Be a Mountain

I am exploring a common thread in all aspects of my life, and this aspect is being like a mountain.

Mind body exercises are great because every movement, every session can be a metaphor for your life.

Tukong

Master Ali asks me if I have any questions about the form I am working on. I reply that the main thing is I know there are things about my forms in general that I am unaware need fixing...this is code for tell me the one thing I need to work on in my practice.

Master Ali said that my motions were too tight and small. Tukong is a mountain form of martial arts. This means that movements are like climbing a mountain. Your motions should be big and definitive. While we learn other ways, we tend to practice in a big, solid way.

In contrast, there are times when you move in "beach" style. In this way your movements are small, and very close in. Picture walking up a mountain versuswalking in a big mushy beach with shifting sand.

I discussed when beach style was good versus mountain style. Master Ali showed me a few examples of each, but emphasized that my practice was too close. In fact, I had heard that from several black belts.

My Tukong movements were too constricted, too small.

Professional Development
Flash back to a couple of months ago. I had merged my Zero Waste Network with the UT Arlington Division for Enterprise Development. Our director was at a conference and wanted me to promote the Center for Environmental Excellence. I asked her to give me the vision.

She looked at me for a moment, and then said "you need to articulate the vision". This led to a discussion that basiclyamounted to my movements being small. I was looking at my small business unit, she wanted me to be looking, and assuming leadership for, the entire environmental program.

It was time to think big.

Inner Body Bright
Anyusara Yoga teachers frequently use the term "inner body bright". Inner body bright is very hard to explain, but easy to see, and with focus, easy to do.

Take a moment and stand with your arms at your side.

Now picture a giant power field eminating from your core, out through your limbs, into your head, glowing out around your body. If you watch, you will see that your body will seem to swell up from the inside. You wil look bigger.

So in Yoga the other day I set the intention of "being the mountain", which in my mind is pretty much "inner body bright". The teacher Sanieh, actually noticed that something was up, and made a point of letting me know.

Be a Mountain
Being a mountain gives you an enormous amount of personal power and influence. People take notice of you when you are in a room. Setting the intention of being the mountain immediately begins a change in:

• your posture, which gets taller.




• your breath, begins to expand becase your lungs have lots of room to take in air,




• your eyes tend to sparkle a little, and you are looking around,and seeing a whole valley




• you tend to move decisively




• you speak with conviction,

But not all the time

So why aren't we always being a mountain? Well, as in Tukong and Yoga, the mountain is not alway the bset way to move. When the path is uncertain, or we need to let others stand tall it is good to use 'beach style".

In martial arts, you change your energy constantly to seek advantage. You may be able to tower like a giant even when your opponent is bigger than you. But if both of you are being a mountain, it may be good to turn into a tight little stream and cut them in half.

Note that in martial arts mountain style is used to control the space. So, if you want others to speak, act, or express themselves in any way,back your mountain down for a while.

In my personal life being a mountain can be inspirational, but in some situations it is intimidating. I noticed this first in a supermarket. People were saying "excuse me" and not walking past me even when there was a lot of physical space around me. I could be looking at something in an asle that could hold three of me. People would stop as though I were blocking the whole aisle.

The certainty of your speaking can mislead people, giving them the impression you know what you are talking about when you are guessing. A friend of mine got irritated in Korea because he thought I knew where I was. In my mind I was saying "I think it is over there". He heard "it IS over there".

If you have had a long and intensely high energy yoga practice. Make sure you take a moment to go inside. Bring your energy back into your core and let it cool. Ashtanga practice always ends with a series of tight postures. This prepares you for final relaxation, and lets you get the maximum health benefits.

Big and Small

Scholars of the ancient Chinese game of strategy, Wei Qi (Go), willl tell you that all strategy is about knowing when to make a big move and when to make a small move. If you never make a big move you will be "living small". You may survive, but youwill be unsatisfied. However, people who move big all the time will have massive losses.

When you are on uncertain ground, revert to beach style. For instance, in business make sure you understand a contract before you step out on the sand. Ask many questions, examine each step closely. Once you sign it, the ground is firm execute the strength of a mountain.

Off the Mat...Public Speaking

One thing I have brought from yoga is a connection between my mind and my body. Your posture influences your mood, and vice versa.

Consider public speaking. It is one of the most stressfull situations people can have. People rank fear of public speaking above fear of death.

So what is happening as you sit in a chair, waiting to be introduced? Your legs are folded in an unnaturally chair constricted posture that let's your quads shrink, and even atrophy.

These are your fight or flight muscles. When an alligator leaps out of the water these muscles need to fire up and carry you off the field. So your body is telling your mind that you are not ready to move. Your mind, in turn is telling your body that you are about to enter a dangerous situation. It is a feedback loop. You are about to expose yourself with no ability to fight or fly!

The trick I learned at a recent speaking engagement was to loosen these up these tense muscles. You will be cool, calm and relaxed as you speak. Just sit a little forward on your chair, and bend your leg to the floor. The top of your body will be unchanged, so people watching you sit at a table will simply see your upper body and a smile on your face. Meanwhile your quads are loosening allowing you to relax and prepare for a stressful situation.

And...if your speech is not well recieved.

You will be able to fight or fly!

My Temper, My Quads

No doubt about it now, every time I get into a pose that stretches my quads I start to feel irritated. Liz was working on Hero pose (vira sana) and I was just getting more and more angry. It started with frustration (why cant I do this pose), then fear (is that my knee?) and ended with outright irritation (why in the HELL don't we do another pose....HERO AGAIN! C'MON LIZ, DO ANOTHER POSE

This by the way is a variation with the toes bent....(photo from Downward Blog)


I really wasn't being much of a hero.

So here is my conclusion.

1. I tend to sit in a pose, much like the one I am in now. Hips folded in an unnatural chair, psoas compressed, quadricepts tightening.

I do this all the time, and have done it for quite some time.

2. The hips are supposed to contain the fight or flight mechanism. Stetching that tight muscle releases aggression.

Liz mentioned that Hero pose does a really cool thing. It connects the heart to the core.

This got me thinking of a story Grandmaster Wonik Yi told us.

"There once was a region that the king wanted to collect taxes from, but the people were fearsome fighters. The king sent a general who had strength. One year later the people sent a basket to the king with the strong generals head in it.

So the king sent a general who was smart. For three years the rebellious region sent tribute. Then one year the tribute came with the smart generals head in it.

So the king sent a general with a strong heart. The next year, and forevermore the people of the region sent more tribute than was asked.

The moral is:
Strong body is weaker than strong mind
strong mind is weaker than strong heart."

So let's think about this hips to heart thing. What would a person who had mastered Hero Pose be like? The following is pure conjecture on my part, I could be completely wrong.

Mastering Hero's pose connects the heart to the core. Or the physical strenght to physical compassion.

If one could master this they would be powerful and loved for their power. They would have a lot of strength. Their strength would emenated from the Tan Tien (a.k.a. the root lock manipura). This area holds the power that is projected in martial arts moves.

If I can master this pose (and apply the principle at all times) I can be cool under pressure
I can avoid conflict out of compassion, but never from fear
When I do enter conflict I could do so without anger, maintaining my awareness, emotional stability and strenght all at once.

This is very exciting.

class attendance - Yoga Yoga, Repost from Myspace

I just figured out that I have access to my class attendance records at yogayoga

I took my first yoga class at Yoga Yoga with Kewal on March 7, 2006 at noon. Since then I have taken 345 classes, averaging 13.2 classes per month, or about every other day for two years. I tend to go every day, but have breaks when I travel.

My favorite class is by far Hatha (41%), I also took a lot of beginners Hatha (23%) and Hatha flow (20%). I went to Ashtanga about 7% of the time. If you don't know Ashtanga from hatha, here is a guide to the classes.

My most frequently attended teachers kind of suprised me. I really take advantage of the diversity of teachers at yoga yoga. I have taken a lot of teachers for two or three classes. Over 30% of my attendance was to a teacher I only took a few times. The number of times I went to a teacher doesn't relate closely to how much I learned or enjoyed the class.

I know I ussually pick a class because of the time, type of class, my schedule, how sore I am from other exercise and my level of energy. Teacher is about the third thing I look at. Nevertheless, some teachers consistently rose to the top and that isn't coinciedence. These teachers shaped my practice and taught me a lot.

My top teachers were:

Mandy 12%

Liz B and Sapphire with 8%

Gundega, Larrisa, Pamela B. and Chuck (5%)


I think Mandy is on top as much because of her regularity, and the amount of time she has been teaching as any other reason. Mandy is a great teacher, has taught for the past two years and teaches a lot different time slots. In contrast, Gundega who I have recently been going to has only had a few classes for about a year. Liz B. has had extended absences but would probably be the teacher who has the deepest effect on my practice.

I took classes through two marathons, countless martial arts classes, injury, sickness, S T R E S S and MORE STRESS, I even found it comforting the day my dog died.

I still can't do a headstand, full wheel (for very long), stick my toes up my nose and kiss my ass, but I think I am getting stronger and more flexible every week. I have learned to look deep in my body, align my muscles, heal sore achy muscles. In combination with martial arts I have increased my ability to balance immensely. I can relax under extraordinary circumstances, and deal with my emotions much better than before. On a more mystical level I can feel the flow of Prana (also known as "Chi", or "Ki").

I am very glad to have incorporated yoga into my life, and highly recomend Yoga Yoga to anyone in Austin.

Introducing....The Psoas

The purpose of the psoas is to lift the leg to the body, or move the body towards the leg. Both functions were adequately explored in the last two Anyusara Hatha Yoga classes I took.

This muscle tends to tighten and shorten in long periods of sitting. I have come to believe that this tightening leads to a feeling of stress and anxiety.

Releasing this muscle can greatly lower you stress.

Strengthening and increasing it's flexibility has some rather obvious advantages for martial artists. Most notably getting into a front stance, or long stance (ap kubi).

About Mind and Body

This is a blog for exploring martial arts and yoga. I plan to fill this blog with insights of my mind that are gained through the physical practice of Tookung Moosul and Yoga.

Yoga's Hardest Move

I have been practicing yoga since I was 10. I still can't do a lot of moves, like standing on my hands, touching my head to my shins in a forward bend, I can't even do lotus.
But I can tell you without a doubt that the hardest move is Savasana. You know, the pose at the end of the class where you lay on your back and completely relax.

You might think this is the easiest move after a sweaty ashtanga session when your shirt is more water than cloth. It might seem harder to do those tree poses where you stand on one leg and grab your fully extended foot.

But all those moves are about doing something. With time and practice the muscles pull, the mind accepts you can do it.

But Savasana...

Savasana is literally translated the corpse pose. I have come to believe this is not a casual reference. Savasana is about letting go. Doing nothing, thinking nothing, putting no effort into anything.

The more I do it, the more I realize how hard absolute relaxation is. There is always some part of your body that won't let go. If you do it right, you won't twitch a finger, tighten an eyebrow or even focus your eyes. Even if someone drops a big pan you will just lay there and....be .
Or maybe a more acurate description would say you stop being. And this is why this pose is the hardest thing I have ever done.

When you relax you start to slip away. I call it a near death experience. I have had it a couple of times, but I always snap out of it. In fact, it scares the hell out of me.

Imagine that, scared of laying on the ground. But I do get creeped out. I lay there and just start slipping away. It is like dying, I feel my eyes get that dead fish look. As I start to slip I snap back...and reassert myself.

That is why Savasana is yoga's hardest move.