Page 515 - Total War on PTSD

“I see martial arts as moving forms of meditation. When you're sparring or drilling techniques, you can't think of anything else.” - Joe Rogan
Courtenay: I see martial arts as something like moving meditation, conduction an orchestra, or painting a picture in the air. Somewhat like Kata in Karate, where Kata (a Japanese word meaning form) basically describes patterns of movement, stepping and turning, while maintaining, or attempting to maintain, perfect form.
My little brother Daniel used to compete in Kata, and was actually a third degree black belt before his death. He competed at an international level at one point in time in this beautiful art form/sport, and I was always extremely proud of him for it, especially since so much of his life was filled with real fighting, both physical and mental in nature.
When you participate in things like Kata, a moving meditation, “Brain wave patterns change and neuronal firing patterns synchronize.”
Meditation “actually increases the thickness of the cortex in areas involved in attention and sensory processing, such as the prefrontal cortex and the right anterior insula. You are exercising it while you meditate, and it gets bigger.”
Reference: Motluk, A (2005, November 15), Meditation builds up the brain. Retrieved from https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn8317-meditation-builds-up-the-brain/amp/
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