She not-so-clearly knows exactly what she feels, because her life is all about a mysterious inner wrestling with the truth.
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I had employed a practice that I’ve only recently been taught: positioning my awareness slightly on the positive or leaving side of my heartbeat. I had no idea of its meaning, yet the instant I turned to this practice a realization immediately emerged.
To be clear, I'm not declaring an understanding here. Rather, I'm simply sharing realizations that instantly emerged when I began practicing something I didn't understand.
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Part of my martial arts journey involved learning to become more relaxed. Problem was, I didn’t realize that I wasn’t relaxed. Understandably, this particular ‘inner journey’ took time for honesty to creep in. It wasn’t that I was being dishonest, but rather that my definition of honesty and self-awareness had to expand. Frankly, it was a process that took me years to unfold.
What’s interesting is the way in which Jiu Jitsu helped me unwrap all this.
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Doubt can viewed as a purifying activity when it is an insistence on Truth.
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The Old Witch would chase me in my dreams. She was terrifying and I would always flee in great fear. But the more times I saw her, the more advanced my fleeing efforts became. At first I would run and she would chase me. Eventually I took to flying, but the terrifying chase scene was unrelenting because she readily adapted to my flights no matter the destination and no matter whether on or above ground. Strangely, she never caught me. But I couldn’t shake her, no matter my strategies.
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Balance and Harmony’ is an often-used phrase that sounds good on paper but isn’t always so easy to achieve. Quietly residing between those two seven letter words lays a simple three letter word — ‘and.’ As we shall see, it’s all in the ‘and,’ because hiding in that modest conjunction are five secret principles to improved balance and harmony. The power of the ‘and’ reveals how to transition from Balance to Harmony.
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“The golden flower symbolizes the quintessence of the paths of Buddhism and Taoism. Gold stands for the light, the light of the mind itself; the flower represents the blossoming, or opening up, of the light of the mind. Thus the expression is emblematic of the basic awakening of the real self and its hidden potential.
In Taoist terms, the first goal of the Way is to restore the original God-given spirit and become a self-realized human being.”
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When it comes to death and dying I think it pays off for us to be practical in these matters. Take the idea of a hereafter, for example. Why are we compelled to think about the hereafter in times like these? It’s because we look to hereafter for answers that may comfort us in our sorrow and uncertainty.
When we think of things like the hereafter, however, we should not be reluctant to remind ourselves that we are the ones who are here, after someone else has moved on.
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“The essence of relativity is that there is no absolute time, no absolute space. Everything is relative. When you try to discuss time in the context of the universe, you need the simple idea that you isolate part of the universe and call it your clock, and time evolution is only about the relationship between some parts of the universe and that thing you called your clock.”
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She who walks a tightrope wire is both strong and relaxed at the same time. With strength she is able to stay balanced in an impossible position. Yet by relaxing, she is sensitive to the most subtle of changes to her balance.
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The Principles of Ki were developed by Koichi Tohei (head Aikido sensei, and founder of The Ki Society). What Tohei refers to as “Relaxed Strength” is what Jiu Jitsu calls supple — it’s a state between hard and soft, between rigid and flaccid. Tohei maintains that the four sub-principles contained within the Principles of Ki are something everyone can practice, regardless of age, gender or physical condition.
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The basic notion of hara is that we don't want to move our body as isolated parts, but rather move as a cohesive, unified unit. We can extrapolate this concept into our everyday life practices. For example, the more disjointed I am, the less effective I am. If I put the ironing board too high or too low, I'll be stretching or bending to the point that my back aches and I start hating ironing more than ever.
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I was wondering what would happen if all the steel in high-rise buildings just quit, or got tired one day.
I’ve always taken those girders for granted. But the thing is, on a molecular level they are moving. Which may not be a particularly comforting thought. Especially pertaining to buildings.
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I can say the point again, but before I do, let’s remember why and what we are here practicing. We are learning about an art…an art of giving…and way of being in the moment that can unlock the inward understandings of everything.
Now here is the point: when you practice, you have to go through the prime positions to bring anything into being.
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“Are you seeing what I’m seeing?” I asked. Ken nodded his head slowly. Very slowly.
“What are you seeing?”
“Holes in his hand,” replied Ken after a very long pause. “I am seeing right through his hand and can see the mints.”
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“Thoughts are like arrows. They shoot out of a person’s mind, or mouth, seeking a target. Once they are launched, it is inevitable that they fall back to the earth. You are made of earth and dirt, a soft and natural target for an arrow. But that is not all that you are made of. You are denying three fourths of your nature. Why not become fire, or wind or water? Is that so far beyond your ability to imagine?”
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You’ve probably never considered the ecumenical when considering a hat. I can’t say I typically do, either. But my little cap literally transcends time and boundaries.
Is it the cap of a biker? Or maybe a Muslim? Perhaps it’s the cap of an anarchist. Then again, it just might be that I have really strange taste. And I’m open to that.
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A year or two after she died, my sister appeared in a dream. She said she was fine, everything was okay. And she also happened to mention that while everything is okay, there was something she really missed: Mexican food. She kind of made a big deal out of that.
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I stop by the Barnes and Noble Starbucks coffee bar nearly every night. It’s a bit of a ritual. After a while you notice the regulars. Some are students, or maybe the occasional tutor sneaking in to claim her piece of camouflaged chalkboard. But being a bookstore, many of the regulars tend to be quiet folks. Studious, contemplative, polite. Some, like me, are older.
The older ones tend to notice. They see who comes in night after night, or who is considerate or respectful. Things like that. They go about their way quietly, but they’re noticing along the way. That’s their way.
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I am not a soap box evangelist. I don’t believe in shouting down panic by telling everyone else how much I’ve got my act together. But, like so many of people, I’ve climbed some mountains and I’ve also crashed head first into some pretty deep valleys. At first, I had no idea how to deal with the cyclical nature of Nature and its many ups and downs. I was a guy without a compass. Sometimes I was fine. But there were times I was screaming silent, private screams in my own versions of hell.
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