“Why Your Brain Needs More Downtime”

“Why Your Brain Needs More Downtime”

“Research on naps, meditation, nature walks and the habits of exceptional artists and athletes reveals how mental breaks increase productivity, replenish attention, solidify memories and encourage creativity”

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=mental-downtime

“Downtime replenishes the brain’s stores of attention and motivation, encourages productivity and creativity, and is essential to both achieve our highest levels of performance and simply form stable memories in everyday life. A wandering mind unsticks us in time so that we can learn from the past and plan for the future. Moments of respite may even be necessary to keep one’s moral compass in working order and maintain a sense of self.”

“Just how quickly meditation can noticeably change the brain and mind is not yet clear. But a handful of experiments suggest that a couple weeks of meditation or a mere 10 to 20 minutes of mindfulness a day can whet the mind—if people stick with it. Likewise, a few studies indicate that meditating daily is ultimately more important than the total hours of meditation over one’s lifetime.”

As a professional martial arts instructor, the practice of mindfulness is a variant on meditation.  Many equate meditation with trying to understand something more, to get answers to questions, or to relieve stress.

Mindfulness allows one to pay attention to things that seem both internal and external to us to receive more understanding and answers.  The side benefit of such focused activity relieves stress.

Traditional martial arts training has been one of the most powerful methods of developing mindfulness across thousands of years.

Kind regards,

Bob Lee

Head Instructor

3rd Degree Black Belt

http://www.bodymindsystems.com/what-are-natural-martial-arts.html