Month: February 2017

Fix the chain

Everyone is strong at something. You could be very good in one or two things but we are all lacking in some attributes. Our minds, bodies and hearts are interconected and each affects the other and the same goes for our small groups of families, workplaces and societies.

Lets take the body as an example. At any given moment we are stronger in some directions than others. We can pull more than we can push or we are stronger in one angle and unable to move in another.

Consider appproaching the movements and skills you are less sure of or less comfortable with first so you are filling and fixing the chain. This will strenthen not only the weaker movements but also give a fuller and stronger base for the stronger more comfortable skills and everything will grow better.

Examples:

  1. Body – You can do many push ups but not one pull up. There is an imbalance in your push and pull ratio so you work on pulling in angles and in steps and suddenly pains and discomforts disapear. 🙂
  2. Mindset – You can perform well in comfortable easy settings. You roll well on mats but have never moved on stonr or metal. Slowly and safely experiment moving outside and in urban surfaces and you will learn a whole new way of movement and a lot better at both.
  3. Heart – You can perform your tasks well. You go throguh your day as a machine and suddenly an unknown happen. You tire is deflated in a barren parking lot, someone is asking for help and you don’t know what to do and so on. Add a bit of unknown to your life by allowing the presense of the unknown into your awareness and by meeting people and learning new things. Let yourself honestly experience the unknown and emotion and your heart will grow bigger and stronger.

 

Enjoy the work and enjoy its ftuits.

The miracle of a minute a day

You can read a book at one minute a day.

You can learn a new skill in one minute a day.

Your can stay healthy in one minute a day.

You can grow your wealth in one minute a day.

Choose to invest a little instead of spending.

Choose to read the bible or another book for a minute a day

Choose to do a hand stand or hone one movement for a minute a day

Choose to order/prepare healthy food for one minute a day

Choose to invest instead of one spending once a day.

The key here is to Choose.

Choose wisely

We are raised with a set of beliefs we are supposed to operate by and thus succeed in being a part of current society and maintain the status qua. Let’s ask a few questions and see where that leads us as people  instead of cogs in the grand machine.

  1. There is a beginning and an end. There are moves and closed loops of thought and action.  – The questions – is there truly anything that is not partly born from the moment prior ? Is there any process that does not affect and change the people going though it and thus creating a new loop of thought and action ?
  2. I am right, therefor you are wrong. – The question – Is an object the same from all angles ? Can a truth be universal or can more than one way lead to the goal and can more than one key/movement/frame of mind work ?
  3. We add one and one and we get two. Question – The paper is one thing and the world is another. Math being pure, lures us into a math state of mind and we may forget we have limited awareness of the outside as well as the inside and that one and one can result in a reaction as well as a reduction and so on. How much does a math state of mind, count  (pun intended) in real life ?

Make smart fast choices

Your mind is a machine that works for you. It evolves and devolves according to demand and use just like anything else in nature. There is no waste.

Here are partner work suggestions for development of awareness and from awareness we will get smarter faster choice making. You can also reference the OODA loop for further reading.

  1. Stand three paces away from your partner facing away from them. Have them engage you with a projectile as you turn ( a tennis ball for example) and slowly close the gap between you so you are able to maneuver with self-guidance at shorter ranges.
  2. Repeat the first play only now you are prompted by the actions of the partner. It can be by a sound or obscured sight (watching the shadow or reflection of the partner).
  3. Stand and have your partner circle you from a three step distance. (This connects to the pray/predator cycle and engage more than your logical mind) Have them engage you from different angles where you work to maintain freedom of maneuver and engage them at the same time. Shorten the distance between you as the work progresses.
  4. Sit or squat according to the location and have your partner circle you from a three step distance. Work to engage them smoothly when they present a lack of attention and include baiting steps taken by the circling partner to draw out awareness to honest intention and the lack of it.
  5. Close your eyes and start walking slowly. Pay attention to the input from your feet and your skin, your ears and your equilibrium sense. Have your partner engage you with static obstacles on the way and once this becomes smooth, with light pull/push contact. Once this is done, start engaging with holds, twists and turns.
  6. Start walking and close your eyes on every second step. Have your partner or partners engage you continuously as you open and close your eyes in this way (sync with breath if off your feet J) and continue to broaden your lack of sight by increasing either breath or step with no sight.
  7. Start from standing and have your partner or partners mold you into whatever shape they choose and start when they inform you to begin.
  8. Use either a breath hold or a prolonged inhale/exhale to season any of the previous work to increase your awareness to the tension and the way you work with it. Remember to release tension between runs of each work.

Notice that there was no use of tools or special devices? The best weight you can carry is between your ears and between your ribs. Although, toys can be fun.

Have fun.

The stick crawl

Take a sturdy stick and ten paces of clear ground.

Crawl back and forth using these variations to clear tension and build good movement all over.

Guidelines:

  1. Keep breathing.
  2. Let the breath make the pace of movement
  3. Relax your eyes. Let yourself see what your body is showing you.
  4. Avoid making noise. Noise is garbage movement when not intended.

Variations of crawling:

  1. Lie on your back and hold the ends of the stick in both hands overhead. Raise your legs in the air and crawl back and forth.
  2. Lie on your back and hold the ends of the stick in both hands while placing your feet on the middle of the stick. Crawl back and forth.
  3. Lie on your back and hold the stick between your elbows and pressed against the back of your neck. Raise your feet in the air and crawl back and forth.
  4. Lie on your stomach and hold the ends of the stick in both hands in front of you. Keep the stick and arms in the air and crawl back and forth.
  5. Lie on your stomach and hold the stick between your elbows and pressed against your back. Crawl back and forth.
  6. Lie on your back with the stick held in the bend of your knees and sideways to the direction of movement. Roll face down and up back and forth.

Enjoy the work.

Notes from class: Removing the Frame

One of the constants in life is our shape.

We hold it as a given with tension and angles and our perception of horizon.

Let’s dismantle this chain over us and relearn through awareness and honesty to join in battle instead of clash.

  1. Stand and with your inhale, tense the outside line of your frame. Tense the outer side of the thighs, tense the outside of the arms, neck and body. Release and repeat a few times.
  2. Stand and with your exhale, tense your center. Tense your behind and psoa muscles, tense your abdomen and lower back. Release and repeat a few times. (This will give you awareness to the inner and outer frame tension and the relationship between them)
  3. Stand and close one eye. Have a partner push and pull on you with both upper and lower limbs. Breathe continuously and release tension once from the outer and once from the inner frame and continue to play with this until you are feeling the merge between them. Repeat the work for the other eye and then switch eyes with every step.
  4. Have your partner strike you with both upper and lower limbs three times. Release tension and move with the contact on the first two and on the third, slide and entangle your partner. (This is done to release the need to answer all questions and to release the need to work only from certain positions)
  5. Have your partner strike you with both upper and lower limbs. Release your tension frames and from the movement that creates, glide along their limbs and body and maintain your continuoum of breathing, releasing and movement.
  6. Have two partners strike you together. use all the work so far to keep going on your own path instead of being reactive. The most important part of the work is not to be good in class. It is the honesty and awareness it builds for your life ahead. Work for yourself and it will pay forward.