Zen Body Being by Peter Ralston, (04) Learning, Being and Creating, Notes

Post date: Jun 2, 2016 1:44:57 PM

Zen Body Being by Peter Ralston

Chapter 4. Learning, Being and Creating - To change the body in some way, first let it be however it is. Great leaps of ability come through great leaps of the mind. Honestly looking into your own experience is the beginning of real learning and change. Address the principles of effectiveness. To overcome habitual learning address the principles again and again from differing perspectives. Keep a beginner’s mind. Be open. What is learned intellectually needs to be grounded in experience.

• 1. Some key elements of learning:

     1. Learning is the ability to act from perceptions that are grounded in real experience rather than mere ideas. Physical mastery requires a precise and accurate understanding of the body, movement and the environment.

     2. The best way to train is in practical ways that sharpen all three. These cascade into all realms of our experience and we are no longer oblivious to what we experience.

     3. We must train with an attitude that allows new ways of thinking and being: an openness.

     4. Having both groundedness and openness allows for real discovery and improvement. Too much of either quality is not good. Groundedness and openness must check each other. Balance between the two will lead to progress and insight. Being aware and remaining aware of the need for this balance will allow for learning and skill development.

     5. Apply what is useful, discard what is not. Learn to recognize airy fairy thinking and do not be quick to discard an idea too soon--at least until you have had a chance to explore its usefulness. Learning begins with questioning, so take a long honest look at any tendencies that go to either extreme. Adopt an attitude of openness and try to heighten the sense of wonder. Ground this in the experience of the present moment and we soon achieve great insights.

     6. As with mastery, ‘Being’ is an experience that can only be grasped first hand. Intent: Genuine and clear experience of the body and our being. Maintaining a state of grounded openness will help us press on in the right direction. Develop ruthless honesty and completely accept personal responsibility. The movement is towards freedom of attachment to principles and beliefs and replacing it with authentic experience.

  2. Questioning Self. Question the ‘self’ who is asking the questions. Uncover ways of thinking that attempt to hinder change and learn to drop ways of thinking that prevent looking in the right direction for insight and improvement. The more personal views are confronted, the more willing we are to break free from the thoughts that distort our experience.

• • 1. Example: Dividing the body and mind into two distinct parts. Learning to recognize that we are operating from an assumed personal perspective is an important step. Our personal viewpoint is an assumption, even if it is a positive one. Assumptions, layers upon layers, can keep us stuck in the same ways of thinking. Looking past customary answers can at first be disconcerting, confusing and even painful but allows opening up to actual experience and seeing what’s really there. This minor shift brings forth freedom and a sense of freshness in the way of thinking and can lead to real understanding.

• 3. Being Your Body - If asked how you know you exist, your answer might reveal some important things about your assumptions regarding self and your relationship to your body. We each perceive our existence by the sense that we are in our bodies. Precisely where or how firmly has long been a matter of debate. Some cultures believe the self resides near the heart, where emotions seem to arise. For most, the ‘self’ resides in the head, where four of the five senses are located. In the skull are the ‘seer’, ‘hearer’, ‘thinker’, ‘taster’ and ‘smeller.’ Nevertheless, much of what we relate to is conceptual in nature.

• • 1. This Being of, whatever it is, consists of a little flesh, a little breath and the part which governs.--Marcus Aurelius

    2. We can only actually perceive what we are currently focused on. The rest is a perception created by a complex web of sensory feedback. From this feedback we create an image in our awareness, a conceptual picture of the whole body’s location, posture and movement anytime we give it our full attention--a blend of perception and imagination.

    3. The degree of accuracy of our perceptions will affect our performance. Deepening our understanding with nothing hidden or denied makes a difference in how we see ourselves in many other ways.

• 4. Getting to Rock Bottom Honesty - We must have a real intent to discover what’s true. A clear minded disposition of openness regarding one’s actual experience is the cornerstone. Personal discovery requires taking responsibility of one’s own beliefs and ideas but rewards the practitioner with deep understanding. Questions that lead us to rock bottom honesty:

• • 1. Question what you hold true: Do I challenge my beliefs or am I stuck with them? Am I too rigid? Too gullible?

    2. Uncover your assumptions and beliefs: What do I think is true and why do I think so? Have I experienced these things or have I just accepted them without exception?

    3. Free yourself from attachment to these concepts: Can I be open to other possibilities and can I explore them personally?

    4. Hold on to a state of knowing and openness: Without being able to name this experience or decide what everything means or what’s true, can I remain attentive and wonder about it?

    5. Become conscious of new possibilities outside of habitual assumptions: Am I truly open? Am I willing to see beyond my current understanding?

• 5. Body and Identity. The body reveals the self.

• • 1. How the body moves will determine how one communicates. Grace implies a certain social status and reflects upon the individual. The opposite is true of clumsiness--albeit negative. Muscles of the face and eyes and body posture angles all reflect internal disposition. Every communication made begins from the body.

    2. Attitudes toward the body determine, in large measure, our assessments of our own ability to take action and accomplish results. The best course is to get past all the judgements we have about the body, our abilities and the ‘kind’ of person we are. Learn to honestly look at and question these types of judgements. As we question our assumptions, their power to influence us diminishes. Changing what we perceive changes what we express. We learn to differentiate between what we truly perceive and what we merely assume is true.

    3. Every word, move & mannerism should express who we truly are. Be fully aware and sensitive to what is actually there, whether training physically or interacting socially. Remain open. Challenging your viewpoint leads to increasing clarity. Even question what happens to be true to find out why it's true. How do you hold self? What role does your body play in your sense of self? The strength of questioning is often more important than finding the answer.

• 6. Two Domains of Feeling - The most solid sense of our existence stems from feeling the body. The body responds to both sensations. However, sensation is ‘received’ while emotion is ‘produced’ by the body. The best performers are able to separate emotions and ideas from what is actually occurring. The body and mind are focused on only two things: their body’s sensations and what is occurring around them. Responding from the sensitive perspective of a clear and calm mind is wherein lies the best performances.

  7. Creating Feeling - Feeling-state or feeling-awareness, not only means the physical but also implies activities of the mind--an ongoing ‘right now’ experience. The mind can create feeling. An act of the will can sensate the body. When practicing creating feeling we must imagine as clearly as possible in order to generate true feeling and, in turn, change the body and mind. Generate simple yet sophisticated feeling. When we generate feelings, the body operates more from a sense of ‘energy’ rather than ‘ mechanically.’ The whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts. Our only limits are our intelligence, imaginations and experience. Follow the evidence wherever it leads. Consider all that is true and possible without limiting your approach to the the mechanical or the mystical.

• • 1. Pure Feeling Exercise:

       1. Put attention on the body. Feel the most basic sensation.

       2. Don’t focus on the surroundings or just the inside.

       3. Feel the whole body. Let go of ‘cause.’ Just feel. Don’t think, feel. Stay relaxed. Feel the presence of feeling--a sense of pure feeling. Experience the essential nature of feeling.

    2. Outreach. Another drill to enhance subtle feedback awareness. Reach for a person or other object. Feel the entire body in one touch.

    3. Generate feeling simply as an exercise in generating feeling:

• • • 1. Create a strong feeling of three dimensional awareness.

      2. Create a strong feeling of being grounded.

      3. Create a strong feeling of melting within the body.

      4. Create a strong feeling of flowing throughout the body.

      5. Create a warm sensation in the lower belly or feet.

      6. Sink below the floor.

      7. Float above the head.

      8. Tingling in the fingers.