Most People Train Only One Aspect of Mindfulness. MMA Fighters Know Better
To improve mindfulness consciously and systematically, you must train three sub-skills, much like an MMA fighter hones multiple techniques.
MMA, or Mixed Martial Arts, is a full-contact sport blending punches, kicks, and grappling (takedowns, joint locks, etc.). A clip of boxer James Toney versus MMA fighter Randy Couture illustrates this. Couture won in the first round with a takedown and submission—expected, as a boxer relies on one skill while an MMA fighter uses many.
Toney’s courage to face an MMA fighter with only boxing is admirable, but it shows the limit of a single skill. To “beat the ego” in daily life, train these three mindfulness skills.
1. Concentration: The ability to focus on a chosen sensory experience.
It doesn’t have to be breath—it could be sights, sounds, mental chatter, physical touch, or emotions. How well can you sustain focus or switch objects easily? Each time you redirect your attention, it’s like a gym rep, strengthening your concentration muscle.
2.Sensory Clarity: The ability to track and explore sensory experience in real time
Imagine two people eating stew: one says, “It’s a mix of stuff”; another lists pork, potatoes, mushrooms, lentils, garlic, and an unknown herb. Without sensory clarity, experiences blur. With it, you deconstruct them. For example, stomach pain might include physical discomfort, emotional stress, and mental chatter (“This is bad; I’ll fail my presentation”). Clarity reveals no absolute link between pain and poor performance, freeing you from unhelpful thoughts.
3. Equanimity: the ability to allow sensory experiences to come and go without clinging or resisting.
Resisting stomach pain (“This shouldn’t happen”) or clinging to a sunset’s beauty (“I wish this lasted forever”) is non-equanimity. Equanimity, using concentration and sensory clarity, is observing without control. Why? Control doesn’t work—you can’t stop pain without medicine or halt a sunset. With practice, you become vast awareness, like a tunnel letting a Rolls Royce or garbage truck pass through, unaffected.
Be a well-rounded mindfulness practitioner, like an MMA fighter, mastering all three skills.