How important is Alignment?

I think it was blogger Tabby Cat who used the term "Alignment Gulag" to describe people who are obsessed with perfecting alignment.  I'm not sure where his blog is now but the last blog post I read by him he had a whimsical list of examples of reasons people never get good at internal martial arts.  In every case it came down to some excuse for being something less than completely relaxed.

I have to admit that there was a stage in my teaching where I was alignment focused.  Students' really appreciated the alignment corrections but in the long run I don't think alignment corrections do a lot for martial development.  So I guess I've returned from Siberia.

Here are some alignment precepts I've come up with:

1. Move Spontaneously.


2. Move with conservation and efficiency.


3. Move without affect, narcissism, self-consciousness, or pretense.

Listening vs Quiet

Everyone who has been reading my blog knows that strength reduces sensitivity.  If you are looking for reasons to quit your fitness routine, that's a great one.

But many people misunderstand this argument to imply that normal people don't have enough sensitivity.  This I don't believe.  Normal sensitivity is enough for the development of high level Internal Martial Arts.  We don't need to increase our sensitivity.  However, we do need to understand what we are feeling for.  We do need to know one type of feeling from another.

The Chinese phrase for sensitivity most often left untranslated in English is ting jin, or listening power.  George Xu has decided that this is misleading.  First of all, the term jin or jing, power, is not what he wants us to cultivate.  He wants us to cultivate shi, or potential power.  Secondly, listening implies an action.  George Xu says we should be internally active externally quiet.  It is this term quiet which he is using to replace listening.

In other words, listening is not enough, you actually have to stop your tongue from wiggling!  Your tongue must be completely relaxed, quiet.  This goes for all the voluntary muscles in the body.  All of them.  The calves must be quiet.  The eye muscles too.  They all have to stop talking!

Out with the old, in with the New

My computer started crashing about 10 days ago and it has finally reach the point of no return.  Computers must some how be connected to the Underworld because they always pick the times when you are most busy to crash and burn.

So I'm going out to by a new Mac as soon as my laundry is done.

I made myself take private lessons to brush up on my Chinese before my trip.  Not that I've been a good student or anything, but like the computer crashes, it has taken time away from blogging.

Also, I am bringing a video camera on my trip so hopefully I'll bring back something wonderful for everyone to see.

Some people say that you should not tell your blog readers that you are going on a trip because your readership will drop, even if you blog while on the road--which I plan to do.  I solved that problem however, I no longer look at my ratings.  Also, as far as semi-daily blogs about internal martial arts written in English, I'm not seeing too much competition.  Where are my readers going to go?

If you are planning to start a new blog about Internal Martial Arts, this is the time to do it, frankly I could use some more competition!

Questions for Taiwan Trip

Here are some questions I plan to investigate during my upcoming trip to Taiwan.

1.  To what extent are martial arts of any kind understood to have an impact on the unseen world?
2.  What elements of Daoist or other ritual practices (such as exorcism, purification or renewal) can be identified in martial arts practice?
3.  To what extent can devotional aspects of theater or dance be identified in martial arts?
4.  What can be said about the historical development of martial arts as a form of merit accumulation or dedication on behalf of ancestors, gods, community.
5.  What can we say about the overlap (in purpose or meaning) of dance and martial arts?
6.  Are there parallels between how efficacy is understood in dance/performance and how it is understood in martial arts?
7.  Are there parallels between martial arts practice and the ways in which trance is used in teaching or performing dance and ritual?
8.  How is trance categorized and identified within Daoist and popular ritual traditions?  What can this tell us about the development of martial arts?

Feel free to criticize my methodology or my limited perspective.  Add your own questions too.

Bones

I just thought I would link to Paul Grilley's yoga site because he has some great pictures of bones.  The idea of these pictures is to show how extraordinarily different each individual person can be (even after death).  All 16 of them are worth looking at.  But it's also brilliant marketing.  With out having to explicitly say it, Grilley sends the message, "Every aspect of who you are is unique and deserving of personal attention, right down to the shape and size of each and every one of your BONES!" (He has also managed to make it impossible to "borrow" his images so make sure you click through to have a look at them.)

I still wonder to what extent the shape of a persons bones can be changed once they have reached adulthood.  I'd like to believe bones can be changed in a positive way, but I don't think my own bones have changed their shape in many years.  How about yours?

Click to view originals

Performance and Pictures

Here are some cool new pictures of my smokin' hot Students at Mission Education Center.  Five of my more advanced students from E R Taylor Elementary After School Program performed at the new DeYoung Museum last Saturday to a stunned audience who clapped for like 10 minutes!  My dream for this year was to have a performing group that would tour.  Mid-year the enthusiasm from the students was mixed and I kept running into logistical transportation type problems.  I'd actually down graded my expectations.  But in the end the students who wanted to perform pulled together and awesome show and my dream came true.  I think there will soon be some photos, video and I think were going to be part of a documentary film too.

Success is 99% Failure

Success is 99% Failure.

This quote by the intrepid founder of Honda Motor Company, Soichiro Honda, is also true of martial arts.  For each thing I've gotten right over the years, there are 99 others I've gotten wrong.  Progress appears to be made by accumulating successes; however, when you finally get something right you realized how simple, clear and straight forward it is.  That means all your previous attempts were actually failures.

Lately, my power has been increasing dramatically.  I gave up being interested in power a long time ago, so there is great irony here.  From where I'm sitting now, it is crystal clear to me why my power was so constrained in the past, and it's just as clear to me why other peoples' power is constrained.  Everything short of correct is simply wrong, 99% of what people call martial arts is failure.

99% of the cosmos is yin, only 1% is yang.  The earth, tiny spec of a spec that we are, actually has about 92% yin and 8% yang.  That's why life can exist here, for the moment.  That's what we call balanced!

Another Chance to See My Students Perform

My students are performing between 2 PM and 3 PM on Saturday May 9th.  We are supposed to go on at 2:30 PM but you might want to get there a little early, our last performance jumped the gun.  These are advanced 4th and 5th graders, they have about 15 minutes of action packed routines.  Details below:


ROOT DIVISION presents New Growth

A FREE Family Arts Workshop and Exhibition featuring artwork from the students & instructors of Root Division's Youth Education Program.

Opening Reception & Family Arts Workshop:
Saturday, May 9th, 2-6 pm
Free Art Activities, Performances, and Refreshments!

Live performances by:
Blue Bear School of Music
Latin Jazz Youth Ensemble
Kung Fu demonstration by Performing Arts Workshop students from ER Taylor Afterschool

ROOT DIVISION presente New Growth
Una exposicion que representa el trabajo de los estudiantes & instructores el Progama
de la Educacion de Juventud de Root Division

Reception y Taller de Artes Familia:
Sabado, Mayo 9, 2-6 pm
Actividades de Arte, Interpretaciones, y Refrescos Gratis!

Exhibition Dates: March 6th-16th, 2009
Gallery Hours: Wednesdays- Saturdays, 12-4 pm (or by appointment)
Sliding Scale Donation: $1-$20

Our partner programs include:
Buena Vista Child Care
Herbert Hoover Middle School
Mission Education Center
Fairmount After School
Seven Tepees Youth Program

3175 17th Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415.863.7668
www.rootdivision.org

Quiche

I had a dream yesterday that I had many plates of quiche.  They had wings.  If I cut the quiche just right, they were be able to fight (using internal power of course).  What does it mean?

My Students are Performing April 30th

About 50 of my 4th and 5th grade students are performing in the new outdoor basketball court at their school, spectators are welcome:

Thursday April 30th at 9:50 AM.

The school is called Mission Education Center, use the entrance on the corner of Day Street and Noe Street, in San Francisco's Noe Valley Neighborhood.

Here is a video of students from a previous year at the same school.