"You may also want to bring the practice of wogging into your life.
Half slow walking (going uphill) and freely surrendered, speedy
jogging (going downhill), it may become your preferred meditation
posture or form of dance. The goal of the practice is not to condition
the body aerobically; that happens as a natural byproduct. The goal
of the practice is to open to and merge with the breath, letting your
natural, surrendered breath determine how fast or slow your body
moves, to stay as loose and relaxed as possible, to let every part of
the body move as fluidly as possible, to surrender to the sensation
and energies of the body as you keep playing with balance, to keep
emptying the mind and staying in clear perception of vision and sound.
Full-bodied breath comes easier during a wog than during any other
activity. Sensations can be felt through the entire body. Vision can
become very clear, and the mind can stay very empty."
- Will Johnson, Yoga of the Mahamudra, 2005, p. 134
"The rhythm of walking generates a kind of rhythm of thinking, and
the passage through a landscape echoes or stimulates the passage
through a series of thoughts. The creates an odd consonance between
internal and external passage, one that suggests that the mind is
also a landscape of sorts and that walking is one way to traverse it.
A new thought often seems like a feature of the landscape that was
there all along, as though thinking were traveling rather than making."
- Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust: A History of Walking, p. 5.
Half slow walking (going uphill) and freely surrendered, speedy
jogging (going downhill), it may become your preferred meditation
posture or form of dance. The goal of the practice is not to condition
the body aerobically; that happens as a natural byproduct. The goal
of the practice is to open to and merge with the breath, letting your
natural, surrendered breath determine how fast or slow your body
moves, to stay as loose and relaxed as possible, to let every part of
the body move as fluidly as possible, to surrender to the sensation
and energies of the body as you keep playing with balance, to keep
emptying the mind and staying in clear perception of vision and sound.
Full-bodied breath comes easier during a wog than during any other
activity. Sensations can be felt through the entire body. Vision can
become very clear, and the mind can stay very empty."
- Will Johnson, Yoga of the Mahamudra, 2005, p. 134
"The rhythm of walking generates a kind of rhythm of thinking, and
the passage through a landscape echoes or stimulates the passage
through a series of thoughts. The creates an odd consonance between
internal and external passage, one that suggests that the mind is
also a landscape of sorts and that walking is one way to traverse it.
A new thought often seems like a feature of the landscape that was
there all along, as though thinking were traveling rather than making."
- Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust: A History of Walking, p. 5.
"A person's heart and mind are in chaos.
Concentration on one thing makes the mind pure.
If one aspires to reach the Tao,
one should practice walking in a circle."
- Taoist Canon
"One of the most important areas of this 'movement' is that we must learn to be still within every movement we make. This is called in Baguazhang, "Clouds Following". This means that whenever we make a movement, even a minute movement, or a large step, there must be internal stillness and equilibrium within that movement. In this way we are able to either continue with the attack or stop and go in another direction etc, instantly. This is also called the "Bagua Post". This gives the Bagua practitioner the upper hand where combat is concerned as we are always in control of our own body and movement and therefore in control of any attacker's body and movement. We are able to move at any time to change direction because no matter what foot we are standing on or what movement we are making, it has internal stillness enabling us to 'move without moving'. That is the reason why it is said of so many of the old Bagua masters that they "seemed not to move, and yet his opponent was defeated". His movement came out of stillness, like a tree rooted to the ground, its branches sway with the breeze but physically it is solid. And it is the same with Bagua, the only difference being that our roots are internal.
In the beginning, we are taught to walk the circle very slowly. The reason is to gain the most important part of Bagua - internal stillness while moving. Every time we pass one foot by the other during walking the circle, we must scrape the moving foot past the standing foot and we must hear the sound of the trousers as they pass each other. As the foot passes and at precisely the same time that we hear that sound, we are 'still' within. To an onlooker, the movement will be seen to continue as if we are just walking. however, internally at that moment, we are rooted to the ground from the crown down to the standing heel and into the earth. So the internal movement will stop for a split second and then catch up with the physical step. In this way, we are able to also stop the physical step at any time, take it back, move it to the side, kick etc, without thinking about it and without losing balance, like a cat walking stealthily along, being able to change direction at any time."
- Erle Montagiue, Baguazhang: The Hidden Meanings
"Above all do not lose your desire to walk. Everyday I walk myself into
a state of well being and walk away from every illness. I have walked
myself into my best thoughts and I know of no thought so burdensome
that one cannot walk away from it. But by sitting still, and the more
one sits still, the closer one comes to feeling ill...if one keeps on
walking everything will be alright."
- Soren Kierkegaard
Concentration on one thing makes the mind pure.
If one aspires to reach the Tao,
one should practice walking in a circle."
- Taoist Canon
"One of the most important areas of this 'movement' is that we must learn to be still within every movement we make. This is called in Baguazhang, "Clouds Following". This means that whenever we make a movement, even a minute movement, or a large step, there must be internal stillness and equilibrium within that movement. In this way we are able to either continue with the attack or stop and go in another direction etc, instantly. This is also called the "Bagua Post". This gives the Bagua practitioner the upper hand where combat is concerned as we are always in control of our own body and movement and therefore in control of any attacker's body and movement. We are able to move at any time to change direction because no matter what foot we are standing on or what movement we are making, it has internal stillness enabling us to 'move without moving'. That is the reason why it is said of so many of the old Bagua masters that they "seemed not to move, and yet his opponent was defeated". His movement came out of stillness, like a tree rooted to the ground, its branches sway with the breeze but physically it is solid. And it is the same with Bagua, the only difference being that our roots are internal.
In the beginning, we are taught to walk the circle very slowly. The reason is to gain the most important part of Bagua - internal stillness while moving. Every time we pass one foot by the other during walking the circle, we must scrape the moving foot past the standing foot and we must hear the sound of the trousers as they pass each other. As the foot passes and at precisely the same time that we hear that sound, we are 'still' within. To an onlooker, the movement will be seen to continue as if we are just walking. however, internally at that moment, we are rooted to the ground from the crown down to the standing heel and into the earth. So the internal movement will stop for a split second and then catch up with the physical step. In this way, we are able to also stop the physical step at any time, take it back, move it to the side, kick etc, without thinking about it and without losing balance, like a cat walking stealthily along, being able to change direction at any time."
- Erle Montagiue, Baguazhang: The Hidden Meanings
"Above all do not lose your desire to walk. Everyday I walk myself into
a state of well being and walk away from every illness. I have walked
myself into my best thoughts and I know of no thought so burdensome
that one cannot walk away from it. But by sitting still, and the more
one sits still, the closer one comes to feeling ill...if one keeps on
walking everything will be alright."
- Soren Kierkegaard
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