I’ve been asked to talk a little bit more about the importance of ritual.

I’m ritual magic, before working on their inner self for healing and creating energy, the magicians would shower, anoint themselves with oils, wear a clean robe, go to the shrine room where they would keep a continuous flame burning 24/7. They would consecrate the space with water, and salt and cast a circle calling on the gods or elementals of 4 directions drawing symbols with a blade for protection. The preparation was important to create the right mindset to dig deep and do energetic work.

In Karate you should shower before training and ensure nails are clipped short. Wear a clean karategi, and ritually tie the obi snapping the knot on the seiki tanden. When entering the Dojo you bow to the Sensei, at the beginning of the session you turn and bow to the kamiza (shrine), kneel in seiza, then bow to the Sensei followed by your training partners and sit in mokuso (meditation) to clear your mind ready to train. You wind down the session in the same way in reverse.

These rituals are important to prepare your body, emotions and mind to learn, respecting yourself, your Sensei and training partners and work at 100% to improve.

When you have internalised the methods and have progressed from ‘someone learning Karate’ to become a skilled Karate practitioner where the respect, dignity and power are essential parts of your character, you no longer need to rely on the preparatory rituals and clothing to get to the correct mindset, it’s now who you are. You continue to use them to teach others how to reach that same stage.

We use ritual to get to the right mindset. When it’s natural to us we don’t need it anymore, but appreciate that it’s an important step on the way.

This also the meaning of ‘waiting for Tai Chi to arrive’ in Tai Chi, we prepare with similar rituals using neigong and qigong into standing posture until we are ready to start the form.

Hope this helps to understand the importance and use of ritual.