Mindfulness and psychological health in practitioners of Japanese martial arts: a cross-sectional study
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(2020) 12:75
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Open Access
Mindfulness and psychological health in practitioners of Japanese martial arts: a cross-sectional study Hiromitsu Miyata* , Daisuke Kobayashi, Akifumi Sonoda, Hibiki Motoike and Saki Akatsuka
Abstract Background: Empirical data have suggested that mind-body practices that originated in Eastern traditions can cause desirable changes to psychological traits, the brain, somatic physiological functions, etc. Martial arts in Japan refer to the physical/mental practices that were developed based on historical combat techniques. Today, martial arts are considered activities that seek embodiment and/or mind-body unity, as well as sports. Empirical studies involving practitioners of Japanese martial arts to date remain scarce. Methods: We conducted a questionnaire survey using a cross-sectional design to examine whether the practice of martial arts based on Japanese traditions are associated with mindfulness and psychological health. Participants included a population of practitioners of martial arts with a practice period of 0.6–35.0 years, and non-practitioners matched for demographic variables. Results: Compared with the non-practitioners, the practitioners of martial arts had significantly higher scores for mindfulness and subjective well-being and lower scores for depression. Among the practitioners of martial arts, a longer period of practice or a higher frequency of daily practice significantly predicted higher mindfulness and psychological health. Conclusions: The results obtained are consistent with those previously obtained for other populations of Japanese contemplatives, and support the view that practice of multiple Eastern mind-body practices might be associated with similar desirable psychological outcomes. A cross-sectional design has limitations in that it is difficult to determine the effect of continued practice, so that a longitudinal study that follows the same practitioners over time is desired in the future enquiry. Keywords: Martial arts, Dispositional mindfulness, Subjective well-being, Depression, Long-term practice, Japanese
Background Increasing amounts of empirical data during recent decades have demonstrated that mind-body practices that originated in Eastern traditions including Buddhist meditation can cause desirable changes to psychological traits, the brain, somatic physiological functions, etc. (for reviews see [1, 2]). As Yasuo Yuasa noted, Eastern mind* Correspondence: [email protected] Faculty of Letters, Arts and Sciences, Waseda University, 1-24-1 Toyama, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8644, Japan
body theory have not only considered body and mind as one, but also sought for mind-body integration and unity through physical and mental practices [3]. In Japan, such mind-body unity has traditionally referred to as “ShinShin Ichinyo (body and mind as one).” In addition, mindfulness has its origins in the Early Buddhism, and today refers to paying attention to one’s moment-tomoment awareness in nonjudgmental and nonreactive ways. The idea of mindfulne
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