Sharon Friedman – Vigilance and Tranquility

Many times we rely or lean as I prefer to phrase it on items that are very versitile and we grow accustomed to their comforts. For example I always carry a small swiss army pocket knife with me and it has been of much use over the years. From time to time when I am not able to have it on me as in a flight I tend to feel that imbalance of leaning as I mentally reach for it to open a plastic box or the like. Becoming aware of those patterns in life can help to overcome them. Try to go without your usual things and see how you can work without it. It’s a drill just like avoiding being cut while hands are held at the back using a wider angle. To further this try to use whatever is in your environment to live through a knife attack. Magazines, sand on the beach, a coat, a coat rack and walls can be used and better seen if you do not carry a knife to the knife fight and with both on your side you will be better off.

On another note: We all do the slow push up, squat, sit up and legs overhead. The principle is given and can be used on all accounts of the body. For example. Lean your forehead on the wall with your body straight and tilt it from side to side and up and down. (you may want to put a towel or hand in the middle to avoid a red mark…) Than lean the back of the head and repeat and so on. You can Hold hand in hand and hand in leg or leg against leg and repeat slow movements with light resistance for better connective tissue and overall awareness. For this too you can use a belt if you like me cannot hold hand in hand when one goes over the head and back and the other from the lower back beckons. Work with others too, See how to use what you have in the very best way possible. Don’t stop moving and breathe.

One final note. Many times we see imperfections in others and to a large extent it is our expectations that rise those in them. If I for example expect certain decorum from my students and feel annoyed it is my doing in creating a false reality and whining when it fails to show up. Just do the work and and see things as they are.