Training the Mind -Rōnin

e to with Team Ronin and welcome to the very first teachings of a ronin today I want to talk about the practice of the mind I want to talk about the importance of mental health like physical fitness and physical training training your mind every single day is very critical for how we look at the world is how we're going to live how we look upon things is our truth so why not train your mind to live positive why not train your mind to live a positive life so you can have more success more happiness more of the fulfilling life right you don't have to be a victim of trauma to worry about the practice of mental health truly it should be practiced every single day even with a person with no um traumatic experience in their past mental health is one of the most important things that you can do on a daily basis the practice of the mind has always been very important to me as a martial artist as a warrior but I tell you why mental health was so important to me after my time in service you know I I reached this state of depression I did 23 years 18 plus years of that was with the Special Forces travel to 27 countries so I experienced a lot throughout my career and I tell you after going from 50 miles an hour to a dead stop let me tell you what happens when things come to a dead stop the the war the war finally caught up with me so at that time you know I reached the state of pretty bad depression and I needed to study how the mind worked I needed to understand how things work so I could kind of come up with a course of action in order to beat this you know as a special forces Soldier we're always constantly looking for intelligence and we take the raw intelligence and we dissect that intelligence and how it pertains to us and our mission right my mission was to find peace so I needed to gather the Intelligence on how a mind works and how the body is connected to mind in order to come up with a course of action to to meet my instate which was peace and I came to realize that you know the mind is connected to the body you ever felt um you ever seen a scary movie and then you felt it throughout your entirety you ever had a you know a thought that irritated you and you just felt that Rage or you felt that pain that heaviness in your do but that's your mind connected to the body a lot of bodybuilders can tell you that you know they make that mind connection to the body martial art is the same way we make that that mind connection to the body same thing with mental health if your mind is negative then your body is going to feel that negativity and in time that can truly cause sickness like cancer a lot of times people tell me hey I'm fine but yet they drink like a fish right so you're masking these emotions when you mask these emotions enough when you don't have those dependence then that emotion is going to surface and then you're back to square one so how do you get over traumatic events how do you train your mind to have a positive energy okay so let's talk about the mind let's talk about why is the Mind always thinking about negative stuff right why am I always thinking about negative stuff why I'm not focused on all the positives in my life well as a human being as an animal species we're trained to survive that's embedded into our brain so the Mind focuses on survivability so if you face a traumatic event before the mind is going to tell you hey I don't want to go there but what happens is we overthink things as a human being we overanalyze so we say what if what if this happens oh I see this sign I can't get over the past you're releasing those chemicals from your mind into your body so you're releasing the anxieties of the future you're releasing you know the the sadness of your mistakes from the past you have to let it go and you have to truly live in what is in all of time which is the past the future and the present the present moment embodies the whole time so you have to live within the present moment okay so for me it was about understanding that and then applying to practices in order for my mind to truly live in this present moment now there's a lot of practices right I I have seen it around the world I've seen ancient monks uh heal their bodies through just mind thing so how do we train such a powerful muscle well for me it was through different forms of meditation and there's so many practice of meditation but I found that there was a certain series of practices that helped me I started with mindfulness meditation which was uh a Eastern practice of uh zazen is to truly be in that present moment mindfulness meditation allows you to kind of block out the future and block out the past and truly dive into the present moment and we do this through breathing exercises and positioning of the body what I found was that this is a very hard practice and it took me close to five years to truly understand it and and Master my mind during the process I had to train my mind to be in the present moment and doing mindfulness meditation can be extremely hard especially for people that had traumatic experien from the past it's hard to quiet down the noises in fact if you just sit there right now and you just trying to concentrate your breathing you're going to probably think about something else it's truly a hard practice so how do you implement mindfulness meditation and positivity throughout your day all right guys before we get into the practical application of meditation there's two things I want to cover so going back to that Survivor mindset that Survivor mindset as in it looks for Comfort it looks for the the the issues it looks for the problems because your Survivor mindset is trying to tell you hey look pay attention but a lot of these things it won't equate to you living a peaceful life right so it's being able to quiet down that noise you have to understand how to frame your day okay so when I say framing a day is that you want to build discipline throughout your day remember what we're doing we're trying to break out that routine that Survivor mindset the comfort zone so in order you do that you have to completely be a different person you have to take on a different mindset a different approach to your routine to your day in order to move past that negative energy of the past where you're going to have to create new neurological Pathways in your brain connected to your body and that's by injecting positive thoughts into your mind before we do that you have to understand how to frame your day right framing a day is super important you have to break out from that regular routine a lot of us go through life going hey man how come I don't you know I can't be happy how come um I'm not accomplishing this how come I'm not successful in this Arena well it's because you're probably doing the same thing every single day you have to change that routine you you truly have to make time to improve yourself every single day if you have a set routine and set schedule in time it becomes habit and what I want to do is I want to establish a habit of discipline every day it's about defeating your day so for me I get up at I get up pretty early in the morning I get up at 5 o'clock in the morning and people are like whoa why you get up so early right the reason why is because the Survivor mind that seeks the comfort that seeks to lay in that warm bed you have to break that up so by getting up early it allows me to build that discipline it allows me to break that weak mindset of seeking Comfort second it allows me to truly get up before the sun comes up it allows me to work on myself prior to the day so if I'm able to frame today that means if I'm able to get up early and I'm able to meditate it puts my mind in a positive mood and throughout the day I'm more productive I have more energy so as a businessman that's super important to have that energy so you can give to the business so you can give to others so truly it's about renewing the mind it's about changing your daily routine to become the person you wish to be so when do I meditate I meditate uh early in the morning and I meditate late at night those are two different forms of meditation so let's talk about the practice of meditation so when do I meditate I meditate early in the morning because it puts me in a positive mood if I'm in a positive mood then I can project more energy towards whatever I'm directing towards that day I can project more energy towards others I can help more because I have that energy and that's what you want in the morning you want to inject that positivity into your mind and then in return it will be delivered throughout your body let's talk about the place right where do I meditate well anywhere that you feel comfortable right and you can I personally like to meditate outside because I love nature and I like to connect with that energy but if it's Cod because I live here in Colorado um sometimes I'll meditate inside it's it's really where you feel comfortable right in a quiet place where you're not going to be disturbed let's talk about body position all right so I'm not really particular on how you get your body position long as you're comfortable okay so you can stand you can lay down or you can sit in traditional uh zuen meditation uh positions if you want to practice the traditional way then usually what I do is I have a meditation um m you can kind of see there and a meditation pillow these two things you can purchase as a package on amazon.com so then you go down to your usual meditation position okay so have designated places that you go to to meditate because the more comfortable you are in these areas the better that you can lock on to that meditation that present moment in the morning when I go into my meditation in the morning is about positive energy it's about mindfulness gratitude and positive energy so those are the energies now I'm injecting to my bodies in the morning at night time is more about reflection you know so it's a different type of meditation so let's talk about the morning let's talk about prepping your meditation so prepping meditation is super important you want to go to your meditation position right so in a sitting position I usually sit like Indian style whatever is comfortable for you some of you guys got injuries it's okay to lay down it's okay to sit down on the couch or it's okay to sit in the Instone whatever it's comfortable for you before I even go into meditation I want to talk about prepping the meditation prepping the meditation is changing the physiology of your body all right so for me when I was in the Special Forces if I was scared right if I was facing fear I would change my physiology that means I would just smile right and and the brain is connected to that muscle right the brain is connected to the body like I said before so you have established that neurological Pathway to your brain you're communicating with your brain by smiling it delivers those signals that hey everything's good everything's all right so when I'm facing fear I change my physiology so when I wake up in the morning I have to wake up my brain right because you know in the mornings I'm still kind of not awake yet so to wake up my brain I changed my breathing patterns comfortable see the position and I change my breathing patterns I'm I'm putting more oxygen into my brain delivering more signals to my brain so God of looks funny but it looks like this I take nine shallow breaths really fast and I take the 10th breath um slow so it takes about 5 Seconds to inhale on that last breath and then I'll hold for five seconds and I exhale for five seconds and I repeat that three to four times so it looks like this looks kind of funny okay so get in good position what all right guys so now your turn try to breathe nine times really fast this is the pace and then your 10th breath five seconds to inhale hold for 5 seconds 5 Seconds exhale the only thing I want you to concentrate is just you're breathing right now this is not meditation this is prepping for the meditation this is changing your physiology okay so what I'm doing is I'm waking up that brain okay so once I wake up that brain after about three to four reps I could feel my brain kind of waking up right so my body's waking up so after I I do three to four reps of that I go into a state of gratitude right so I'm you know I'm just expanding that energy I'm showing my gratitude to God God I'm showing my gratitude for life and the blessings that um God has given me so after I finish breathing I go into a state gratitude you know what's unique is when you when you place your hands your palms together and put it close to your heart right here you can feel the energy flow throughout your body as in the heartbeat you can feel it through your palms after I finish my gratitude I go into a state of ZZ in so I'm going to the state of here and now the the form of meditation is called mindfulness meditation so mindfulness meditation is is a form of a practice of zazen so zazen is being present in the moment it's not thinking about the future and it's not thinking about the past it's just truly in the present moment in what is okay so how you train your mind to do it as you sit still and I get into the good meditation seating position shoulders roll back lungs expand then I go into my five seconds inhale 5 Seconds exhale 5 Seconds inhale 5 Seconds exhale a focal point on the ground so I pick a place on the ground that I'm looking at roughly about a 45 degree angle from my meditation position 5 Seconds inhale 5 Seconds exhale the only thing I'm thinking it's breath I'm not thinking about anything else I want you to think about only your breath controls inhale five seconds exhale now it should be work right it's not a natural flow of things it should you should be drawing in air and then pushing out air for that complete 5 seconds and what you do at that time is you kind of just kind of forget about the okay and you're breathing in and out and you're getting you're training your mind to be in the present moment and guys in time with this practice you can apply anywhere when I was in the Special Forces I would apply these meditation during um preparation for freef fall as we go up I'll meditate uh as we're going up on a freef fall jump and then it gives me Clarity on that infield same would same same with operations and missions if I can truly block out the emotions on things and I can dive into the root of what is and truly what is is the present moment right it's not the fear that hasn't taken place yet and it's not the you know traumas of the past it has nothing to do with the mission so this practice is great for a warrior so you want to practice mindfulness meditation for at least 5 to 10 10 minutes for me you know it's going to be hard at first so try two minutes and if you if you get that try five minutes and then try to get up to about 10 to 15 minutes of mindfulness meditation so after I go about 10 to 15 minutes of mindfulness meditation concentrate only on my inhales and exhale 5 seconds in 5 seconds out then I go into what's called injecting positive memory memories into my brain so let's talk about that so now that I awaken my brain and I have shown gratitude and then I dive into what is which is the present moment I'm truly surrounded in what is now right then I go into a state of projecting positivity into my brain so that means remember I talked about the Survivor mindset the Survivor mindset always looks for the negative it always looks to remind you the traumas of the past because it's trying to tell you hey look pay attention it's trying to survive right it looks for comfort so you have to break that normal routine and you do this through projecting positive energy into your brain because if I'm able to project positive energy into my brain then I'll feel it throughout my body I'll feel that energy okay and if I'm able to do that in the mornings well I just have a better productive day all right so after I do the mindfulness meditation then I go into the same position 5 Seconds inhale 5 Seconds exhale 5 Seconds inhale 5 Seconds exhale but at this time I don't concentrate in my breath I concentrate on a positive experience just like a negative experience right when you have when I when I when you talk about a negative experience when there's an emotion tied to that experience truly you can fabricate that emotion in your mind you can fabricate that memory in your mind and you can feel it throughout your body that's why people have anxiety attacks depressions and all that so if you're able to reverse the cycle and you're able to project positivity in your brain then that delivers positive signals into your body give more energy give you more positivity in life allowing you to live happy and full all right so get into a good seating position expand your lungs 5c inhale 5 Seconds EXO now what I'm doing is I'm thinking about something that's positive a positive experience and I'm projecting out of my brain it can be meeting the one you love it can be uh your house your car your accomplishments whatever find that moment that you're like wow this is great okay so find that happy day and go back to that happy day and project that memory into your brain as you do this and as you're breathing in time you're going to still you're going to start feeling the energy grow in your core you're going to start feeling that energy grow in your body and the more positivity you inject into your mind during your meditation the more energy you're going to feel okay reason why I go into the positivity portion lasts because it gives me that positive it gives me that energy I need and then the last step after I have gone through you know prepping the meditation by Awakening my mind changing my physiology I go into a state of gratitude I go into a state of mindfulness Zen and then I project positivity which is about 10 to 15 minutes so all together it's about 30 minutes for me to meditate in the morning after I go into positivity meditation is about man it's about releasing that energy right because truly the body to the mind for me it's about physical fitness it's about going down to the gym and it's about releasing that energy in a very positive way and what I find when I do this right in the mornings is Gosh guys I'm telling you I have a lot of energy a lot of energy throughout my day if I'm able to do these necessary steps in the morning to kind of prep me for a positive day if you're able to frame your day if you're able to master the day and you're able to do that consistently well in time you're going to be successful whatever you do in time you're going to meet that that goal you're going to meet that happiness that fulfillment that success or whatever you're doing too many times in life I feel like we look for the externals that means if I get this promotion if I get this this raise if I get whatever right uh if I get this position those are all external things those are all external things yes you want to work for that you want to strive to be the best person you can be but truly it's about working on yourself working yourself in the morning and establish that positivity by Framing your day you're just going to be more productive throughout the day and for the people that are facing depression and facing traumatic experience from the past this is truly how you're able to sever it you're able to sever all those neg negative thoughts that's projecting all these toxins into your body by projecting positive thoughts in the morning through breathing and meditation and gratitude okay so like I said before this is going to take a little bit it's going to take a while to to understand the concept and understand the practice you're able to do this in the morning you're able to frame that day to be positive and you do this constantly enough guys that's a win I want to talk about in framing today is the it's the little battles don't neglect the little things okay so the little things is you know when I wake up is hygiene okay it's making my bed it's washing the dishes it's eating properly throughout my day that's how you win the day if you're able to win these little victories throughout the day it's just going to give you more energy more energy because you're defeating the day that LE me to what I do at night which is reflection meditation all right so usually I go into a quiet place after my day is over and I go into a state of mindfulness again so I go back into the state of being here in the present moment so during the day I'm concentrating on work I'm concentrating on you know product developing I'm concentrating on business so my mind's constantly spinning so at the end of the day I need to slow down the brain so I do this by meditating at night and I I start meditating at night after my duty day is over and I go into a quiet place I get into a good meditation uh posture and now I go into mindfulness meditation so I do the same thing I did in the morning right the mindfulness meditation to be here in the present moment right by five seconds in 5 seconds out I'm fixing on a focal point at a 45° angle I'm just concentrating on being in that present moment after I finish that it goes into about 15 to 20 minutes of reflecting on that day did I accomplish everything that I need that day what did I do to fa short of that day I truly go into that state of reflection right because if you're able to reflect back on the day then well you won't make the same mistakes that you did the day prior right so that's the thing is if you make mistakes during that day you fail short hey guys we all make mistakes we're human beings but you're able to fix yourself the next day when that's a win all right guys so that's how I frame my day and I hope that this practice of zzen and living in the present moment can truly help you so let's recap first I get up early in the morning because I'm defeating routine second I go into a state of wakening My Mind by prepping the meditation by breathing and then I go into gratitude mindfulness meditation for 10 to 15 minutes and then I go into positive meditation for 10 to 15 minutes then I go into physical training to release that energy at the end of the day I go into more of a state of reflecting meditation where I I reflect back on the day and I look at the positivities and I look at the negatives and then I try to fix all the negatives the next day all right guys so that's how I frame my day and that's how I apply you know mindfulness and zusen to my daily life don't neglect training the mind right too many times we concentrate too much on the physical aspects of training the mind is how we look at the world so if you have a strong mind you're going to look at the world with a strong attitude so train train your mind train your brain every single day to be positive and you'll live a positive life if you're able to defeat the day consistently well that's the recipe for sess happiness fulfillment so don't stop don't give up on yourself it takes time so I asked the monk one time what's the best form of meditation and amongst uh the one that you do every single day so don't give up a journey of a Thousand Miles begin with single step into our next teachings of ronin life every breath

Channel: Ronin Tactics Inc

Views: 134,280

Keywords: ronin tactics, ronin, tu lam, military training, Special Forces, Zen Mind, Samurai, Ninja, Special Forces Training, Tactical Training, Ronin Tactical

Id: bLgDeB_-jvg

Length: 29min 30sec (1770 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 08 2021