Customer Reviews

Easy Meditation for Martial Artists

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While meditation can be useful for just about anyone, the author's goal was to create an introductory text specifically tailored for martial artists. For the most he was successful, though I found the book far too elementary for my tastes. While I already know a bit about meditation, I bought it to not only increase my knowledge but also to discover better ways to convey this esoteric aspect of the arts to my students. The author has excellent prose though his work comes across a bit more like an e-mail to his friends than it does as a literary tome. His use of smiley faces gets annoying rather quickly. Regardless, it is a very quick, easy read that includes a solid overview, some useful exercises, and a good reading list for folks who want more depth to find the information they need.

It does not give you everything all in one place though. It describes the general concept of meditation, shows you how to begin, delves into the mind/body connection, and briefly covers moving meditation, energy projection, emotional balance, energy cleansing, visualization, affirmations, and healing. Important concepts such as "energy follows thought," "energy doesn't flow through tight muscles," "everything is about awareness and intention," and it's all about making "incremental changes" are spot on.

There is a lot to like in this book. Unfortunately there are also a lot of areas that could use improvement. Here are some examples:

There are no pictures or illustrations save for some Japanese woodcut reproductions that add a little visual appeal factor but do nothing to help readers understand the material. For example, the "standing stake" posture is pretty well described, but should ideally include an illustration or picture to help readers truly understand what the author is trying to convey. Further, there are a few significant typos that should have been corrected during the editing process. For example, on page 25 the text refers you back to the aforementioned "standing stake" as described on page 16 yet it is really on page 14.

The book is really short, a mere 130 pages of text if you ignore the front and back matter. It's not truly tailored specifically for martial arts either, touching on things like the fact kata can be used as moving meditation and pressure points can be manipulated to damage an opponent but does not go into any depth at all (in fact it states that pressure point manipulations are dangerous and shouldn't be taught in a book).

Much of the information is far too general as well. For example, there is an important caution about keeping your tongue on the roof of your mouth during breathing, but the explanation simply states, "failure to do this can cause energy overloads and actually create some very interesting medical conditions that you'd be better off not experiencing" and then refers you to another book if you want to know more. Well I want to know more now; I don't wanna have to go purchase and read another book... sigh.

The author has an impressive resume and truly appears to know what he is talking (err writing) about. Unfortunately he does not include much beyond references to other people's works (and a few of his own) to back up what he describes. I would feel much more comfortable with the information, and I suspect the book would sell a lot better, if it had more "proofs" in the way of footnotes and references in the text itself. After all, this is a subject that many folks do not believe in, despite the fact that it is scientifically proven to be real. An index that helps readers easily find the location of important points buried in the text would be a really nice addition too. I suspect these things could easily be added in a second edition if the author chooses to do so.

Were this basic text expanded upon, illustrated, indexed, and substantiated it would become an outstanding tome that I'd more than happily buy again. In the mean time I'm a bit disappointed with how the current version turned out. It really did not meet my expectations. It could, however, still be very useful for beginners, hence the higher than average rating. If you want a solid overview this is your book. If you're looking for more depth you'll need to go with something else.

Lawrence Kane

Author of Blinded by the Night, among other titles