Sunrise Practice Wednesday 1.4.23

 

The Photo:

It was warm with the slightest breeze from the south. Tide was going out but almost high, still there was plenty of beach to practice on. 

This flock of birds was heading north to roost I presume. I captured the flock just as it was crossing the sun at the exact moment that the sun breached the horizon. Magical!

The Practice:

I did a full warm up, qigong and a Round of T'ai Chi Ch'uan concentrating on NOT overthinking, but feeling and experiencing where I am and what I'm doing. The connection to nature was MAGICAL!

For you:

Be still

Get comfortable

Breathe deeply and slowly

*Breathe in the new and the fresh, calm, robust health, love and healing energy.....

**Breathe out the old and the used, negative and/or limiting thoughts, injury and/or disease.....

Of note:

First I saw John walking south. We visited for a few minutes. 

Then I was approached by Nicole a new acquaintance. She had seen me practicing T'ai Chi Ch'uan for the past few days and decided to approach me about it. She was in an accident (I presume) and was looking to study T'ai Chi as a way of staying active. We talked about 'it' and then I reviewed Wuji and the Introduction to the form. Talked a bit about vertical alignment and release. Nicole is from Montreal. I suspect she is here on vacation? We'll see if she's at sunrise tomorrow morning. Time will tell...

I love stimulating interest in the internal arts, especially so for those that are need of these arts to maintain or regain ones health. I just love it;^) I only wish it was easier......

On the way back home I ran into Mary Kay and had a conversation with her. She loved the video that GG showed her from our last dive/photography trip to Ocean Frontiers on the East End of Grand Cayman. I love to see our U/W photography and videography stimulate friends and family interest in the undersea world. I just love it....

Tuesday morning Sunrise Practice

 

The Photo:

I got to the beach just a tad late for the actual sunrise. This was one of the first shots after I got the camera on the tripod. After a few shots I started my practice routine with some qigong and The Ten Exercise and their current variations.

The Weather:

Pleasantly warm with the slightest breeze from the S S/E....The tide was high around 6 am, surprisingly there was plenty of beach to practice on and very few people. I think most folks came for the sunrise and left after it appeared? 

The Practice:

I was able to get in a full warm up (The Ten Exercises+), qigong and a Round of T'ai Chi Ch'uan followed by a bit of Standing Meditation and more qigong. Morning is the best time for Inner Cultivation. 

The Lesson:

I did see a new friend, John as I was packing up. He was out for his morning constitutional (beach walk). We commiserated about the 'inertia' of a daily routine and how good it feels once you discipline yourself to get out and get going. Most importantly how you feel after you've finished; You feel terrific about yourself. Hopefully you have a renewed understanding of just how good morning exercise makes you feel. Give it a try....You'll be glad you did!!

*With gratitude and appreciation!  

When to practice?

 

When to practice:

That becomes THE question of the day. The actual answer IMHO is 'whenever you will do it' but I'd suggest the earlier in the day the better.

1. As close to daily as possible. Keep track of your consistency by journaling or simply checking off the days on a calendar. Do not overthink it....Just DO.

2. Try to develop a habit of practicing at that time of day. Know the 'trigger' that sets off the habit.

My personal trigger is Sunrise, especially by the sea or any body of water. 

    - Sunrise is THE BEST time of day to practice- 

If you haven't given it a try lately....Make a point of it. Set your alarm, put your feet on the floor, proceed to the most beautiful and gratifying spot that you can easily get to and practice (whatever) while the sun is rising.

You'll be happy you did!

Now just string a few (or more) of those sunrise practices together to get the full effect. 

No method will work without consistency. Period!

    

Be still and breathe deeply.....

 1) Be still (standing or sitting)

2) Be comfortable

3) Focus your mind on abdominal your breathing.  (Taoist Longevity Breathing)

4) Breathe:

a) Slow, 

b) Fine, 

c) Even 

d) Soft 

5) Breathe in and out through the nose. 

6) On the out breath: Release any tension downward like Ice melting to Water, Water evaporating as a Gas. 

7) Start at the top of the head and work your way down your body to your feet.

8) Allow the mind to descend down into the body. It may feel like water being soaked up by a blotter.

 Think water moving down litmus paper. 

 * Tissue that is properly released will expand in all directions and the joints will naturally open up. 

"Ice to Water-Water to Gas"

Merry 'Christmas tree worm'

 

A Christmas Tree Worm that I shot a few years back....Not sure where or when but 2014 is a guess;^)

Hope you're doing well and enjoying time with family and friends.

Happy practice;^)

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you all!

 

Sunrise Christmas Day 2022

Wishing you all abundant health and prosperity throughout the new year!

Controlling your fear.....Is it fear (False Evidence Appearing Real) or is it just excitement (a peak life experience)?

 

Yesterday morning at Split Rock on the north side of Grand Cayman. 'Twas a very sharkie dive!! They got as close as I care to be....Not fear, but definitely exciting to the extreme;^)

Scuba Diving has many parallels to martial arts

 

Scuba Diving has some great parallels to martial arts. 

One parallel is the practice 'eating the bitter'.  

Another parallel is learning to control ones natural tendency to panic under stress. That is especially important while scuba diving. If one panics (for whatever reason) it could be fatal and there is the biggest parallel. It's deadly serious!

A scuba diver needs to be:

 'Comfortable being uncomfortable' 

An example:

Yesterday at the start of the second dive my mask was super foggy; I only had visibility in the upper right hand corner of my mask....That's it! So about 1/3 of the way through the dive I decided to flood my mask with sea water to clear the fog. It worked but then I had sea water in my eyes and it burned for about 10 minutes. Great for spiritual practice! You must be able to release into the discomfort, because you cannot just surface whenever your a bit uncomfortable because you're at depth and need to come up slowly and do a 3 minute safety stop before surfacing.  There is NO shooting to the surface because you're uncomfortable. Self control is paramount to good scuba diving and martial arts alike. 

Mike G. is the newest member of the NSB T'ai Chi and Qigong Association

 

Mike G. this morning. He approached my while I was practicing on the beach. He's seen me 'out there' for years, doing 'something' perhaps qigong?

 Anyway conversation led to an introduction to the practice:  

1. Standing Meditation (I Ch'uan) for vertical alignment, relaxation and breathing (the basics). 

   2. Single leg balancing, recognizing when you are in balance (on either leg), once you have the 'feeling' then try to lift the empty leg without any further movement or leaning when the empty leg is lifted. 

NOTES: 

*Without correct vertical alignment balancing will require more effort. 

*The more precise the alignment is the more relaxed the single leg balancing will be. Period!! 

*It takes time, dedication and discipline to acquire proper alignment. 

*Alignment must be continuously monitored and adjusted. Especially when moving. 

*Alignment is best developed during Standing Post training. 

*Developing proper vertical alignment to gravity is an essential first step toward the 'real deal'. 

It is essential but it's NOT easy!

Sunrise practice this morning

 

The view for my sunrise practice this morning (Friday 11.25.22) 

It's been very overcast and foggy these past few mornings, so no sunrises. 

After hurricane Nicole the only time that there's enough beach to walk and practice on is around low tide!!

 November has the highest tides of the year. Hopefully this will change slightly as the year goes on?

I'll let ya know! Fingers crossed!!

This morning the tide was 1/2 way and coming up, I had just enough beach to shoot and exercise on!

Although the sand was a bit soft, counter balancing my postures, was of great assistance.

 

*Physically balancing in soft sand is much more difficult than on a wooden floor!*

Enjoy your practice

Using Progressive Stepping for a knife held at the small of the back - Modern Arnis

Possible defense against a knife held at the small of the back. 

Rather than thinking that this is a realistic defense against a knife. I'd suggest to look at it as a two person drill to help understand and develop skill using a progressive and of course practice the actual knife disarm. 

Disarms in general take massive amounts of practice to be useful.

 Disarms are very opportunistic in their application; IF you find yourself in a situation where a disarm presents itself, that's the time to use it. 

Disarms are very, very tricky to apply in real time, without a cooperating partner. 

Prof. Presas told me "you will be cut" if you try to defend against a knife.

 

The reason to train disarms; A last ditch effort to survive the assault. 

First T'ai Chi Ch'uan Classic Zhang San Feng The last third

Sifu Roy reads the last third of the T'ai Chi Ch'uan Classic commonly attributed to legendary T'ai Chi founder

Zhang San Feng

Sifu is reading from T'ai Chi Master Paul B. Gallaghers book "Drawing Silk"

Sifu has been reciting the classics aloud as he is practicing.

Give it a try if you haven't yet.

Most important point of all:

Enjoy your practice!

Gong Fu (Kung Fu) = The skill that can be derived from long term effort.

 Gong-Fu (Kung Fu) (功夫) cannot be achieved in a single day.

After a long period of continuous hard work, one will develop some Gong-Fu and the longer one endures this process, the more Gong-Fu one will acquire.

Just like a lump of iron ore smelted and hammered day after day, it is gradually transformed into pure steel.

Besides using a correct 'method' from a competent teacher

*The ONLY shortcut is to be consistent*

First T'ai Chi Ch'uan Classic attributed to Zhang San Feng

Sifu Roy reads the beginning (the first two thirds) of the T'ai Chi Ch'uan Classic text traditionally ascribed to T'ai Chi's founder

Zhang San Feng.

This translation is from

T'ai Chi Master Paul B. Gallagher's book:

"Drawing Silk"