mounties

RCMP.  The Royal..

When the aikidoka is told to `see from your hara`,

 he or she, of course, doesn`t try to make eyes appear in the center of the belly,

 but rather becomes highly aware of the center 

and the connection between it and the eyes.

waiting

Music, art, or creative vision of any type, creativity, flows like a river

 beneath the consciousness of thought..

The sabian symbol for 23' of Aries is a pregnant woman in a light summer dress,
fecundity....

It’s a fitting image for the manifestation of the creative impulse. 

Creativity begins in the dark, in sleep, in reverie.

Suddenly a project takes shape, gradually, bit by bit, every day a little victory...a pilgrim's progress, taking the time it takes.

    Sometimes we set it aside to rise, like dough on the sideboard.

It can't be hurried, it can only be waited out..

the arthur murray school of life

No sorry...I've no clue who Bill is...

but I do know that if we are "trying a thing on" then by definition it must come from 

outside of us..

it's the difference between technique and art...

trying and doing...

doing and being...

when you go to a dance studio and move around the numbered feet painted on the floor you cannot really be said to be dancing..

but eventually, with enough practice and some "cellular learning" you will begin to "be" the music and find the dance within you...

the dance IS you..you are the dance.. 

That's what they mean by "be the ball" ...

it's prerequisite to entering "the zone" that athletes speak of... 

you've heard it before...

the "do without doing" thing..

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If we are the frame and our horses form themselves under/around us, and if we are correct they will be correct, then it follows that the horse mirrors our position, at rest as well as in motion.
Think of it this way..
even when we think we are doing "nothing" we are doing " something"
If we are doing "nothing nothing" then the horse must make the best of us. we are a passenger, not a rider, and mostly unaware of our effect. Like a pannier or a flourbag.
If we are doing " something-nothing" then even though we are at rest we are exhibiting an aware "toned" relaxation which gives the horse a frame to stand balanced and relaxed beneath us..better for you, better for horse (prevents fatigue, one sided stress on joints etc,)
If we are doing "something-something" then we are actively engaging for an expected response
If we are doing "nothing something" we are moving in quiet harmony, having organized ourselves well, we are able to allow the horse to move freely and lightly and still remain the controlling factor in a very dynamic system.

carry each other

Last night I rode a client's big retired, '93 racing thoroughbred in a dressage lesson..
he's 17+ hands..big bay horse..
one of those old cavalry types...muley head, big ears..
he won a few races...
nice horse..
BIG mover..
I had been practicing canter departs, I wanted a break, but my coach called for one more..
At the next corner I asked for the depart from behind but I never let him go in front..
He fell apart,
I fell apart,
the coach made us do two more..
In the moment that I failed to let him go forward,
I became separate from my horse,
out of harmony
A moment in fear wondering if i could hold us up through another one...
Worried for an instant about my body,
in my separateness,
I threw away the union and a bit of the trust..
we got through it OK..and no one else probably knew what happened...
the coach just said
"Don't second guess yourself"
In Aikido, we always used to say, "What meets you in life will meet you on the mat, and what meets you on the mat will meet you in life.."