Warriors of Stillness: Movement not yet released

From Warriors of Stillness 3: http://warriorsofstillness.com
by Jan Diepersloot

Though posture is often thought of as stillness as opposed to movement, actually our posture must be considered a type of movement also. In other words, the stillness we are talking about is not the stillness of death as opposed to the movement of life. It is not the comparative stillness of plants as opposed to the movements of animals. It is not the (relative) stillness of sleep, not the stillness of couch potato TV-watching, not the stillness of paralysis, not the stillness of passed out stupor, nor any other stillness in which the machinery for movement and its controlling mechanism have been fully or partially shut down. No, the stillness we cultivate in our standing (postural) meditation entails readiness, a stillness that is pregnant with possibilities for movement. It is the stillness of a deer ready to bolt and flee, the stillness of the tiger ready to pounce. The stillness we are talking about, in other words is movement not yet released. It is the stillness of potential movement as opposed to actual movement. In this stillness, awareness enables us to respond to the environment rather than react to it. 

Warriors of Stillness 3: Masters of Perception

Over the next weeks, we will be sharing short excerpts from Jan Diepersloot's Warriors of Stillness III. The book can be purchased from: http://warriorsofstillness.com We highly recommend all three books in the series and they can be purchased together as a Trilogy Set for $75 - a great deal. Enjoy!

The primary principles internal martial artists follow to cultivate robust health in the qi state are proper posture, proper breath and proper mindset. In the internal martial arts, the rules of posture are governed by the pivotal concept of zhongding, or central equilibrium, and consist of the optimal re-alignment of the spine in the vertical plane. 

Within this proper postural framework, internal martial artists utilize mindful breathing practices to transform typical (and usually restricted) breathing patterns into full and free natural breathing. As this process unfolds over time, the tensions that stiffen and harden us, both physically and mentally, progressively dissolve. The resulting state of relaxation is called song by the Chinese, and denotes a state of alert relaxation that is ready for immediate action. 

Proper breath and proper posture create the foundation for optimally efficient movement of torso and limbs. The rules for movement, like posture, also are dictated by the constraints of central equilibrium. The fundamental components, or basic grammar, of movement are the horizontal, vertical and rotational movements of the body's central vertical axis in space. These three elemental movements combine to create an infinite number of possible movements. 

Wuji Meditation Generates the True Qi

WARRIORS OF STILLNESS: WUJI

By Jan Diepersloot

Both the tragedy and dilemma of modern humanity is that it has internalized the psychophysiology of emergency, flight and fight, on a global scale. In the biological, psychological, spiritual, political, social and economic structures and institutions, humankind is mindlessly ruled by fear and aggression, creating a self-perpetuating and self-feeding emergency situation spiraling out of control and draining the psychological and physical energy reserves both of the human individual and humanity as a whole. Only stillness can provide the antidote within the person and within the civilization. Only meditation gives us the tools to change our current habitual state of stress and emergency into one of harmony. Thus the practice of meditation, in general, takes on immense relevance for humanity, giving us the ability to control our physiological and psychological states through relaxation.

The particular uniqueness and relevance of wuji standing, as we shall see in the course of this book, is that it makes accessible to us the emergency powers of the body while remaining in a state of harmony. In the martial dimension, we reclaim the emergency powers of our mammalian heritage without our organism being overwhelmed or governed by them.

We described in some detail how Master Cai's practice of "raising the spirit and sinking the qi" changes our normal/civilized bodies and enables us to regain our natural/instinctive bodies and enables us to regain our natural/instinctive posture and movement. For indeed the practice of "raising the spirit and sinking the qi" mimic and reinforce basic mammalian response patterns to emergency situations. 

Raising the head and the spirit refers to the alertness response which activates the sensory-neural apparatus and integrates it with the neuromuscular system. Sinking the qi refers to bodily mobilization which activates the "crouch" response. The tucking under of tailbone and pelvis, expanding the lower back and filling the mingmen integrates the upper and lower bodies, making their combined power available to deal with emergency situations.

By "keeping three points on a straight line" and "sinking the qi and raising the spirit," wuji meditation cultivates a state of awareness/being in stillness the may best be described as the perpetual "calm before the storm," the silliness and heightened awareness of the cat that precedes its jump on its prey. The goal of wuji meditation is to acquire the strength of calm so that the storm never breaks, the total alertness and readiness to "jump the prey" without ever jumping. By maximizing cultivation and minimizing use, wuji meditation generates the true qi, i.e. increasing our energy potential and accessing our human emergency powers while continuing to operate under the psychophysiology of harmony.