Skip to main content

Moving Through the Seasons by Ken -- autumn Solstice 2006

I. Arrive & Preparing for practice - Track #1 Spirit of life
* Arrive and connect with body, breath and surroundings
* Notice your mental, physical and emotional state; note any particular needs or desires and create a personal intention
* Reflect on the season of Autumn, the Solstice; movement, and meditation in your life

II. Intention & Three Intentful Corrections - #17 Total Praise
Breath, Posture/Movement, and Consciousness (mind, body, heart and spirit)

III. Review with Relaxing exercises - #8 Hush
1. Open the feet by stepping to the left; toes pointing forward, feet in parallel
2. Shoulder, elbow and wrist circles (remember soft knees and legs, relaxed mind, easy breath)
3. Shift weight turning the head, neck and arms
4. Wave hands as willows or seaweed, wave hands as clouds

IVa. Letting Go Consciously -
* Shaking out stagnant Qi
* Feel apart, tall spine, relaxed belly, chest and back; full circular breath; head tall, eyes slightly down; arms in front, tip of the tongue behind the upper teeth to complete the cosmic orbit and relax the jaw;
* relax the body and mind and remember to breathe;
* notice whatever you notice in body, mind and heart, shake or snap and release it with a sounding Aaaaahh breath

IVb. Reflection and Notetaking

Va. Renew with the three Directions
Vertical, Sideways, In/Out
* Fountain Qi
* Float hands and wrists forward and side
* Sink elbows and gather Qi ball
* Bathe the body, heart, mind and marrow
* Gather Qi by brushing backs of hands back, out and forward and create a ball of Qi bringing it into the lower Tan Tien (below the navel)
* Repeat each exercise and/or whole sequence as many times as you like

Vb. Generating Qi connecting heaven and earth
* Spontaneous Movement and locomotion
* Carpal tunnel exercise to front and sides (standing or seated)
* Dragon serving tea
* Giving Qi to the arms, shoulders and neck (alternating sides)
* Bathing the marrow and sense organs

VI. Reflection on renewal - Tenderly

VII. Closing - Total Praise
* Take a few moments to reflect on and integrate your direct experience
* Notice any new awareness or insight
* Remember what you remember, repeat and practice transitions, make the movement your own.
* Plant any seeds of intention for the day, week, or season.
* Forget what you don't remember, keep the mind relaxed
* Take a couple of conscious breaths and make a mindful transition to the rest of your day.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Rumi's poems quoted in Wikipedia

* All day I think about it, then at night I say it. Where did I come from, and what am I supposed to be doing? I have no idea. My soul is from elsewhere, I'm sure of that, and I intend to end up there. * Come, come, whoever you are. Wanderer, idolator, worshipper of fire, come even though you have broken your vows a thousand times, Come, and come yet again. Ours is not a caravan of despair. o Variant: Come, come again, whoever you are, come! Heathen, fire worshipper or idolatrous, come! Come even if you broke your penitence a hundred times, Ours is the portal of hope, come as you are. * Do not grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form. * Every tree and plant in the meadow seemed to be dancing, those which average eyes would see as fixed and still. * Everyone has been made for some particular work, and the desire for that work has been put in every heart. * Everyone sees the unseen in proportion to the clarity of his heart, and that depends upon h...

Miyamoto Musashi's painting

One of the monochrome paintings he produced later in life "The Shrike" expresses his ultimate teaching of swordsmanship, namely, "the myriad principles are all of the Void." The insect that can be seen roughly in the middle of the painting, crawling up the branch of the withered tree, provides us with a hint of the meaning of swordsmanship hidden within the work. Ono interprets the painting as such: The Shrike is waiting for the fish in the pond. She could shake the dead branch to make the insect fall into the water which will entice fish to come out and eat the bug. Before then, the insect has eaten up all the leaves of the tree which was transformed into a dead tree. The shrike could catch the fish, and strike her catch to the other pointed branch to kill it. Thus: Fish kills worm; worm kills tree; shrike kills fish...; The unseen kills shrike; new trees grow around the dead tree; Shrike, fish, worm, dead trees all turn into fertilizer to grow the new tree. Such i...

True Happiness

This is one of my favorite five mindfulness trainings in the tradition of Thay. "Aware of the suffering caused by exploitation, social injustice, stealing, and oppression, I am committed to practicing generosity in my thinking, speaking, and acting. I am determined not to steal and not to possess anything that should belong to others; and I will share my time, energy, and material resources with those who are in need. I will practice looking deeply to see that the happiness and suffering of others are not separate from my own happiness and suffering; that true happiness is not possible without understanding and compassion; and that seeking wealth, fame, power and sensual pleasures can bring much suffering and despair. I am aware that happiness depends on my mental attitude and not on external conditions, and that I can live happily in the present moment simply by remembering that I already have more than enough conditions to be happy. I am committed to working in a way that I ca...