Wednesday, November 09, 2011

A Peaceful Place


"The Art of Peace begins with you. Work on yourself and your appointed task in the Art of Peace. Everyone has a spirit that can be refined, a body that can be trained in some manner, a suitable path to follow. You are here for no other purpose than to realize your inner divinity and manifest your innate enlightenment. Foster peace in your own life and then apply the Art to all that you encounter."

"One does not need buildings, money, power, or status to practice the Art of Peace. Heaven is right where you are standing, and that is the place to train."
The Art of Peace by Morihei Ueshiba (1883-1969) 



"This practice is part of an ancient Chinese health system of exercises. One of the first references found about this type of exercise is in the Huang-Ti Nei Ching (Classics of Medicine by the Yellow Emperor, 2690-2590 B.C. E.) which is, by the way, probably one of the oldest books in the medical field. This posture, practiced and transmitted secretly in martial arts circles, has been openly shown to the public since the last century. Wang Xiang Zhai, a very famous martial arts master of that period in China, made of this technique the base of a new martial art that he called I Chuan (Mind Boxing). He used to say, "The immobility is the mother of any movement or technique."
- Victoria Windholtz, Standing Like a Tree
T'ai Chi: The International Magazine of T'ai Chi Ch'uan: Volume 19, No. 6, December, 2005, pp. 6-9.


Zhan Zhuang: Standing Like A Tree. Rooting Deeply Into Tranquility, Power and Vitality. A Chinese Meditation and Qigong Discipline. Bibliography, Links, Resources, Practices, Quotations, Notes.



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