December 2009
6 posts
once or a hundred times
Practicing a posture once correctly is better than practicing a posture a hundred times incorrectly. Correct requires equal attention paid to alignment, balance, form, timing, gaze, breathe and attitude.
But it is important to remember that correct doesn’t necessarily mean perfect.
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3 tags
Copenhagen
In Chinese cosmology human beings are positioned between Heaven (Yang) and Earth (Yin). Our role is to act as a conduit, maintaining harmony between these two poles.
If we move in accordance with the movements of Yin and Yang there is peace and prosperity. If we disregard this, then result is corrupt and ineffectual leaders, intractable wars, civil unrest, chaotic weather and famine.
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What's primary is invisible
Qi is similar to wind - it can only be seen indirectly, through the movement it creates. In the internal arts, Qi is primary while posture and movement is secondary. The challenge is that what is most important is invisible. So we must learn to guide Qi with correct posture and feel for Qi with movement and breath.
Impenetrable theory
With the internal arts, Chinese philosophy is never far away. And it always seems to appear as obscure, impenetrable theories with tenuous connections to the practice at hand. Where does the connection between practice and these theories lie? I will hazard the following guess;
The wider concept at work is the idea of pattern understanding. The Yi Jing (classic of changes), the five phase theory,...
Welcome to The Lantern
This is the new site for Stone Lantern. I’ve migrated most of the previous posts, but to view the original site, visit http://www.stonelanternarts.blogspot.com