Draw and Cut
Lets start with the fundamentals.
The past several mornings I have been up before dawn practicing drawing and cutting with my katana. The proper name for this art is Iaido, the art of the draw. The point, drilled in by repeated proper performance of some 22 katas, is to train the body to draw and cut with power, with precision and with intention. Then, to return the sword and yourself back to a place of calm and quiet readiness.
To be empty is to be ready for anything, to strike in the face of attack is to live, to move from the void is a work of a lifetime.
To remain calm throughout it all is to face death with clear eyes and a resolute spirit.
Actually, the routine is Japanese morning (katana and Sai) followed the next day by Chinese morning (Tai Jain). Prep work for each is 30 min of Pranayma practice and fifteen minutes to study Chinese acupuncture points (with me as the test dummy)
Each morning is ended up doing a set of iron palm, a training program designed to toughen the hands and learn qi control by repeatedly striking a bag of beans, gravel and finally steel shot.
I am up to gravel on that one.
I am not particularly watching diet, but I am still on the one that is high in veggies and whole grains that helped me to lose 40 some lbs in the past 18 months (and keep it off)
The point, you may ask?
The beginning of all spiritual training, in my mind, is the education of the body. One can control the mind by learning to control the body.
If one can control the mind, one can find mastery over ones self.
And, if by dint of hard work and rigorous analysis, one gains mastery over ones self, then one can find a way to live with the exquisite beauty and mind numbing terror that is the human condition, consciously, without the delusions, denial and psychosis that plague so many of us.
And that, my friends, is to truly live.
The fire that burned away my old life has given me a fortaste of that place, and I have to say, it is the best place that I ever found. Easy to fall back to your old self when disaster passes. When life rebuilds, all the old illusions come home, familiar attachments grab hold and you can lose that place of clarity that disaster can bring.
So draw and cut, wheel and cut, whip the imaginary blood to the ground, and sheathe.
and again.
Draw and cut.
And walk silently through the night
As silver moonlight glitters
In a running stream
Blackness on blackness
White blade whistles
And a demon falls
The past several mornings I have been up before dawn practicing drawing and cutting with my katana. The proper name for this art is Iaido, the art of the draw. The point, drilled in by repeated proper performance of some 22 katas, is to train the body to draw and cut with power, with precision and with intention. Then, to return the sword and yourself back to a place of calm and quiet readiness.
To be empty is to be ready for anything, to strike in the face of attack is to live, to move from the void is a work of a lifetime.
To remain calm throughout it all is to face death with clear eyes and a resolute spirit.
Actually, the routine is Japanese morning (katana and Sai) followed the next day by Chinese morning (Tai Jain). Prep work for each is 30 min of Pranayma practice and fifteen minutes to study Chinese acupuncture points (with me as the test dummy)
Each morning is ended up doing a set of iron palm, a training program designed to toughen the hands and learn qi control by repeatedly striking a bag of beans, gravel and finally steel shot.
I am up to gravel on that one.
I am not particularly watching diet, but I am still on the one that is high in veggies and whole grains that helped me to lose 40 some lbs in the past 18 months (and keep it off)
The point, you may ask?
The beginning of all spiritual training, in my mind, is the education of the body. One can control the mind by learning to control the body.
If one can control the mind, one can find mastery over ones self.
And, if by dint of hard work and rigorous analysis, one gains mastery over ones self, then one can find a way to live with the exquisite beauty and mind numbing terror that is the human condition, consciously, without the delusions, denial and psychosis that plague so many of us.
And that, my friends, is to truly live.
The fire that burned away my old life has given me a fortaste of that place, and I have to say, it is the best place that I ever found. Easy to fall back to your old self when disaster passes. When life rebuilds, all the old illusions come home, familiar attachments grab hold and you can lose that place of clarity that disaster can bring.
So draw and cut, wheel and cut, whip the imaginary blood to the ground, and sheathe.
and again.
Draw and cut.
And walk silently through the night
As silver moonlight glitters
In a running stream
Blackness on blackness
White blade whistles
And a demon falls
posted by Maurice_Basilius at 3:00 PM
1 Comments:
How is it that you maintain muscle strength and tone on a diet of mostly (?) whole grains and vegetables?
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