding of Eastern mindfulness methods was formally introduced in the 1940's. The result of my research has led me to commit to furthering my understanding of presenting the most accurate Western understanding of the process necessary to accomplish moving and stilling meditation methods. Both types of methods are the cornerstone of advanced Martial Science study, execution and instruction....

Can you sit in a Vedic asana and stand in a Taoist posture for continuously 3 hours performing breathing exercises that cleanse, revitalize and repair the body and mind? Can you move continuously for 3 hours while using Prana (breathing), mantra (self-talk) and Jin Luo (Imagery) to energize body and mind? Can you mege the disciplines of Yoga (Vedic/Taoist), Swimming, Lifting (Olympic), Cycling, Boxing (Eastern/Western) and Running into a singular meditative experience that enhances Alpha waves, sustains Beta waves and supresses Mu Waves? Can you perform 100 supression, inhalation, retention and exhalation cycles allowing 1 breath every min? Can you perform these regimens 2-3 times a week? Do you value cooperative training over competitive training. If you can then you are a Hexathlete. If you are over 50 then you are an Elder Beast.

An Elder Beast is an intellectual barbarian, a phrase I created to describe Military Intelligence trainees I instructed when I was a Drill Instructor at Fort Huachuca Az.. In that job I found the truth about emotion and its use in the learning-retention process. I learned through experience what my education in psychology has taught me: Humans learn better when there is an emotional content to the experience. This is further reinforced by more dangerous training endeavors like Airborne Training. The issue is how one can establish a practical set to control an instinctive response to dangerous situations. The set would be a process that involves focused attention steps of action. The question is what steps of action can one follow when the act is not dangerous but desirous. An example is running.

In Arizona, I trained myself to run at high altitudes and to feel the power of the mountain. Getting in shape was a grueling feat of stubbornness that forced me to take the pain until there was no more pain. It was an effective but not a healthy process to perform and I performed it many times. The result led to me developing hyperventriculitis which is a heart related type of high blood-pressure. The need to be in control of my ability to perform was missing a resource. I needed to know more about the benefits of meditation.

I lacked the academic knowledge of the process that but the key was me being in control, of me. I learned to Kickbox under Spider Hempfield but I lacked the application knowledge I have now about the meditation process. I learned Yoga on my own and aquired meditation techniques that helped me get through Ranger School in my 30's. The spiritual reward for accomplishing that goal seemed for me to formally learn the moving meditation techniques of Taiji Quan. It seemed that while learning this devine art I sensed that much of that lack of application knowledge to other fitness disciplines was not for me to know until I matured to understand my own mortality.

I exercised intensely, off and on, while studying Bhakti Yoga under Master Edward Martingdale. With time I began to realize that pugilism, running, swimming, cycling, yoga and weight-lifting were interrelated. I had practiced them separately and in circuits long before the idea of Cross-fit was marketed. Taiji Quan, Ranger School, years of academic training in curriculum development and becoming the Master of Angel's Gym helped me develop faith in the academic understanding of cross-training. I just did not know how they were connected or rather why they should be practiced together. Could there be a mental quality of exercise, practiced in the extreme, that could help an adept transcend affect, cognitive and kinetic limitation without injury! This article explores further discusses the importance of mastering the skill of meditation. If done correctly it could turn exteme endurance exercise regimens into lessons in stilling and moving meditation.

What is Hexathletic Conditioning

A Hexathlete is person adept at six disciplines which facilitate moving and stilling meditation in individual or group settings that emphasize cooperative or competitive motivational methods. This post begins an exploration of the specific tasks of becoming an adept at stilling and moving meditation methods. Such methods fall in the immediate academic category of Exercise Psychology. The aim is to build an understandable, curriculum that will realize a person or group's full emotional, cognitive and kinetic potential.

How can one meditate to induce tireless movement and facilitate imperturbable stillness?

It takes 10,000 hours of emotional, cognitive and kinetic training to begin to master the basics of six disciplines that afford the adept preternatural movement and stillness: Yoga (Alchemic), Swimming (Open Water), Cycling (Road/Mountain), Lifting (Olympic), Running (Barefoot) & Pugilism (Western Internal)...

The adept must first have 300-400 hours of Affect (emotional), Cognitive (mental) and Kinetic (physical) conditioning in the six disciplines mentioned. This level of training allows the adept to perform each discipline for 20 minutes with 5-10 min for transition from session to session. By this standard a person can exercise for nearly 3 hours without significant interuption. Peformed separately or even two at a time, a twenty minute limit to each exercise is well within a fit person's ability to accomplish without experiencing exhaustion. But to do all of the exercises without experiencing exhaustion is a significant feat and requires more than physical fitness alone. It requires a union of mind, body and spirit.

The question is how can a person accomplish this task in a manner consistent with a conscious state of awarness allowing for a heightening of Alpha wave activity sufficient enough to sustain beta wave activity during changes in actions that induces stillness or movement? Moreover, can the six staged exercise help an adept reach the higher stages of consciousness associated with increased perception, health and intelligence? The answer is developing the ability to synchonize breathing to a series of rythmic actions that are imagined and percieved to be a as a single, long continuous movement.

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(YMCA Tai Chi & Chi Kung Training Routines)

Meditation as Foundation

This is called the "zone" or Flow State. To be able to attain and sustain the Flow State in every discipline is the sought after ability. The answer to the question stated above is the most concise explanation of how one realizes this state of consciousness to reach the ultimate expression of stillness or motion. This is the true conceptual and applied power of meditation: To create a singularity, to change the perception of separation into oneness and to discipline the process of breathing, moving and visualizing to manifest a new conscious reality from the world of imagination.

For moving meditaton the mu brain waves - which indicate a break in kinetic activity must be surpressed. The alpha wave must be increased and the beta wave sustained. The theta wave or conscious dream-state - which becomes active during arousal of the hypothalmus resulting from activity in the anterior cingulate cortex (acc) and the amygdale, must be regulated intent and will. The theta state of consciousness is the state of being wherin the greatest epiphanies and bouts of creativity are found. Intent is defined as the idea of volition in action and will is defined as being able to initiate intent or to terminate it. The images in this state are very clear and the adpet is usually a part of the imagery and visualization is from the inside out. What one has learned but not understood is given form and these forms can tigger very emotional responses. Such levels of arousal can bring about understanding or fear.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_wave

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_wave.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theta_wave. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mu_wave.

The Flow Process & States of Awareness

The proper amount of arousal somewhere in between learning and fear. This place is the place is maintained through intent and will. Intent and will is effectively developed through aquiring percerverance during the 300-400 hour foundational training. The adept can not escape the work ethic required to complete this stage of training in the six disciplines. The emotional intelligence gained from patiently gaining skills that allow the adept to thread every posture into a single, fluid and continuous movement is is the basis for refining and cultivating attention. The power of attention and attainment of skill manifests positive energy. This energy is commonly observed and felt as emotion.

Emotion is the power to make the impossible possible through imagination so long as the person acting as a medium for such power has skill. It is necessary to invoke emotional responses to stimuli that help the adept reach his/her goal. Excessive amounts due to a lack of self-knowledge of images that trigger inappropriate emotional responses to an unconscious negative-experience could destroy the focused attention exercise that suppresses mu waves, elevates alpha wave and sustain beta waves. The flow state is achieved by using focused attention exercises to properly direct thoughts, images and visualizations that are favorable to accessing the proper emotional state to stay in the "zone". Consciousness is altered on the emotional, cognitive and kinetic level by the amount of time one spends in the zone during movement and stillness. However, it is in the still state that consciousness more routinely activates delta and gamma brain wave activity.

Transcendental aspects of meditation takes place during such activity. It can happen through the process of joining focused attention and object monitoring exercises together with visualization imagery. This integration process is better understood when one explores the mechanics of consciousness. In this context the Eastern and Western approaches can be used to convey meaning and comprehension. This is especially true for the Internal Boxing adept.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2693206/

The Mechanics of Consciousness

The alpha state of consciousness is what internal boxing adepts call concentrated spirit. According to Neijia scholar Li i-Yueh - following calm mind, continuous breathing, unified agility and intrinsic stregth - it is the 5th Character Secret. Focused Attention on breathing process coupled with a unified agility that converts many motions into one creates a calm mind. Beta brain waves are controlled by unified agility which allows for continuous motion. Theta brain wave activity comes from the effects of sustaining motions that are reinforced through acompanying visualization exercises conducted in tandem with breathing and mindfulness methods. Imagery creates forms that are anchors to emotional triggers. These triggers give one access to the inner power expressed through emotion. The adept becomes a part of the visualization process from a 1st person perspective. In effect they are within the vision that compels the emotional power derived from a state of consciousness that is described as a "conscious dream".

The power of the universe is found in a human beings ability to express emotion in the focused state of conscious dreaming. This is described as an astral power that allows for the integration of mental, causal and elemental forces to be manifest in the physical plane. Specifically, emotion connects human cognition and physicality to the energy potentials of the universe. To harness the full weight of such expression a human being must have control over the mind and body. Controlling the great beast of breathing is how this happens because it allows the operator to access the reticular activating system which controls autonomic systems that affect mind and body. If the operator has passed all the basic, Pranayama exercises to standard then they should move to Balanced Breathing, Ratio Breathing and Pratyahara Breathing, respectively. The series can have the operator hold an asana for one hour after 60-70 cycles conducted for 40-80 seconds per cycle. Between 50-70 cycles a state of physical-sense detachment occurs and objects monitoring can occur….. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2944261/

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Attaining Higher States of Consciousness

Object Monitoring is a detached modality of consciousness. As such it is a greatly sought after skill to accomplish. The frequency state of the mind is in the Delta, Gamma and Hyper-gamma ranges. Focused attention states normally range from the Alpha and Beta states of consciousness using breathing techniques that do not involve retention (Air held in the lungs) or suspension (No Air in the lungs). When retention and suspension exercises are used to prolong a breathing cycle to 2 breaths in a minute neurological and physiological changes occur for the operator after 10-20 mins. Focus attention exercises do this very effectively when they are targeted towards cardio-respiratory control. After 30 mins of continuous focused attention exercises consciousness in the beta state. After 40 mins a delta state which allows for the operator to begin object monitoring. In this initial state one is detached and feeling like an observer. After 50mins to an hour the gamma state can be achieved.

In this state the adept becomes a part of the visualization of imagery. Aware of his/her physical body only as a second thought, the operator believes he/she can exist in two realities: The one that necessitates breathing and he one that does not. The latter he controls with his/he will and intent. Intent is defined as the idea of volition in action and will is defined as being able to initiate intent or to terminate it. These abilities are sharpened, refined and cultivated in the gamma state of consciousness. If an operator can sustain the Gamma state of consciousness for 80-90 mins the possibility to transform behavior at the attitudinal, cognitive and kinetic levels is possible. Transcendence is found at this level and it is called the Hyper-gamma state of consciousness.

A delta state of consciousness is normally a modality of unconsciousness. During this state the body repairs itself. When the adept moves from theta to delta state in meditation one can perform the same repairs. However, the mind receeds from physical sensation in all ways but awareness. A dream state can occur but the singular focus on the object or word that helped one achieve the state can bring the focussed attention back to a conscious state of awareness. Healing is achieved in this state of mind only when the mind, seated asana and imagery of singularity has manifested a state of almost pure consciousness without physical constraint.

Gamma brain waves are produced when one can access unconscious experiences and make peace with them. By peace I mean acceptance that everything they are is a part of everything that is, was and will be. The focus is done in Alpha and beta states. The passion is raised, observed and controlled in the theta state. The cleansing is performed in the delta state. Acceptance, compassion and salvation is achieved in the gamma state of consciousness as all sides of what is known and unknown to the adept is revealed, embraced and resolved. Connections are made to the point wherin empathy and compassion release the full potential of human beingness.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2944261/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_wave

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma_wave

Group Training in Stilling and Moving Meditation

Competition is the environmental medium for Sport Psychology. Cooperation is the medium for Exercise Psychology. Both have its merits based on the desired goal and mental proclivity. I can definitively state that intrinsic motivations are the most effective in the effort to enjoy and continue training with few pauses. I can also state with confidence that better performance intraining and competition comes from a mind and spirit focused to enable a body to execute kinetic tasks in a fluid and continuous mannter rather than focusing on winning or goal completion. As stated once the fitness performance base is set it is more practical to try to enjoy training rather than endure training. In this context, group training should be constructed to socially facilitate cooperative bonding rather than competitive comparisons.

In stilling meditation settings the effort is to establish a process that links breathing, sound, visualization and posture. In moving meditation session breathing, pace, rhythm and visualization methods are synchronized to ensure success in the reaching of a goal. Cooperation is a reflection of the internal vision shared by the group. This is vital in organized behavior and can be transcendent for the beginning or advanced Pugilistic Athlete. It is using a practical set to reverse contemporary ideas concerning the benefits of competition. It is also the application of what one individually learns in solitary meditation sessions where Gamma states of consciousness has been reached.

In the beginning stages there is a certain amount of competitive instincts that must be understood and worked through. Humans are herding animals when hunting and herd animals when performing the hunt. We move well together when we are emotionally linked to each other for safety reasons. The practical set in exercise psychology is to get the group to move together for empathetic reasons: because, they care about each other. Beginning the kinetic exercise in any of the disciplines should begin in a stilling meditative session to begin a process of establishing this empathetic vision. This can carry over to the moving meditation, with sincerity, after repeated sessions. If the exercise session is founded upon feeling better and not feeling dominant then the empathy goal can be reached. The key to having the group perform in this vein of thought is dependent upon the intensity, regularity and commitment to the process by the participants. It also greatly depends upon the coaching and leadership of the group performing. However, in the end it all comes down to the individual understanding their own power to achieve altered states of consciousness.


General Training Regimen

The conditioning is based on a 6 day training week. One day is moving meditation and the other stilling meditation. Imagery/Mantra/Mudra (IMM) Meditation methods are to be used during the transition (10 min breaks) between 20 minute Moving Meditation Methods (MMM) on MMM days. Sessions that emphasize legs over arm movement should be alternated between with an opposing emphasis (ie, Pranayama/Qigong then Swimming, Cycling then Lifting, Boxing/Tai Chi then Running. IMM threads the sessions together in a ceaseless effort of meditation. These sessions are 3 hours in duration. Olympic Lifting is advised. Western and Eastern dummy methods are advised

On Stilling Meditation Method (SMM) days seated/standing asana are the physical static and dynamic postures are preventive health and internally regenerative exercises. Taoist meditation exercises are to be alternated by Vedic meditation exercises. Whenever the two can be joined in a single session it should be done. Six Healing Sound Session is followed by the Kuji Kiri Session. The Eight Seated Brocade is followed by Nadi cleansing Pranayama. The 36 Chamber Microcosmic Orbit is joined with Ratio-breathing retention Vedic exercises. Eight Paths Macrocosmic is joined with Balanced-breathing Vedic excises. Hatha Vedic exercises should be joined with Taiji Taoist exercises. A combination od these sessions are performed 3 times a day, an hour at a time for 3 hours os exercises for that day. Academic study is best performed on SMM days. Brain Entrainment exercises using Isochoric and Bi-aural Beats should be used to assist the adept. This type of exercise (SMM) is considered alchemy. The study and application of herbal, acupuncture massage and mental leading (Jin Luo) should be emphasized on these days. Studying Exercise Psychology, Vedic/Taoist Alchemy texts and treatise is recommended. The practice of music, calligraphy and the sword is strongly advised to learn how to refine the expression of energy. Mastery of internal and external situation is cultivated in these endeavors.



Summary: Achieving Altered States of Consciousness

The practice of Taoist herbology and alchemy is a necessity to ensure the body protected from any excessive exertion of energy that can over-stress organs, muscles. tendons and skeletal jligamnts and joints. The majority of this information can be found in my Truwaza Martial Arts Times. The other requires personal training in Li Chin Yi's Six Healing Breath & Eight Seated Brocade method. Acharyi Khadi Madama (Author: Yoga for the MMA Mat) taught me this method and it can be taught to you. While practicing one must learn the steps for achieving the alpha, beta, theta, delta and gamma levels of consciousness.

Step 1) Alpha State -Develop the ability to perform seated, focus attention breathing- exercises for 1 hour.

Step 2) Beta State - Introduce visualization skills to integrate imagery into Step One exercise.

Step 3) Theta - Participate in the visualization from an attached perspective (Object Monitoring Part 2).

Step 4) Delta - Participate in the visualization from a detached perspective (Object Monitoring Part 1).

Step 5) Gamma - Perform Metta or Compassion Meditation



Yoga Meditation Process

1) Asana Exercises

2. Hatha Exercises

3) Pranayama Exercises

4) Qigong Exercises

Swimming Meditation Process

1) Pranayama Exercises

2) Breast Stroke Visualization

3) Two Stroke underwater and One Stroke Breathing Kinetic Imagery

4) Apply mantra to breathing and imagery synchronization

5) Progress through Steps 1-5

Cycling Meditation Process

1) Pranayama Exercises

2) Feet round, Knees in, Shoulders down, Chin up, Breath Visualization

3) Apply mantra to breathing and imagery synchronization

4) Progress through Steps 1-5

Lifting Meditation Process

1) Kuji Kiri Exercises

2) Lifting Visualization

3) Coordinating Breathing for Kinetic Imagery

4) Progress through Steps 1 and 2

Running Meditation Process

1) Pranayama Exercises

2) Stride Visualization

3) Apply mantra to breathing and imagery synchronization

5) Progress through Steps 1-5

Boxing Meditation Process

1) Pranayama Exercises

2) Posture/Punching Form Visualization

3) Circular and Bellows Breathing synchronized with Kinetic Imagery

4) Apply mantra to breathing and imagery synchronization

5) Progress through Steps 1-5



Western Scientific Research Findings

A review of scientific studies identified relaxation, concentration, an altered state of awareness, a suspension of logical thought and the maintenance of a self-observing attitude as the behavioral components of meditation;[73] it is accompanied by a host of biochemical and physical changes in the body that alter metabolism, heart rate, respiration, blood pressure and brain activation.[52][163] Meditation has been used in clinical settings as a method of stress and pain reduction. Meditation has also been studied specifically for its effects on stress.[164][165] Despite the large number of scientific publications on meditation, its measurable effect on brain activity is still not well understood.

Recent investigations of mediation have linked it to increased intelligence through physical growth of the brain. Researchers at Harvard, Yale, and MIT conducted brain scans that reveal an increased thickness in the parts of the brain that deal with attention and sensory input processing. Using magnetic resonance imaging, they visualized variations in the thickness of the cerebral cortex of experienced Buddhist Insight meditation practitioners. The data show that regular practice of meditation is associated with increased thickness in a subset of cortical regions related to somatosensory, auditory, visual and interoceptive processing. Further, regular meditation practice may slow age-related thinning of the frontal cortex, leading to longer lasting executive functioning.[170]

An EEG study by Richard J. Davidson of people who meditate in metta, with a minimum of 10,000 hours practice, showed substantial differences in the magnitude of gamma waves as well as gamma synchronization, particularly during meditative sessions, and directly afterwards. During baseline states, where the subject was not engaged in the practice of metta, there was a signature brain wave pattern that distinguishes the metta practitioners, lay people as well as monks, from people, at baseline, who have not extensively practiced compassion meditation. This study also showed, during meditation, an increase in the activity of brain areas such as the temporoparietal junction, insula, and amygdala can increase the subject's ability to see things from another's perspective, and actually change the area of the brain that is involved with the autonomic system so that the meditator's heartbeat increases. These studies show that the amygdala is modulated during compassion meditation.[22] Compassion meditation has been shown to lower the participants reaction to inflammation and distress, both of which are associated with, "major depression, heart disease and diabetes," in response to stressors, a change that was dependent on the amount of time spent practicing, with practitioners who spent more time meditating having corresponding more significant changes in their brains.[28]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mettā

 

The linking information was posted solely to help the reader get a visual as the links are relevant to the prose. I thank you for your help in editing the material and placing it in the proper category. I hope the material spurs debate....