Tag: Nature

The education of a young man

Each week I take my son on a field trip. We explore the gardens and fields and find new and old friends to play with.

This week, he wanted to play with the pigeons so we went through the process of hunting together.

He attempted to run at them and catch them at first with no success and when he asked we began the process.

We scouted for some crumbs and started scattering them for the birds. They came but never close enough to reach.

Then we squatted silently and the birds came closer but still out of reach.

We talked and I told my son to think like a rock. Be the rock and just breathe. Now the birds came at arms length.

Attempts to grab the birds were always fruitless. The birds seemed to know the grab was coming. When he asked, we moved deeper. “Don’t wait for the thought my son” I said “Act as the thought comes in your head.” I showed how to grab the birds gently so they are not alarmed and as he saw this, he became one with himself for a moment. From catching air, he went to touching and holding the birds who did not run away. This is a simple example of the Japanese mu-shin, the thought no thought. I interpret this principle as being one with yourself and having no gap between the parts of the whole.

After the bird hunt, we lit a fire floating on water using a knife, fire-steel, a few dry leaves and one green leaf floating in a basin of rock.

Keep the art in the Dojo and it is no art at all.

Teach your child to pay attention

Games and stories are the best way to teach the young and non walking dead.

Here are a few ways to bring your child more into the moment and show that paying attention pays.

VISUAL

  1. One more cat – Choose an animal like a cat or an object and see who calls it out faster and in greater amounts. You can have a cat counting contest or a broken pavement contest it matters only that we pay attention. Change what the object is from time to time as the seasons change (red leaf for example) and enjoy the extra awareness.
  2. What is missing – Take a scene that is well known to everyone and remove one part. See who finds out what it is first and how. For example – take away the favorite picture off the wall and see if it is noticed.
  3. Color blind – Things change color by season or man action. Note the changes the locals make in their yards and clothes, mark the changes in the leaves and trunk and mark the change in the skies and in the horizons.

AUDITORY

  1. Insects birds cats and dogs – Where you have insects making noises, you will not find birds, where you hear birds, you will not find cats and so on. Listen and predict what animals or people you will find about and learn a mighty lesson on rings of association.
  2. Echo lines – There is a distance beneath which no echo is heard by us. Guess and match who finds the line of the echo in different places and ranges. There is a lot to learn about the three dimensional nature of waves thus.
  3. The closing tap – A tune is made out of sound and silence. check who notices when the washing machine has ended its cycle, when do the birds finish their evening calls and gain the full range of the tune.

TACTILE

  1. The lost ant – Hide a small paper clip inside clothes and see when it is detected, Place a plastic bottle cap under the sheets and see who is the true princess or just place an acorn on the ground and see who chooses to step lightly 🙂 The appreciation to touch goes beyond the fingertips.
  2. The right key – Take objects that seem similar and close your eyes to pick the right one. It can be keys, clothes and anything that matches, your fingers and mind will connect past the oversight of the eyes and awaken even more.
  3. The tower – Take very light objects like disposable plastic cups or clean ear cleaning sticks and build towers with them.  aim to make them as gentle as possible to better understand the lightest touch.

For Gideon.

 

 

Violence is not evil

If you put the mask of the devil on violence, you are cutting your own legs from under you. Violence or in other less marred words intent focused action, is what keeps us alive and allows the rest of the chain to hold on. It is as important that one asserts their place in life and their mobility as any other part of the whole. One cannot eat the meat or write a poem without the safety violence provides.

The pen is mightier than the sword. It is proven by the victims and history governments create which far supersede anything any other group is responsible for. The second place award in that field would go to nature itself which really begs the question. How have we survived so far J

This is why ideas are so sharp in penetration. Be keen to notice the spread and influence of ideas and stand in force for what and who you believe in. The true evil feeds on silence most of all, for in that silence, the one voice of corruption and deceit will poison the entire stream.

Shakespeare wrote:

” What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals—and yet,.”

Now, let me tell you what can erode this creation as the water erodes the rock itself. Small things. It is the small everyday things that grab our awareness and attention. It is the small things that mislead us into chasing things outside of ourselves and deliver us a slow death by omission over a wasted lifetime. Avoid being liked by many. Be loved by a few.

Go

Live your life and do something you care about.

The small stuff can wait.

For Gideon.

LETTING SICKNESS OUT THE DOOR

 

A GUIDE TO HELP THE BODY TO RID ITSELF OF SICKNESS

  1. BREATHE – Inhale and exhale through the nose for better control and filtration. Let each next breath come to you by listening to the body needs and you will breathe more calmly and be more connected to what your body is telling you.
  2. THE MIND IS THE CONTROL – Fill your day with laughter and positive actions. Avoid negative places (who keep the smell of those emotions) and people and find the good in any situation you can. Follow your bliss.
  3. NATURE IS A HEALER – Find a few minutes or more every day to spend silently observing nature. Our nerve systems release excess excitation and the body releases unwanted hormones.
  4. LET YOUR DIGESTION REST – Finish eating every day at sunset or before it and eat breakfast two to three hours after waking up. This way you allow the body to work on healing while you sleep and allow the growth hormone we release before waking to take positive affect in the body.
  5. CHANGE YOUR POINT OF VIEW – Your body is fighting gravity all day. Spend 15-20 minutes upside down or at least in an angle over 45 with your head down to allow the blood vessel system to rest and balance.
  6. PLAY – The mind charges the body to release positive hormones to the system when engaged in joyful play. Find something you enjoy from dance to scrabble and pursue it.
  7. LEARN – The brain builds new connections and structures through study. Find a new language or skill to learn and tell your body to keep you young.
  8. SWING – hang on a tree branch or bar and just breathe. Let your body elongate and release the stress of compression and with the breath to lead, let the body swing naturally on the bar. That is one of the primal moving patterns of man and thus we communicate to the body to keep us in the game.
  9. ROLL – Lie on the ground and let the breath lead you in rolling front to back by using just the movement of the body itself. Go slowly and let the body shed excess tension and unneeded movement. Rolling is too a primal moving pattern of man and will keep you moving like a young self.
  10. SHAKE – Everyone shakes from fear or cold sometimes but we can use this innate mechanism to heal and release unwanted tension and emotion. Breathe and shake one body part or the body itself and release what is in excess. Shake the bleak off.

How to start with Russian martial art

The humanist movement is named so as it puts the person in the center of all things. I agree with them on this particular choice. You matter most.

Divide the choice into three smaller choices and find what is right for you right now:

  1. Find the right teacher for you.

It does not have to be a guy or a girl or with a special T shirt and an accent. Find someone that creates a good connection with you and teaches you to progress on your path instead of mimicking them and their ways.

Hint: If you don’t notice changes after a while, you are not learning.

  1. Find the right branch of Russian martial art for you.

Some focus on hitting, some focus on continuous movement and some on inner faith or culture. Find what focus you want right now and follow your bliss.

  1. Find what you need right now.

Go beyond what you want on the surface. Look inside and ask your close ones where you are lacking. Find the teacher who gives you access to undo your knots and mend tears in your whole.

A few more ideas to find and start in the Russian martial art:

  1. Make everything into breath work – it is not easy in the beginning and you don’t have to do it all the time, but at least once a day, focus on your breath in some way and it will pay forward in a long way. Waking the bridge between automatic and non-automatic functions inside us is the key to self-governess.
  2. Make sure you are healthy – Many young athletes can damage their health with enthusiasm and turning a blind eye. Older people do it with their egos and other silly stuff. Make sure your mind, heart and body are getting healthier and avoid focusing on getting from A to B. The journey is the goal.
  3. Gather a full suit of armour –Work on your ground movement, work on your walking and transitioning, work on your eyes, work on tension. Avoid focusing and drowning in one thing. You are buidling a full suit.
  4. Focus on the basics – Sure, Some skills are more showy than others but the basics cover it all by definition. Work on simple things each time and only once the soil has been watered, go for the more elaborate stuff. It will pay off.
  5. Ask questions – Why are you doing push ups ? Why are you grappling on the ground ? Why are you holding your breath ?  The moment you start asking questions, you continue to grow. Understanding why will nurish your desire to progress instead of grind and you will learn things about movement, yourself and others that will not be answered any other way.
  6. Be honest – If you hit well in class when a person stand docile next to you, it does not necessarily work the same in a real fight. Rolling on matts or a guy called matt is not like sliding down the stairs on a frozen wet spot with your son in your arms. Be honest with your abilities and with your fears and pride and remember that the way you choose to see the world, is yours and yours alone. The world does not play along all the time.
  7. Have fun – If it is not fun or rewarding in some way, Change what you do or change by questions and thinking how you look at it. Otherwise there is no point unless your job demands it and even then, even laying in mud and crap can be fun with the right state of mind. You may already have it  🙂

 

 

 

 

 

The ten best gyms you already have

Here is a list of gyms you already have. Gyms that give you results and are always open and free of charge.

  1. Your wall – do leaning pushups, walk up and down the wall using your hands and feet, Do pushups with your legs on the wall and that is just the beginning.
  2. Your stairs – walk up and down the stairs. Walk up and down the stairs on your hands and feet and jump up and down the stairs on one or two legs.
  3. Your belt– Hold it in both hands and push and pull from hand to hand. Use it to open tension in your back and shoulders by slowly decreasing the distance between hands as you move them with tension.
  4. Your backpack – Fill it with water bottles or sand and use it as a dumbbell or better yet hold it in your palm overhead and let your body learn balance as you walk with it.
  5. Your surroundings -trees, fences and so on – Climb them and do pull ups and swings on them. Don’t do the Tarzan voice early on Saturdays.
  6. Big furniture – Lift that sofa with a straight back and put it back softly. Use two sturdy chairs to dip in between and just move your shoulders under tension.
  7. That  giant picture book you got as a present – Strengthen your fingers and wrist by holding that big picture book (1000 pictures no one wants to see …) at its end and moving it about. Use slow deliberate movements and remove the book jacket before the work…
  8. Your wheeled chair – Start on your knees with your hands on the seat and slide forward and back with control, continue to bringing your knees together to lessen the support and then rise to sliding on your feet so your entire body has to work dynamically
  9. Your plastic containers– Cut them in half lengthwise and make them flat with a bit of time under that picture book. Now place them on your rug and either stand on place your hands on them and slide around. Stand and open and close your legs, pushing and pulling from the center. Place your hands on them and spread your hands to the sides and bring them back up. Turn your head if you lose control so your nose stays in tact J
  10. Your rug or big beach towel – Take your small rug or big beach towel outside and hold it at the narrow side. Move your hands up and down to wave the rug/towel and try to keep the movements small and fast so the rug/towel is as parallel to the ground as possible.

Have fun and use that money you saved on the gym to a good cause.

hunting with your kid

Here are several drills to practice with yourself and with your child or friends. These come to open your mind to the input of the senses and to allow the connection between you and your surroundings to thrive.

  1. Walk with your kid and choose an object to find first. First choose one item such as a cat and slowly evolve the game to finding a sitting cat, a Cheshire cat or a cat in the sunshine or shade.
  2. Walk with your kid and choose an object to find tracks of. It can be the trails of a plane in the sky, the footprints of a dog in the sand or the change in the color of the leaves where they were crushed by a moving object.
  3. Walk with your kid and look for a change in the status quo. A car that does not park in the usual place, a loud dog that stopped barking or a new bird in the bush that was not there last year.
  4. Walk with your kid and have one of you close their eyes. Find the source of the sounds and voices the one with the closed eyes hears and see if you can open your ears when your eyes are open.
  5. Walk with your kid and stop from time to time with your backs to each other. Note people animals and objects to each other and see if the other can find sign of it from their viewpoint. For example, you can find the shadow of the crane that was constructed last week, you can hear the miau of the cat that walks down the street or smell the dinner being cooked next door.
  6. walk with your kid and stop from time to time to lie down and watch. See how the ground sign changes from a different point of view and how we can learn more when we release the position we stick ourselves in. Take a white light flashlight with you to light the sign (animal print or another) from different directions and heights and learn to read the mark from any angle.
  7. Walk with your kid and visit the same sights every time during your walk. Mark the changes in the lighting through the year, mark the aging of the sign (leaves changing shape and color, dog leaving droppings, people littering or gardening and so on) and find why it works that way.

Paying attention pays more than you put in. The more you are open to your senses, the more you are able to act instead of react and the less you are a leaf in the wind.

drawing a curve with a striaght line

People discuss the merits of a curved blade compared to a straight. People discuss the proper use of tools and cloud their eyes from seeing the purpose past the tool.

It is a common saying that when holding a hammer you will seek and see nails everywhere but look past that to the task at hand and past even that to the continuous purpose of living a full free life.

The Japanese carpenter used to use a marking tool called a sumitsubo. It is a ink blot with a silk draw line attached to it. In the beginning, the carpenter only sees the possibility to draw a straight line using a simple tension method. The carpenter who is more attune to his craft will be able to cast a curve by twanging the silk and using the right amount of tension.

I ask you to treat tools as they were meant to be. Tools to be used to the task and to help you grasp your own essence more fully.

Drill 1:

Take a stick and a partner to work with. Push the partner with the stick and each time you touch the partner with the stick, relax your feet so your body aligns with the pressure you are using with the stick.

Watch the arc of the stick in motion as you do the drill and add to this natural movement so your sink into the contact even more. You will see with your partner what moves them more and what feels deeper as you practice.

Drill 2:

Take a rope or a belt and hold it with enough pressure to create a straight line. Have your partner press this line in various directions and you will work to perform these tasks:

  1. Keep your breath continuous and avoid trying to sync with your partner. Move as one.
  2. Keep the rope line a line. Move around the tension and find how you can move pressure and tension dynamically in your body.
  3. Smile. Relax your face and eyes to avoid being a slave to a horizon that exists only within you.

 

It is there for a reason

Your anger is there for a reason. Your pain comes from something and fear is one of the things that keeps you going.

Nature does not waste but it does not mean we cannot.

We waste time and thought thinking of things that were instead of doing something in the time that passes. We bemoan our past and doings instead of feeling and thinking with the things in front and inside us. We waste and thus hoard waste inside us.

To clean up this inner clutter we need a bit of a split style of actions.

One part of us is the outside maelstrom of reactions and pondering that goes through our mind body and heart and the other part is the tranquil observance of the inner core which is not silent but continuously stays in the here and now.

Here is the split of actions to remedy the accumulation of dust on our inner and outer wheels.

CHAOS

Do something on a regular basis (daily I suggest) that comes from yourself. Write without filter, dance for your own pleasure, walk in nature and take it in with all your senses and express yourself without the push and pull of expecting results and repercussions.

ORDER

Work daily on reaching your goals in a methodical manner. You want a stronger body ? Work to strengthen your connective tissue and nervous system and your muscles will respond in kind.

There is chaos in order and vice verse by the nature of encapsulation and manifestation. A right answer now may be wrong tomorrow so keep the clutter off your wheels by going in those two directions at the same time. With practice you will see they are one.

 

 

 

 

 

Same eyes different view

Our names define us. Our history define us and the roles we play every day define us.

we can remove these masks that we wear without knowing by shifting our points of view of the world and most importantly by shifting how we think and use ourselves.

Here are three drills of three variations:

1 How we view the World.

2 How we view people.

3 How we view ourselves.

WORLD:

Walk in nature or in the street and note different movements. Bees, Trees in the wind, frogs and people hopping along :). Think actively how you can be of service to them and how you can move with them instead of causing them to do your bidding. (For example: Plant a Hibiscus bush near your house so the bee honey will be more nourishing for them and for you if you have them in your location. Another example: Notice the changes of the weather over time. Find how they receive responses from the animal and plant life around you. Watch the flow of energy and see how you can get what you need and give from yourself without losing anything.)

PEOPLE:

Take two or more partners and have them try to walk through you as you avoid their contact with walking running and rolling. Perform this drill with speed and intention until you feel the animal side of you awaken to the chase. Continue with a slight shift in perception. A different goal. Now instead of avoiding or placing yourself in relation to others, give yourself the goal of touching their backs with your shoulder or forearm. A simple shift can change how the same movement is received and affects. It can remove fear and replace it with joy of movement.

SELF:

Place yourself on fists and feet. Move with your limbs as you always have till you feel work has been done. Consider how you will be able to walk a few miles in this form and in this manner. Relax slightly all limbs so they do not tense against the ground. Move your body in a swimming motion from side to side and forward and back, Shifting the mass around lightly and from there start to move your limbs from the body, Never tensing against the contact but relaxing and guiding just yourself over the earth and not stuck on it. Smile. It helps.