Friday, July 22, 2011

Zen and The Martial Arts - Mindfulness Of Breathing

The breath is used as an indicator for when you are going beyond the limit of strength. Part of tai chi is to recognize things as they are, or as such (Dao 道, or the nature of things).

I have strength, why can't I use it? We all have a certain amount of strength, this is our nature. The thing is when I try to go BEYOND the limit of my strength that my action turns into struggling, and I will lose the tai chi balance in my body, because everything has it's limits.

Understanding the limits is tai chi, so I use the breath to keep the body in yin/yang balance. when I start to struggle in my action, such that it starts to restrict my breathing, I know I need to change so I can relax again.