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I had one of those moments during Tuesday night's class where something gets looked at or expressed in just the right way, and it makes the light bulb go off in my head. Typically, when this happens I usually feel like kicking myself for it not happening sooner, and this was no exception.
As of last month, I've been doing martial arts of one kind or another for 20 years. (Yay, me! ::G::) Even before that, before I knew the names for what I was doing, I was able to manipulate my Chi -- my body's energy. The first instance I can recall doing so was when I was in 4th grade, and came down with very acute appendicitis -- I can remember laying in the bed in the hospital recovery ward afterwards and discovering that if I did *this*, I didn't have as much pain. So... 4th grade would have been age 9, and I'm now ::mumble-mumble::, so I've been doing it not quite 30 years.
I can remember teaching a kung fu class 15 years ago, trying to teach them the importance of developing their visualization skills in order to be able to consciously direct their energy. I specifically remember telling them, "Yi leads chi" (the mind leads the energy). You'd think that with a sentence that short, especially coming out of my own mouth, that I'd have listened to *all* of it, wouldn't you? That scene has been repeated multiple times, in a couple of different schools and styles.
Tuesday, the scene got repeated again. We were working with some new students, and the head instructor told them the exact same thing: "The mind leads the energy." He wrote it on the dry-erase board at the front of the school... then he underlined the word "leads" and asked the class "What does it mean when you *lead* something?"
Nobody spoke, so I piped up, and as the words were leaving my mouth, the light went on.
"It means you have to go there first."
I could tell something "clicked" for him too, because his head snapped around to look at me with the same expression I'm sure was on my face, but I haven't had a chance to ask him about it yet.
The analogy he gave them was like using a rope. Yes, you can push a rope across the floor, and can even get pretty good at it... but it's usually more effective to tie the rope to something, go to where you want that something to be (or slightly past there), and use the rope to pull whatever it is to you. You "go there first."
The most common imagery I've used for projecting energy is something like water in a fire hose. I build up the pressure, then direct it towards a particular destination like spraying the water from a hose. In fact, I have come across that exact imagery in a variety of sources -- schools, styles, books, etc. It is a clear image that is easy for people to relate to... but in the terms of this example, it's "pushing the rope."
For an experiment, I tried "going there first" -- letting my mind go where I wanted the energy to follow, and pulling the energy to the "target" that way. I can tell I'm not nearly as practiced at doing it that way, but I definitely got some strong results!
I'm going to have to try to work more with that, and see how it plays out for me.
Should be interesting, to day the least -- I'm just kicking myself for not seeing it as a possibility sooner!
As of last month, I've been doing martial arts of one kind or another for 20 years. (Yay, me! ::G::) Even before that, before I knew the names for what I was doing, I was able to manipulate my Chi -- my body's energy. The first instance I can recall doing so was when I was in 4th grade, and came down with very acute appendicitis -- I can remember laying in the bed in the hospital recovery ward afterwards and discovering that if I did *this*, I didn't have as much pain. So... 4th grade would have been age 9, and I'm now ::mumble-mumble::, so I've been doing it not quite 30 years.
I can remember teaching a kung fu class 15 years ago, trying to teach them the importance of developing their visualization skills in order to be able to consciously direct their energy. I specifically remember telling them, "Yi leads chi" (the mind leads the energy). You'd think that with a sentence that short, especially coming out of my own mouth, that I'd have listened to *all* of it, wouldn't you? That scene has been repeated multiple times, in a couple of different schools and styles.
Tuesday, the scene got repeated again. We were working with some new students, and the head instructor told them the exact same thing: "The mind leads the energy." He wrote it on the dry-erase board at the front of the school... then he underlined the word "leads" and asked the class "What does it mean when you *lead* something?"
Nobody spoke, so I piped up, and as the words were leaving my mouth, the light went on.
"It means you have to go there first."
I could tell something "clicked" for him too, because his head snapped around to look at me with the same expression I'm sure was on my face, but I haven't had a chance to ask him about it yet.
The analogy he gave them was like using a rope. Yes, you can push a rope across the floor, and can even get pretty good at it... but it's usually more effective to tie the rope to something, go to where you want that something to be (or slightly past there), and use the rope to pull whatever it is to you. You "go there first."
The most common imagery I've used for projecting energy is something like water in a fire hose. I build up the pressure, then direct it towards a particular destination like spraying the water from a hose. In fact, I have come across that exact imagery in a variety of sources -- schools, styles, books, etc. It is a clear image that is easy for people to relate to... but in the terms of this example, it's "pushing the rope."
For an experiment, I tried "going there first" -- letting my mind go where I wanted the energy to follow, and pulling the energy to the "target" that way. I can tell I'm not nearly as practiced at doing it that way, but I definitely got some strong results!
I'm going to have to try to work more with that, and see how it plays out for me.
Should be interesting, to day the least -- I'm just kicking myself for not seeing it as a possibility sooner!
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