The Photo:
It was still warm this morning, in the mid 60’s, with almost
no wind, the ocean was flat. Excellent conditions to spot dolphins and I did
see a few breaching the surface. The tide was high at 7:15 am. The
next low tide will be at 1:46 pm. There was very little hard pack sand to
practice on, but I still made due, I was just super careful. The softer sand
makes it much more difficult to balance.
The Practice:
This morning I started by reciting:
“Loose, Subtle and Relaxed”
I had a visceral experience while doing Pore Breathing with
nature this morning. The experience is impossible to describe with mere words.
But this is the idea that I have been using to study and cultivate a profound connection
with nature:
1)
I start by focusing on breathing through my
bubbling spring point, at the bottoms of my feet.
2)
Imagining as the earth breaths in my joints and
tissues open as they contract (magnetic-Yin),
3)
As the earth breaths out, I open my joints and
tissues by expanding away from my center (electric-Yang).
4)
Saturating every cell with qi, as I inhale the ‘new
and the fresh’ through the pores (including the bottoms of my feet).
5)
Exhale the ‘old and the used’ out into the ‘space’
that exist everywhere outside and inside of me.
I plan on making a short video where I describe in more
detail this idea of Pore Breathing with the Earth
Because of the high tide it left mostly soft sand to practice on. So I focused on my vertical alignment, relaxed balance and counter-balancing.
Whenever I'm training/practicing, Relaxed Balance is the primary thing I focus on. Whenever I loose balance, I consider it like a musician hitting a wrong note. Then it gives me the opportunity to not react to the error. That is a very important aspect of internal training. IMHO
My goal is: Full Time Relaxed Balance with as little conscious thought as possible.
I saw a couple walking on the beach. They stopped and asked
about the sunrise. When is it, they asked? I said it already up, but there was too much
cloud cover to really see it.
I also saw Paul, he stopped and said he doesn’t run on the
weekend and he’s got a little plantar fasciitis he’s attending to. Ouch! ;^(
