Sunday, April 5, 2015

Standing on the Earth

In Qi Gong there is a suggestion to stand on the Earth, not on your feet.  You are invited to allow the Earth to support you, to sense your body extending into the Earth like the roots of a tree while also extending up and out from the Earth, blossoming beautifully where you are planted.  As my morning practice moved to the guitar the thought arose to sit on the Earth, not on my buttocks.  Again to sense the support, the rootedness and extension.  To sense and allow the freedom in my arms, hands & fingers to sway like a tree in the wind. 

Since the Earth is always in motion rotating about her axis, than I too remain in motion.  Is my motion free and directed following the principles of the Alexander Technique?  Or am I unaware of my support, unaware of the possibilities available through my musculoskeletal system when right directions are offered to the pyschophysical domain?

My guitar is of the Earth - her wood harvested from trees, her strings and frets mined from ores deep within our planet.  I am of the Earth - carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and other elements combining and recombining as my needs change.  Since we both are of the Earth, we are one.  But I must work to recognize my unity, work to allow the freedom to sustain this unity.

Our air circulates freely about the Earth.  May I allow my breath to do the same.  Just breathe in, then out, again and again, without any hindrance of anticipation or holding on in fright.  May the breath let go of past errors as easily as the wind goes round or over a mountain.

The Earth is ever changing as am I.  Even when I am not aware of the changes they transform us, over and over and forever.  May I be able to dwell within this impermanence with peace and oneness of mind.  Just sitting on the Earth,  just playing.  Happy to be sitting and happy to be playing.  Dare I nourish the seed of happiness while playing? 

photo by NASA

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