In this article Sensei Mike explains the basic techniques of Training the Mind. He then explains how to unify Mind, Body and Spirit training into a single highly effective tool for self-defence.
This is the last of the 3-part origin story for my blog. Links to all three are below:
What Is The Point?
It was time for the adult class at Sensei Mike’s dojo to start. As he walked onto the floor, the senior student said in a strong, firm voice, “Shugo1”. As the newest student, Elliott took the junior position at the end of the line.
Sensei Mike then asked, “Any questions before we get started?”
Elliott hesitantly raised his hand. Sensei Mike nodded, “Elliott?”
Elliott said, “Excuse me, Sensei. I don’t understand. What is the point?”
“What don’t you understand?” Sensei Mike asked.
“Mokusō2.” Elliott said. “We do Mokusō at the beginning and end of every class, but I don’t know how to do it or even know why we do it. I’m here to learn self-defence. How does doing nothing help me become better at self-defence?”
Sensei Mike’s face lit up, “Elliott, that is an excellent question!”. He then asked everyone to sit relaxed.
Sensei Mike continued, “To build your self-defence skills, you must train to overcome two major problems. I refer to these as your Outer and Inner problems3.”
Outer and Inner Problems
“Outer problems are anything in the physical world that you must overcome. Bullies are Outer problems. Your untrained body is an Outer problem. The techniques you need to defend yourself are Outer problems. Most dojos concentrate their training Outer problems because they are easier to understand, teach and learn. These dojos want you to believe that, if you train your Outer problems long enough and hard enough, you will be able to defend yourself.”
“But there’s a second problem you need to address. You will understand this better if you ask yourself: ‘Am I mentally strong enough to withstand a bully’s verbal and physical attacks?’ If your answer is no, or you have any doubts, that is your less obvious but more significant Inner problem.”
“Inner problems are more significant because, even if you train your Outer problems for years, you may discover in a self-defence situation that you lack the mental toughness to use your skills.”
“Inner problems are also less obvious, because we can’t train by emulating them. We can observe people as they train physically—to see what they train, how they train, how often and how hard they train, and how they make it all work. However, there is no outward way to emulate a person who is engaged in training to solve their Inner problems. We may see the outward results of their Inner training, as they outwardly remain calm, non-reactive, and highly effective in a tense situation. But we have no way to see and emulate how they train their Inner problems, because we cannot look into the inner workings of their mind.”
Train Your Body
Sensei Mike continued, “When you join a dojo, the first thing you learn is how to develop, condition, and train your body. In time, you will build strength, flexibility, fine motor control, balance, and coordination. And, you will learn the biomechanics4 of basic techniques. As you progress, you will learn combinations, take downs, joint locks, pressure point strikes, balance displacement, and more. With enough Body training, you may eventually feel that you can successfully defend yourself.”
“With just Body training, you can become highly effective, but it may not be enough to save you in a self-defence situation. This is because we assume that a bully will always bigger, stronger, faster, and more experienced than we are.”
“So, what else can we do to improve our chances?”
Training Technique
Sensei Mike continued, “We can improve our effectiveness by training technique. Hélio Gracie, one of the founders of Brazilian Jujitsu, always told his students: ”
Always assume your opponent is going to be bigger, stronger, and faster than you so that you learn to rely on technique rather than on brute strength5.
“When we add technique to our training, we learn, practice, and internalize the fine details of each move. For example, it is one thing to know how to strike. With technique, we also learn and practice where to strike, when to strike, the correct way to strike, how to use speed and power, balance and rooting, and so on, to maximum effect. Once you become proficient using technique, you will be able to avoid a slugfest-style6 fight that a street fighter or a boxer wants. Instead, as a martial artist, you should be able to end a fight with a quick exchange of two or three skilfully delivered techniques.”
“When we combine Body training with Technique training, we dramatically improve our chances of success.”
“So, is this the best we can do? Or can we do even better.”
Train Your Mind
Sensei Mike continued, “We do Body and Technique training to counter a bully’s physical skills—but what can we do to overcome a bully’s mental skills? A bully’s mental toughness comes from their experience using threats, anger, and hostility to intimidate their victims. When a bully starts a situation, they use verbal assaults to win the mental fight that always comes before a physical fight. If we have no defences against verbal attacks, we will lose the mental fight, and likely the physical fight. We need to learn how to overcome a bully’s mental skills, so that we prevail at the mental stage of a fight.”
Why Do We Hesitate?
“For most people, the default reaction to danger and stress is fight-or-flight7. We do this because fight-or-flight is familiar to us. We’ve seen it, and maybe even done it—but it usually doesn’t work. It fails because we believe, and the bully believes, that they will win a physical fight. So, while we are trying to decide between fight or flight, we hesitate, as we: “
- “Think ‘Do I run? What if he catches me?’”
- “Think ‘Do I fight? I might get hurt.'”
- “Tense up thinking, ‘I don’t want to fight.’”
- “Resist the situation thinking, ‘This is unfair… what did I ever do to them?’”
- “Stop paying attention, as we become overwhelmed with our thoughts and feelings.”
- “May panic, thinking, Why is this happening to me?”
“And, in the time it takes for us to work through all of this, we could lose the fight.”
“All of these unskillful responses, and the bully’s mental assaults are our Inner problems. Inner problems are states of mind, that lead to unwanted outcomes. We can only rid ourselves of these responses when we recognize our Inner problems for what they are, and then train our mind to replace them with something that works.”
What to Abandon and What to Train
Sensei Mike continued. “In the East it is understood that, just as we can train our body, we can also train our mind. And, just as there are many techniques for training the body, there are also many techniques for training the mind.”
“There is a major difference between how we train our body and how we train our mind. When we start training our body, we work to build strength, stamina, power, and physical skills. But, when we start training our mind, we begin by learning how to abandon the default habits that don’t serve us, such as our default fight-or-flight responses. We do this to make room in our mind so that we can begin training the new mental responses that will serve us.”
So how do we do that?”
“In our tradition, there are many techniques for training the mind. But they all rely on five basic practices. These practices will help us to rid ourselves of our fight-or-flight responses, and they will help us to, directly or indirectly, develop a calm, unshakable mind. In time, our well-trained mind will become our most powerful self-defence tool. Our calm, unshakable mind will help us win the mental fight, and if needed, the physical fight.”
The Five Basic Techniques for Training the Mind
The five basic techniques for training the Mind are:
- “Presence – keeps us from retreating into our imagined past or future when we start thinking ‘What did I ever do to him?’ or ‘What if I can’t defend myself and he hurts me?’. When we retreat into our past or future, we hesitate. Staying in the present moment keeps us fully engaged in the situation as it unfolds.”
- “Patience – counters our natural tendency to tense up. When we practice patience, we relax, release stress, and remain calm. Holding tension wastes the energy we need to defend ourselves. When we relax, that energy is available to us.”
- Acceptance – allows us to see the situation clearly and objectively exactly as it is. When we fully accept things as they are, we remain calm. We do that by abandoning our resistance, fears, judgments, feelings, and doubts. Once we have abandon these, we can to respond skilfully and effectively to a situation.”
- “Awareness – prevents us from letting our mind wander. When we are fully aware, we remain focused on the situation as it unfolds, so we won’t be surprised or caught off guard. In time, we may even develop a sense of heightened awareness called Zanshin8.”
- “Breathing – is the foundation of all of our physical and mental practices. If we allow our breathing to falter, our practice of presence, relaxation, acceptance, and awareness also falters. And, when our mind falters, our body falters. Breathing energizes our body and mind. It functions to release stress and develop power. Breathing is so fundamental to the martial arts that the karate style Gōjū-ryū9 (hard-soft style) incorporates the power of breathing into its name10.”
Kihon Shin Waza
“All five techniques of training the mind are mutually supporting. For example, breathing energizes the body and helps us to stay present. Presence and awareness work together to prevent distractions and keep us in the moment. Patience and acceptance functions to overcome stress, anxiety, and resistance. Acceptance also eliminates mental noise, like disturbing thoughts and feelings, so we stay alert and ready to respond skilfully.”
“I refer to the five basic Mind training techniques as Kihon Shin Waza11. This is Japanese for the Basic Techniques of Training the Mind. These practices are so critical to our success as martial artists, that we do formal Mind training using these techniques at the beginning and end of every class when we do Mokusō.”
One Mind
“Our overall goal is to unify our Body and Mind training so that we attain a One Mind state—where our Mind, Body, and Intention12work together as one. In this state, we see with clarity, act skilfully, and respond with an indomitable spirit. The Japanese name for this unified state of Body, Mind and Intention is Isshin (一心)13.”
“With our Isshin mind of clarity, we direct our body exactly where to strike, when to strike, the correct way to strike, how to use speed and power, balance and rooting, and so on, to maximum effect by using the full force of our One Mind. Isshin makes our soft techniques faster and more fluid, and our hard techniques stronger and more powerful. In this way, Isshin works as a force multiplier14 because we achieve much more when our Body, Mind and Spirit work in unison than we could achieve by using the Body, Mind or Spirit individually.”
The Isshin Advantage
“Isshin gives a smaller, weaker person an advantage over a larger, stronger, and more powerful, but untrained opponent. With it, we can first win the mental fight by maintaining a state of calm non-reaction. If the fight turns physical, and we can’t avoid it, we will skilfully use our Mind, Body and indomitable Spirit to deliver a few effectively applied techniques that quickly end the fight.”
“All of this sounds good—but does it actually work? Consider… Have you ever seen a much larger dog charge a cat? What does the cat usually do? It just stands there and remains calm. It doesn’t react, and it doesn’t flinch. Instead, the cat rests in an Isshin like state of complete awareness, ready to respond. In most cases, it is the dog that flinches and backs down.”
So, is this the best we can do, or can we do even better?”
Train Your Spirit
“As I said in a previous talk15, your Body, Mind and Spirit are the three tools a martial artist must develop to their full potential.”
“We use Spirit to commit ourselves fully to whatever action we undertake. When we use Spirit in self-defence, we engage our opponent not just with our Mind and Body, but also with all of our energy, intention, emotions, and with the full expression of our art.”
“When we commit to an action with Spirit, we: “
- “Fully commit to the action with without hesitation, with no half measures, and with no excuses—no matter what.”
- “Engage our Body fully, relying on it to respond instantly and naturally.”
- “Use the power of our Mind to remain calm and non-reactive, so that we can see and act with clarity and skill.”
- “Apply the sum total of our physical, mental and spirit energy into our actions.”
- “Use emotions to feel and experience the engagement.”
“It is easy to experience strong emotions in a stressful situation. We need to channel our emotions skilfully into our actions to achieve the outcome we desire—for all involved. As Bruce Lee said: “
“We need emotional content, not anger!16“
“When we are able to protect ourselves and others, and with a mind motivated by compassion, by protect our opponent from unnecessary harm—we have reached the highest level of martial arts maturity. The union of a strong Body and Mind, with an indomitable Spirit is the supreme way of Not Fighting17.”
Honouring Our Lineage
“Our tradition traces its lineage back to the Shaolin temple, where Mokusō was their primary form of spiritual practice.”
“Around 527AD, an Indian monk named Bodhidharma is said to have introduced martial arts training to the monastery as a way to enhance the monk’s practice of Training the Mind. The result was a powerful integration of Body, Mind and Spirit—where a strong Body is developed in dependence on a strong Mind and Spirit, a strong Mind is developed in dependence on a strong Spirit and Body, and an indomitable Spirit is developed in dependence on a strong Body and Mind. This union of Body, Mind, and Spirit is the very essence of our martial arts practice.”
These skills, when practised with mindfulness and patient, persistent effort over many years, is the pathway for us to become the best we can be.”
Mokusō is Everywhere
“The monks at the Shaolin temple practised basic meditation techniques including presence, acceptance, patience, awareness and breathing to calm their mind18 before beginning formal meditation training. Likewise, we train Mokusō at the beginning of class to clear and focus our mind so that we can completely immerse ourselves into our training. We train Mokusō at the end of class to review and internalize what we learned, to evaluate our effectiveness and performance, and to contemplate ways of making further improvements.”
“Once we know why we do Mokusō, and we have some experience with it, we will start finding new ways to apply it as we train, and outside the dojo, including: “
- “At the beginning and end of a kata”
- “In between kata template sequences”
- “Before, during and after sparring”
- “When practising self-defence drills”
- “During gradings”
- “When performing kata for a judge or an audience”
- “Wherever we are feeling stressed.”
- “In the instant between seeing a situation, but before we judge it, so that we remain objective.”
- “In almost all aspects of your daily life.”
“Whenever we find ourselves experiencing stress, when we don’t know what to do, or when we need to calm and re-center our mind so that we can observe and think clearly, take a short Mokusō break. A pause of as little as a few seconds is often all we need.”
“In time, we will become a Mokusō expert. And, the peace, calmness, and clarity Mokusō provides will profoundly change our life.”
“Our Mokusō training starts now. When Mokusō is called, I want you to focus on your breath. Don’t try to change your breathing, and do your best to keep your focus and awareness on your breath without forcing it. It sounds simple. Try it for one minute to see how you do.”
Sensei Mike then sat down in the formal meditation posture. He nodded at the senior student, who responded with:
“Seiza” (please sit in the formal meditation posture)
“Mokusō” (meditate)
Zensei
Peace
Eastern Wisdom
As a fetcher straightens the arrow,
The Buddha19
so the man of understanding
makes straight the trembling unsteady mind,
which is difficult to guard and
difficult to restrain.
Whatever foe may do to foe,
The Buddha20
or hater to hater,
greater is the harm done (to oneself)
by a wrongly directed mind.
Neither mother nor father,
The Buddha21
nor any other relative,
can do one as much good
as a perfectly directed mind.
Dedication
For May – who was kind enough to ask how to train in a way that makes self-defence more effective.
Notes
- Higgins, Nicola. The 7 most important phrases to learn in your first few classes.
Shugo – 集合 – assemble
Seiretsu – 整列 – line up
https://bristolshorinjikempo.org/2025/11/21/the-7-most-important-phrases-to-learn-in-your-first-few-classes/ ↩︎ - Jutras, Martin. What is Meiso and Mokusō? Published 2024
Karate Meditation is a holistic practice that goes beyond physical training, deeply integrating the development of the mind and spirit.
Mokusō (Japanese 黙想 pronounced “moh-kso”).
https://www.thekaratelifestyle.com/what-is-meiso-and-mokuso/ ↩︎ - Inner and Outer Obstacles; Ways of Thinking
By Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche Melbourne, Australia, 1991
https://www.lamayeshe.com/article/chapter/Inner-and-Outer-obstacles-ways-thinking ↩︎ - Biomechanics – the study of the structure, function, and motion of biological systems using the principles of mechanics.
Wikipedia.org. Updated February 12, 2026
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biomechanics ↩︎ - Hélio Gracie was one of the founders of Gracie Jujitsu, also known as Brazilian Jujitsu.
Wikipedia.org. Updated February 26, 2026
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A9lio_Gracie ↩︎ - Slugfest is a fight marked by an extended exchange of heavy blows.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slugfest ↩︎ - Cherry, Kendra. What is the Fight-or-Flight Response? Your body’s natural reaction to danger.
Updated Oct 14, 2025.
https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-fight-or-flight-response-2795194 ↩︎ - Zanshin (Japanese: 残心) is a state of awareness and of relaxed alertness. A literal translation of zanshin is “remaining mind”. In karate, zanshin is the state of total awareness. It means being aware of one’s surroundings and enemies, while being prepared to react.
Wikipedia.org. Updated June 7, 2025
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zanshin ↩︎ - Gōjū-ryū (剛柔流). Japanese for hard-soft style. Published by Wikipedia.org. Edited April 6, 2026.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C5%8Dj%C5%AB-ry%C5%AB ↩︎ - Quast, Andreas. Eight Poems of the Fist. July 28, 2024.
Verse three of this poem reads: Inhaling represents softness while exhaling characterizes hardness.
Paraphrased from his blog post which reads ‘Chôjun, Miyagi Sensei chose this term as the name of his style from the Chinese book called Wubèizhì (Bubishi in Japanese). This book represented the written tradition of the southern Chinese branch of Shaolin-boxing called White Crane Gate’.
Extracts from this article include:
McCarthy, Patrick (Hanshi). Bubishi. The Bible of Karate. Published by Charles E. Tuttle Company, Rutland Vermont & Tokyo Japan, 1995.
Miyazato Ei’ichi. Okinawa-den Gôjû Ryû Karate-dô. Jitsugyô no Sekaisha Kan, 1953, page 35.
Ôtsuka Tadahiko (translator). Okinawa-den Bubishi. Tôkyô, Bêsubôru Magajin-sha 1991.
Ôtsuka Tadahiko (translator). Chûgoku Ryûkyû Bugeishi. Tôkyô, Bêsubôru magajin-sha 1998, pp. 278 and 318 (identical).
https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2024/07/8-poems-of-fist.html ↩︎ - Kihon – 基本 (basic), Shin – 心 (mind), Waza – 技 (technique). These are the five basic practices of training the mind. ↩︎
- In this context, I treat Intention and Spirit as synonyms. Fabrizio Muscacchio, the author of the Isshin article (item 13 below) uses the word intention together with body and mind. For this reason, I repeat his use of the word intention in this paragraph.
For the rest of my article, I revert back to the more traditionally accepted body, mind, spirit when referring to the three tools of a martial artist. ↩︎ - Muscacchio, Fabrizio. Isshin: The undivided mind. August 7, 2025
Isshin (Japanese 一心), translates to “one mind” or “wholeheartedness”, expresses a quality of total engagement, sincerity, and undivided presence. In Zen practice, this state of mind is not merely about focus or intensity, but about bringing the full self — body, mind, and intention (shingitai) — into alignment with the activity at hand.
https://www.fabriziomusacchio.com/weekend_stories/told/2025/2025-08-07-isshin/ ↩︎ - Strategy Partners Group. Force Multiplier is a factor or an attribute that dramatically increases the effectiveness or productivity of a resource or activity, producing an output that is greater than the inputs. Originally, it was used as a military term to describe strategies or tools that significantly enhance combat effectiveness.
Published April 23, 2025
https://strategypg.com/what-is-a-force-multiplier/ ↩︎ - Zensei.info. The Way of Shaolin. Blog post published August 23, 2024
All Karate clubs will help you train your body. But, to become truly proficient, you must also train your mind and spirit. In this post, Sensei Mike explains the most effective way to train.
https://zensei.info/the-way-of-shaolin/three-tools-of-a-martial-artist ↩︎ - Lee, Bruce. Quote from the 1973 move “Enter the Dragon” ↩︎
- Zensei.info. When the Student is Ready. Blog post published Dec 20, 2024.
https://zensei.info/when-the-student-is-ready/the-way-of-not-fightingabc ↩︎ - Andersen, Reb (Tenshin). Entering the Mind of the Buddha – Zen and the Six Heroic Practices of Bodhisattvas.
Shambala Publications. Published December 17, 2019. Extract from the chapter titled Radiant Presence
https://www.shambhala.com/perfection-of-patience-radiant-presence/ ↩︎ - Sangharakshita (translator), The Dhammapada: The Way of Truth. Verse 33, Windhorse Publications,
https://archive.org/download/dhammapadathewayoftruthsangharakshita_783_G/Dhammapada%20The%20Way%20of%20Truth%20Sangharakshita.pdf ↩︎ - Sangharakshita (translator), The Dhammapada: The Way of Truth. Verse 42, Windhorse Publications,
https://archive.org/download/dhammapadathewayoftruthsangharakshita_783_G/Dhammapada%20The%20Way%20of%20Truth%20Sangharakshita.pdf ↩︎ - Sangharakshita (translator), The Dhammapada: The Way of Truth. Verse 43, Windhorse Publications,
https://archive.org/download/dhammapadathewayoftruthsangharakshita_783_G/Dhammapada%20The%20Way%20of%20Truth%20Sangharakshita.pdf ↩︎