Sunday, November 4, 2012

Catching Up



As I get older the passage of time continues to accelerate, so it feels like it’s been both a busy year and a short one – I can’t believe it is already November.

The Spring and Fall Wild Goose camps in Delphos were both exceptional. All the folks involved in the system are contributing to a wave of energy and knowledge that continues to build. This was particularly strong at the Fall camp that was dedicated to a wide range of healing methods. I honestly do not know of any place where you could have received such wide ranging information on chiropractic, acupuncture, cupping, moxa, massage, energy healing and general TCM theory – and that was just Saturday’s presentations. What a great group of people.

Shane and I finished the third volume in the Wild Goose book series that covered the martial aspects of the system and introduced the Dayan Palm form. The book gives an overview of the martial basics and in my opinion breaks some new ground. To my knowledge this is the first time that the broader aspects of the Wild Goose martial techniques have been documented. There is much more to come…work is proceeding on a book dedicated to healing…stay tuned for more.



At a personal level, my own understanding of how the universe works continues to grow (as does the list of things that I do not know). The single most valuable thing I learned this year is the importance of awareness. The importance of awareness and living in the current moment continues to unfold for me. Each new epiphany brings another new understanding which leads to some personal progress which leads to another “revelation” and so it goes. I see no end to this marvelous process.

Examining my own experience, I can understand now that my early martial training was shifted too much into the physical – i.e. I was training to develop the physical aspects of technique without appreciating the aspects of awareness and the mental and spiritual development that would have greatly enhanced the physical training. There was too much emphasis on accumulating more physical technique…more physicality, and an insufficient understanding of the path (Tao) that would lead to true mastery of all the aspects – physical, mental and spiritual. This is of course, nothing new. I am simply “discovering” the same things that countless others have said and done over the centuries. The single most helpful thing to me in this process of discovery has been gaining a deeper understanding of meditation. Again, this is nothing new. The internal arts have long relied on various forms of meditation as in zhan zhuang (standing meditation) and zazen (seated meditation). If you are a “seeker” and have not yet investigated meditation and made it a part of your life, then that is a direction I would recommend.

And, a huge thank you to all the folks that have kept me on the path this year. And, I’ll try to do a better job and post more frequently (hopefully something useful) on this bog.

No comments:

Post a Comment