Zen Body-Being An Enlightened Approach to Physical Skill, Grace, and Power

by Ralston, Peter; Ralston, Laura

• ISBN13: 9781583941591
• ISBN10: 1583941592
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-07-27
• Publisher: North Atlantic Books

Summary

In this inspiring guide, Peter Ralston presents a program of "physical education" for anyone interested in body improvement. Using simple, clear language to demystify the Zen mindset, he draws on more than three decades of experience teaching students and apprentices worldwide who have applied his body-being approach. More of a transformative guide than a specific list of exercises devoted to any particular physical approach,Zen Body-Beingexplains how to create a state of mental control, enhanced feeling-awareness, correct structural alignment, increased spatial acuity, and even a greater interactive presence. Exercises are simple, often involving feeling-imagery and meditative awareness, which have a profound and sometimes instant effect. Where similar guides teach readers what to do, this book teaches readers how tobe.

Author Biography

Peter Ralston has black belts in judo, jujitsu, and karate. The founder of the martial arts tradition Cheng Hsin and the school dedicated to it, he leads workshops on a wide range of disciplines.

Laura Ralston is an editor, model maker, and collaborator with her husband. They live in San Antonio, TX.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Foreword	p. xi
Being a Body	p. 1
What Is Physical Ability?	p. 1
Cultural Influences	p. 4
The Source of Improvement	p. 6
Accessing Body Intelligence	p. 7
Beginner's Body-Being	p. 9
Origins and Influences	p. 13
Mind Training	p. 13
Creating Insight	p. 16
Zen	p. 18
The Basics of Perception	p. 20
Three Aspects of Body Awareness	p. 22
Feeling-Awareness	p. 25
Awareness	p. 25
Feeling Is Foremost	p. 26
Intent, Impulse, and Feedback	p. 27
Feeling-Awareness	p. 30
Body-Being Basics	p. 31
Opening a Door-Five Steps to Transformation	p. 33
Enhancing Feeling-Awareness	p. 34
Barriers to Feeling	p. 36
Learning, Being, and Creating	p. 43
Learning to Investigate What's True	p. 43
Some Key Elements of Learning	p. 45
Questioning Self	p. 49
Being Your Body	p. 50
Body and Identity	p. 52
Two Domains of Feeling	p. 54
Creating Feeling	p. 56
The Principles of an Effective Body-Being	p. 63
A More Conscious Experience	p. 63
Student-on-a-Stick	p. 65
What Is a Principle?	p. 66
Insight	p. 69
An Object in Space	p. 70
Five Principles for an Effortlessly Effective Body	p. 72
Body Basics	p. 83
Structural Alignment	p. 85
What Is Alignment?	p. 85
Body Design	p. 87
Fourteen Points on Structural Alignment	p. 89
Being Aware of Structural Alignments	p. 91
Seeking an Effortless Power	p. 113
Using the Body Effortlessly and Effectively	p. 115
What Is Intrinsic Strength?	p. 116
A Discovery of Effortless Power	p. 118
Mind and Perception	p. 125
Changing Our Minds	p. 125
Noticing Perception	p. 126
Perception and Response	p. 129
Controlling the Mind	p. 133
Turning Perception into Feeling	p. 136
The Creative Aspect of Mind and Perception	p. 140
Mind, Perception, and Relationship	p. 144
Relationship and Consciousness	p. 145
Awareness, Relationship, and Interaction	p. 147
The Principle of Effective Interaction	p. 151
Increasing Relational Awareness	p. 152
Inclusive Awareness	p. 153
More Than You Need to Know About Consciousness	p. 154
Getting in Our Own Way	p. 158
Body-Being and Interaction	p. 161
Life Practice	p. 165
Study and Training	p. 165
Training	p. 166
The Body and Exercise	p. 168
The Body at the Office	p. 170
The Body at Labor	p. 171
The Body and Athletics	p. 173
Stretching the Body	p. 174
Body-Being for the Bodyworker	p. 176
T'ai Chi for Every Body	p. 177
Sex and Body Feel	p. 179
The Body and the Arts	p. 179
A Practice for Life	p. 180
About the Author	p. 183
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