The Photo:
I managed to get out to the beach 10 minutes or so before the actual first sliver of The Ball. The color was beautiful. The sunrise was at 7:36 and low tide predicted to me 8:54 am so the tide was going out and I got to practice on hard packed sand. I love it when the tide is out or going out.
The Practice:
I was focused on balancing intent with doing. Doing with intent imbued from previous years of training on a principle, but experimenting with No Mind (conscious mind) and just allowing the movements to emerge out of my trained unconscious mind. It's the particular way I've trained my mind to be involved with my movements now I find it happening automatically. It's the same in music, after years of playing it's just IN you and there's no need to 'think' about it the same way, now you have space to listen to others and respond musically. Same in martial arts.
I know you, because I know myself
If you don't know yourself, you can't know me
If you train self-awareness first and foremost, eventually you will simply 'know' more about your partner as soon as you touch them. You will be able to 'feel it' and simply 'know' where they are locked up, off balance, out of alignment and overly tense. There will be little conscious thought at this point. There is simply 'knowing'.
The very best training to develop self-awareness [imho], is any and all stationary training. Standing or sitting whichever you will do.
*For martial arts some Standing and/or holding of postures (from Forms) is a must, if you are seeking higher levels of development.
Awareness (Ting) = Release of tension (Sung) = More Awareness = More Release and so on...
I had a couple hour Modern Arnis private with Gary this morning. We worked on seeing the common denominators in weapons practices. Starting with the Cane Warm Ups and proceeding to the Staff/Spear warm ups; Looking at the commonality between the two and how that relates to training empty hand skills. This is a fascinating subject for me and a hallmark of Modern Arnis ala Prof Remy Presas. He could easily find the common skills between weapons training and empty hand skills.
He would say this all the time:
"It's all the same"
Gary's a happy camper after a couple of hours of Modern Arnis.