"Muk Yum" is the Korean term for meditation. As one continues the study of any martial art, one finds that 90% of success with the martial arts, or anything in life for that matter, is mental. Your frame of mind can allow you to excel and do anything, or hold you back. For centuries, meditation has helped people to clear their minds and see things more clearly. Today even modern medicine has documented the benefits of meditation.

In Tae Kwon Do we use Muk-Yum to clear our minds. At the end of class it serves to allow new techniques to sink in and corrections to be noted. At the start of class it helps to prepare the body for rigorous training. Meditation helps us to focus our mind, so that the mind and body can more easily work in harmony.

Many believe that it is a good idea to practice breath control while meditating. This means that we take conscious control of our breathing as we meditate. When we are very young, we breathe from the stomach or the center of our bodies. If you watch young children sleep you will notice that their stomachs rise and fall with each breath. In adults it is the chest that rises and falls with each breath. This indicates that we are not using the total capacity of our lungs and therefore not replenishing the oxygen our bodies need as efficiently as we could. When you exhale completely, forcing all of the air possible out of your lungs, you will find it is necessary to tighten your stomach muscles in order to expel the air at the bottom part of the lungs. Likewise, if you allow your stomach to expand as you breathe in, instead of your chest, you will be able to fill up the lungs more completely as they are allowed to expand further.

The most important aspect of breath control is breathing out. Many people believe that the last breath of life is an exhale. This is incorrect. The last breath is an in-take of air. Life ends when it is no longer possible to breathe out, thus ending the ability to replenish the system. Breathing in is easy and natural, it takes no effort. Breathing out on the other hand, especially all the way, can be difficult. We rarely exchange more than 60% of the air which the lungs are capable of holding. That means that at best we have 1/3 of the lung capacity left with stale air. By learning to exhale as completely as possible you can help your body rid itself of many toxins.

Breathing exercises are best done in the morning hours. Just as the tides flow and ebb, so too does Universal energy. In the morning hours or first half of the day the universe is giving energy out and begins taking in energy in the afternoon. This is why when people are sick they generally feel better in the morning than at night.

All things in the universe are connected. It seems everything in our every day lives try to pull us away from that concept, but it is true. Before we can realize our relationship to all other things we must become one with ourselves first. This process is sometimes referred to as "attuning" or tuning into yourself. This also often involves visualizing yourself as grounded or connected to the earth, for it is through the earth that we are connected to all things in the universe. The goal of attuning is to let go, for a time, of all the thoughts and worries which normally permeate the conscious mind, and bring the mind and body together so that they can work in harmony. Creating an environment which is conducive to attuning can be very helpful for meditation.

Breathing exercises are one way to help tune into to yourself, music can be helpful too. Many people meditate with music to help them tune out their surroundings and concentrate on the meditation. There are many meditation tapes and CD's available which are designed to help you relax. This type of music is not distracting, it enhances the minds ability to focus by blocking out sounds which might otherwise cause your mind to wander.

Certain scents have been proven to have an effect on the mind as well. Incense and essential oils are very popular today. The science of aroma therapy, which documents what effects different scents have people, is also very popular. Having a pleasant smell around you while you meditate can also help you from becoming distracted by other smells. Our sense of smell has deep seated roots in our sub-consciousness. Many people have had the experience of having memories long since forgotten, brought back dramatically by certain scents which they associated with past events of their lives.

The position of your body is also important to the meditation. In order for things to flow as they should in the human body, it is necessary for the spine to be straight, and the head to be aligned over the center of the body. This is not to say that you cannot meditate sitting down or that you must be in an uncomfortable position. All of the nerves of the body travel through the spine, if it is not properly aligned, then the messages can not get through as they should.