posted April 29, 2007 01:43 AM
This Practice is designed to give you a sense of being connected to the natural world, and knowing you are not alone. Set aside a few minutes and slowly, very slowly, read the words below. As you read, be certain to take some deep breaths where you would normally pause for an instant when reading in a more usual manner.
______________
One of the most important things you can learn in life, is to create a rhythm with your presence, movements, and breathing, that matches the rhythm of nature. This is a lesson that is taught in most if not all martial arts.
Imagine yourself sitting by an ocean. Perhaps on the beach, or perhaps sitting on a dock or jetty.
The ocean is calm today, and you might begin to feel how the rhythms and sounds of the ocean soothe your soul.
As you sit where you are now, imagine the ebb and flow of the ocean, and the sounds of the tide flowing back and forth, pausing and swirling. As the tide comes in, you can consider that the ocean is exhaling. As the tide goes back out, the ocean is inhaling.
You can sense the movement and sounds of the ocean….
And I want you to notice your movements and breathing…..
As you feel yourself going IN... and OUT... of rhythm with this flow.
Feel the life force of the ocean... ...
Its gentle power... ...
And breathe with the ocean... ...
Feel the life force of the ocean, and without doing anything, allow yourself to move with the ocean... ...
Breathe, move, and feel your heartbeat... ...
Feeling the pulsing of your spirit, and the pulsing of the ocean... ...
Inviting your heartbeat to synchronize with the heartbeat of the ocean.
Now you are becoming one with the water, and the fluid inside your body begins to become a tiny powerful ocean that ebbs and flows throughout your system... ...
In and out.
Exhale and inhale.
Ebb and flow... ...
Now, like the ocean, you can begin to feel the power of flowing without resisting... Flowing without fighting against...
The water surrounds and moves past all obstacles. There is no forcing, and no need for strength.
Only flow... . The power is IN the flow, and each drop of water is pliant and soft...
No one drop of water is powerful on its own...
Sit there now with your ocean, and with yourself...
Feel your power melding with the power of the ocean.
Not separate, but together.
And you can clearly experience that all this power is really One.
Such is your journey.
And I hope that in some small way, when reading these words now, you can feel the power and the presence that resides within yourself.
The one tiny drop of water that you are.
Not separate, but immersed in the flow of the ocean of life.
___________
You might find it enjoyable to reread these words now, and certainly I hope you will return to these words, and the feelings that you generated, in the future.
http://www.seishindo.org/practices/life-ebb-and-flow.html
Lindaland
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posted April 28, 2007 02:12 PM
posted April 28, 2007 02:17 PM
posted April 28, 2007 02:19 PM
posted April 28, 2007 03:11 PM
posted April 29, 2007 01:43 AM
