Meditation is a crucially important practice for martial artists. It enables you to gain control over your state of mind, your level of arousal, and above all teaches you to be able to direct your attention.
In this course Guy will teach you four different types of meditation, beginning with a simple awareness of breathing, then the body scan, using mantras, and moving meditation. This will enable you to make informed choices about what kind of meditation you want to include into your daily life.
Awareness of breathing meditation is the foundation practice, in which you learn to pay non-judgemental attention to your breathing, and to return your attention to the breath when it wanders. This improves your ability to direct your attention.
Body Scan meditation is the practice of paying attention to one part of the body at a time, moving through the whole body, noticing what is going on without interference. This is helpful for many reasons, not least it can make you more aware of the side-effects of our other training.
Mantra meditation is the practice of using a short phrase, repeated over and over. This can be a way to enter a meditative state, and also serve as positive self-talk leading to better outcomes.
Moving meditation is the practice of moving mindfully. It can be extremely helpful for learning new techniques, as well as for smoothing out and improving any kind of movement. The class includes moving meditation while seated, for students who are unable to stand.
The course includes some very short meditations (the shortest takes only six breaths), which are useful on their own and can plant a seed that may grow into a solid practice habit.
The course is organised into six weeks of practice (which may take longer- there is no rush- but should not be compressed into a shorter timeframe). Week 1 is for Awareness of Breathing; week 2 for Body Scan, week 3 is for consolidating our practice so far; week 4 is for introducing mantras, week 5 for introducing movement, and week 6 for consolidation and revision. At the end of the six weeks you will have an informed base from which to create your own meditation practice, suited to your mind, your body, and your needs. Once you have bought the course you own it outright, so you can keep using the content forever: six weeks is just the minimum normal time to work through the whole course.
Meditation is a very subjective practice, and its effectiveness can only be judged by the practitioner. If you practice for at least ten minutes a session, five sessions a week, for two weeks, you should experience an improvement in your state of mind. If you have done the practice and are getting no results, then I invite you to apply for a refund, no questions asked, and no offence taken. I do not expect this course to work for every mind, but there is good reason to believe it will be helpful to many minds.
Welcome!
I’m aware of the benefits of meditation, and I’ve experienced Guy Windsor’s expert and inspiring teaching in other contexts, so I came to his Meditation Course with very high expectations. And the well-constructed and smoothly flowing series of lessons thoroughly met and exceeded those expectations. Guy’s approach, as one would expect from a martial artist, is thoroughly ‘down to earth’ and 100% practical, first sharing some quickly effective and easily acquired basic skills, and then guiding you through deeper experiences.
I thought I knew something about it already, but I learnt a lot from Guy’s introduction to, guidance through, and after-thoughts on each different technique. As a musician and martial arts student, I especially appreciated a session that studied high-level training in the meditative state: a technique that you could apply to any skilled or artistic activity. Best of all, as we all developed our skills and mental stamina, more and more of each session was spent doing, not talking. So the classes themselves became an oasis of calm and a source of renewed energy; an experience of, as well as a lesson in, the power of meditation.
Disclaimer: Guy is a personal friend. But he is a close enough friend that in the (unlikely) event of his presenting something cr@p, I would just advise him to fix it first, before telling anyone else about it.
Andrew Lawrence-King
Your Instructor
I have been training martial arts for 30 years, and teaching swordsmanship professionally since I founded The School of European Swordsmanship in 2001. The School has branches and study groups all over the world, so I have taught thousands of students, from all sorts of backgrounds and cultures. My books include The Swordsman’s Companion, The Duellist’s Companion, The Medieval Dagger, The Medieval Longsword, The Theory and Practice of Historical Martial Arts, and The Swordsman's Quick Guide series of ebooks along with many others. It's my job to help you achieve your goals. I do this by teaching in person, through my books, and through these online courses.
Course Curriculum
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PreviewWelcome, please start here (6:54)
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PreviewGetting comfortable: how to sit or lie down (6:19)
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PreviewRecommended resources (5:36)
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PreviewSix Breaths (1:30)
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PreviewAwareness of Breathing Instruction (2:58)
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PreviewAwareness of Breathing 6 minute meditation (8:08)
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PreviewAwareness of Breathing 10 minute meditation (11:49)
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StartIntro and Awareness of Breathing live class zoom recording (58:58)
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StartJoin the Community