Five Animal Frolics

"There are two ways of spreading light:
to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it."
- Edith Wharton

"The Five Frolics! I read the Bear... and loved what you wrote! The history and spiritual meanings of the poses was fascinating. Forgive me if this question is answered on your site - I missed that part! My question is, where can I find out how to do the poses you named and explained? Is that located on a different part of your site - or is this still under construction? Then about those other four animals... will you be filling all that information in? Michael, a thousand thank you's! Your site is fascinating and has a ton of information and wisdom – like a puzzle. I do appreciate all the time and love you’ve put into your site! Just thank you! Michael, you are touching so many lives!"
- Nancy Hightshoe, 2/5/06


Nancy,

Thank you very much for the kind, generous, and supportive remarks. Best wishes with your work, learning and projects.

All of my webpages are works in progress - slow progress. Indeed, they are like a puzzle, appearing piece by piece. I liked that comparison very much.

My objective is to add something each day and practice some aspects of mind-body arts each day. Today, for example, walking, taijiquan, gardening (planting bare root trees and some eucylaptus slips), adding to my two blogs, and adding three yoga postures to my hatha yoga glossary.

Therefore, someday, you will see more of the five animal frolics described. For now, you will need to purchase some of the books and DVDs or videos on the subject. Try John Du Cane's works by Dragon Door Publications. I list nearly all the available resources on my webpages.

Yes, I'm really interested mostly in the myths, allegories, psychology, history, theory, resources, attributions, etc., of these mind-body arts rather than describing the actual movements and postures; although I do describe some of these in great detail at times, e.g., Eight Section Brocade, Temple Qigong, or Yang Long 108 Form.

Cheers,

Mike