ad ambulandum-to walk

 

So walking today I saw a man performing Kata in the park, it was absolutely beautiful. Lately I have noticed that whenever I get up enough energy to walk I meet and see the neatest people. Young women running, folks walking their dogs, young men playing basketball, this neat guy who builds picnic tables in his yard, kids with their moms at the playground and then there was this lone man performing an ancient ritual known as Kata in the middle of all these beautiful trees today. It was so quiet and peaceful and I found myself desiring that peace. So I did some research because as you know I just love research...lol maybe this latest class is starting to have an impact on me.

The form Seiunchin (also written as Seiyunchin) is a very popular Goju kata due to its flowing moves and atheistic appearance.

. Whilst Goju is a Buddhist art emphasizing hard/soft as are other Okinawan karate styles, Hsing I is one of the three internal Taoist arts.

If it takes 10 years to master the hard /external then it will take a further 20 years to master the soft / internal

In post war practice the emphasis has predominately shifted to the hard and external. In an over simplistic analogy, hard is the development of body strength and isolated body techniques to attack the opponent i.e. leg to kick, arm to punch. Whilst the soft uses relaxation and the whole mind / body to merge with the energy of the opponent to receive, defend and attack with flowing counters.

The development of energy and vitality in Chinese is Chi Kung or 'Energy Work' in Japanese it is Kiko. Chi/Ki is the life energy that is inextricably linked with the breath, blood and circulation. Martial Ki is not just one thing but a unified synthesis of many parts. 

Three personal qualities are required to study the martial way:

Intention of the spirit
Concentration of the mind
Discipline of the body.

The five initial stages of developing Ju or Internal power require:

Centring,
Relaxed extension and contraction
Co-ordinated joint alignment
Whole body awareness
Breath control 

 Sodokan Goju Karate Association
© Mike Clark 1997-2005.

 I find this Intention of the spirit to be a universal need for anyone pursuing internal peace. And discipline whether we love it or not is required for success in almost all areas of life. Joint Alignment and an awareness of your body is good for everyones health and Breathing is of course essential and when controlled has been found to lower blood pressure and calm anxiety and is essential to life. So Buddhist principles aside I found Kata to be something worthy of pursuit and may have to find a class.  And all this research is a result of my afternoon walk - ad ambulandum
Thanks God for keeping my life interesting :)