Everything I need to know about life…
I learned on the mat. Okay, probably not, but I have learned some really important lessons that I can take off the mat apply in my life. What I hope to accomplish here is to write my thoughts after every class, if possible, and track my progress as well as leave reminders for the future when I may need to hear something again.
Plus, it solidifies my knowledge and gives me a chance to practice the art away from the mat. The great Zen masters have made the point that mindfulness extends past the traditional meditation period. Awareness, mindfulness, meditation – these things are to be practiced at all times, not just while sitting or in ceremony. In the same way a Zen monk makes these things part of his mode of living, so I choose to make my art part of the way I live, not just something I do.
I don’t want to practice my art – I want to become it. That is truly the art at it’s highest level. That’s anything at it’s highest level – to meld with it until you breathe it as though it were air. I know there are psychologists out there who would say this is a recipe for disaster, because what if something happens and you can’t do it any longer? My theory is, so what? Why give up something I enjoy now for something that might happen sometime in the future?
Anyway, I want to write this for myself, and possibly posterity, if nothing else. I may publish some of it, all of it, or none of it – we’ll see what happens.