The Mind in the Martial Arts: a Key to Winning, by Thomas J. Nardi

homas J. Nardi is a phsychologist as well as martial arts teacher. His background in the arts is from goju karate and ju jitsu. In this book: "The Mind in the Martial Arts - a Key to Winning" he combines the two fields of budo and psychology in a manner that a non-professional can relate to as well as easily comprehend.

This is (fortunately) not one of those "heavy" books on psychology and mental training that you rather have to pretend you understand, simply to pass as relatively intelligent :-) This is a practical book that offers easy to follow advice on subjects like hypnosis, auto-hypnosis (self-suggestions/self-hypnosis), the methods of kuji-kiri ("response-anchoring"), visualisation, reducing fear, how to overcome destructive emotions, mind-body exercises, and more.

There's a number of practical exercises, explained in text as well as with images. Unfortunately these images are not the best quality, to say the least... You will also find examples on using these techniques in combat and in self-defense situations.

As a professional book I am sure that many people would turn it down. There is no background information about the various methods, no references, and no statistics. By all means, a practical guide for the non-professionals aimed at people like you and I don't have to be packed with background information. Still, a little wouldn't have hurt at all!

Any how, this is a book for the average user - not a book for the doctor or student of psychology. And as such it is definitely worth reading and using. If you don't mind the low-quality images and the lack of background information, then this is a good book!

You will of course be able to find it at Abebooks from time to time. I suggest you search there first, then try E-bay as well as Amazon.

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