Evolving “The Heart of the Practice”

Why is it typically within sports (or any endeavor) that someone will win one or two times, then you never hear of them again?  And, why is it that a few others have longevity and grow their skills for a lifetime to become great Teachers?  Is it because they are naturally skilled? Is it their strong desire? Or have they done something different along their path to sustain this forward momentum?

I believe that people are successful because they have cultivated “The Heart of the Practice” (see Part 1).  It is the benefit of developing a strong root and knowing “why” you do what you do. From this, you find the “love” of what you do. When you go through this process the right way, you can avoid the pit falls of burning out. You find your “heart” within the sport.  Even when you go on to other endeavors, this “heart” grows and sustains you through the long-time practice of building foundation. These are the steps which are required to become a Master in whatever you do.  It is learning over a long time span what it means to build “the heart of the practice.”  When you keep the “heart” in the practice, you can sustain many years of experiences, training and growing into the deeper aspects of what you do. When centered in “the heart of the practice” you are stronger mentally and physically so instead of being vulnerable to injury or exhaustion you become energized.

The Power of the Mountain – Finding the Gate

How do you keep “the heart” in the game?  How do you set up a ritual of “Entering through the Gate?”  This is a question only you can answer. You must find the place of your power, either a physical location or a mental state that allows you to sustain your energy.

For me, it comes from the “Power of the Mountains.” For thirty years, I have developed most of my practice in the mountains.  If I move or cannot be in the mountains, it’s always a short time before I go back to re-root.  This is where my strong deep love and connection sustains “the heart of the practice” which allows me to evolve and continually reinvent myself. Once you have a structure for “Entering through the Gate” it is much easier because that structure becomes the “Gate.” But it is not going to the mountain that gives me strength and wisdom; it is what happens inside me when I go to the mountain. It is my interface with “the heart of my practice.” The mountain having become the Gate is the solid foundation for change within. This change within, this evolution of loving what you are doing, is the path, not the destination. It is not the House (see Part 1 – Entering through the Gate).

When you are lead to your structure, be it the mountains, ocean, or a state of mind that creates an open place inside you, this is your “Gate.” For my practice, metaphorically, the “Gate” opens down the mountain where I park my car. I begin “Entering the Gate,” when I start walking up the mountain along streams and pathways lined with beautiful forests.  When I’m walking, I contemplate my practice, and quiet my mind.  As I get higher up the mountain I feel the energy changing with the clearness of the air and sky – the vibration of the city leaves me and I enter into clearer perspective – I enter into Teacherless Learning – (See Teacherless Learning).

As I come to my favorite practice area, there is a beautiful little bridge to walk over, my entrance to learn. This bridge opens into my self-designed training area and I have entered “through the Gate” to bring “heart” to the practice. While entering the Gate, I have been setting my focus and intentions.

In my training area there are special places where big trees have fallen across creeks and the side of hills, all which become obstacles to inspire new perspective – to learn balance, to make un-even footing feel like flat ground because all the cells of my mind-body are connected. My mountain Gate provides an enlightened approach to training because the mountain is ever evolving.

Along the journey through the Gate the unexpected can occur. One day while standing on a log across the creek, basking in the heart of my practice I opened my eyes to see two deer peering at me with large doe eyes. “The heart of the practice” became the thrill of the moment. Had I gone right to the House instead of through the Gate, this moment along my journey would have been missed. The animals, trees and mountains provide an entrance to obtain the essence and “soul of the art.”

Not everyone can go to an ideal spot in nature to consume Teacherless Learning. But there are many things that cannot be experienced in a gym.  If you are serious about cultivating the internal energy arts, I would encourage you to place your metaphorical Gate in a natural setting. If you live near a park, stream, meadow, lake or mountain nature can help you enter through the Gate. Nature can remind you that the Gate is not the House.

In the modern day world and our journey through this existence, much emphasis is placed upon material accomplishments. Using the metaphor of a house with a gate can bridge the gap between modern world thinking and the ancient of the world of internal martial arts.

The uninitiated think that the House is the goal. And why not? The House is the place of manifestation. We all want that win, that security, that achievement and that gold. But the House, always, without exception has a gate through which one must pass and a space between the gate and the house which one must traverse. Recognition of the gate’s presence is the initiation into alchemy. Alchemy is the transformative process that creates personal power. Here’s how it can look from the outside.

Have you ever noticed something special about someone competing in a sport or doing something they really love? Their focus is strong and their intent undeniable. Why is this? What is this phenomenon? The “why” is that their passion for engaged achievement drives their desire towards success. This is called “fire in the belly.” The “will” surpasses all obstacles and determination meets every challenge. I call this “heart.”

When fire in the belly meets the “heart” of passion, winning or loosing no longer becomes the focus. The intent to learn, to practice, to master becomes the foundation of all that follows. This must become the path you follow through the gate. But the space between the gate and the house cannot be traversed unless one comes to understand the “heart of the practice” which can also be called “foundation.”

When the “heart of the practice” is developed, even if the person does not win in their endeavor, we tend to hurrah them on. You “know” just by observing them that they have what it takes – “heart and will.” But it is impossible to “think” heart and will into existence. Your body and mind must become one before you can become a power greater than thought. Without this process being second nature, the House may not be entered.

 Developing “Heart” through developing “The Entrance to Learn”

Since I was a young girl I loved the martial arts. My sister and I used to watch the old Samurai movies and study their moves, their faces – every bit of what they did. We loved “the soul of the art.” Over the years, I became a scholar of Asian arts, history, forms and strategy. When I began training with the U.S. Parachute Team it seemed only natural to apply these principles I had learned to my sports endeavors.

Later I realized that this early learning securely placed me at the gate, “the entrance to learn.” Entering the gate meant conscious contemplation of technique and building a foundation. It meant taking time to prepare for the practice, giving respect to the gate and releasing the expectation of entering the House. This is the “heart of the practice.” And it takes as long as it takes. There is no time in “the heart of practice,” only learning and becoming one with the practice. Movement and thought coalesce at the gate not once, but over and over. It becomes the ritual of your relationship with what is promised in the House. It is what keeps you going and growing your set of skills that will provide you the longevity to keep “the heart of the practice” alive energetically. It is what makes you not want to give up, EVER!

Each time you begin your practice you set your ritual to “enter through the gate.” It’s a meditation to cross over the threshold to another dimension.  In a sense, this means that each time you take time to contemplate and “enter through the gate” – you are taking time to “re-boot” your internal computer. You will get to a higher level of practice quicker because you respect the gate and thereby build the root to access focus and foundation.

When I was competing in skydiving gymnastics, I spent over a year “at the gate” with just one movement I needed to perfect.  I had to learn to hold a steady vertical dive, lined up on a heading, but I could not see it, because I was looking backward in the dive.  At the same time, I had to focus during the few seconds I had, while falling at 200 mph, to get ready to enter the first turn.  If I had not spent hundreds of jumps at the “gate” learning foundation and technique, I could never have developed the “sense” of knowing where my body was (the qi). This developed into having “eyes throughout my whole body.”  This is where “the heart of practice” was for me and I learned the profound essence of “entering through the gate.”

In your practice, look at where your “entrance to learn is” – what is your gate?  Spend some time there – a lot of time, understanding the essence of what you want to achieve and the steps on that journey. Through this process you will excel further and farther than you could imagine. You will build a special foundation where – you meet you – and become one in focus. Your focus will not be the House but the House and all that is waiting there for you will be a reflection of your conscious, patient, journey through the gate.

Qi (chi, ki) is defined as intrinsic energy, internal energy, original energy, or function of the body.  

Cultivating Qi is the foundation of all Internal Martial Arts.  The definition of Internal Martial Arts is that the training begins from the inside of the body working energy (Qi) outwards.  The foundation and movements are based on cultivating your Qi so you move from the center of the body at the core (Dan Tian).  This develops a unified whole-body power, or the intrinsic strength of the body, which is referred to as internal power.  When a basic level of practice is maintained, the Qi (energy), blood, tendon, bone and meridians can be strengthened and changed. The body gradually becomes stronger and healthier  from the core.  This integrated and unified “whole body” strength is what develops the power of the mind/body connection – it is entirely dependent on your Qi cultivation.

When developing the mind/body in this manner, the Qi becomes the alchemy that will shift and heighten your personal evolution beyond your current prospective. Many forms of healing and internal martial arts are based on this principle.

The foundation for cultivating Qi is the breath.  Learning how to circulate Qi with the breath begins your the journey to achieve higher awareness and internal health.

As Qi is always circulating in your body, it is the on-going “life essence” which you live and breath by.  However, Qi circulation can become stagnant or slow because of knots in the vessels and meridians.  Cultivating Qi through breathing and internal martial arts exercise will start unblocking the meridian channels.  This process stimulates the immune and circulatory systems to function at a higher level and will give increased longevity.

As we get older the Qi pressure is drained out of the navel and kidney areas.  Gradually, Qi pressure is lost, creating an energy imbalance; when the pressure is low the fluid flow in the entire system slows down.  As we age, we also lose the habit of abdominal breathing.  Most people leave the lungs to do all the work.  This type of breathing actually expends more energy than it creates.

As we refer to the “mind”, in the mind/body context, we are referring to the energy of the mind – called “Shen” in Chinese medicine and martial arts.  When your Shen becomes refined you are able to sense and feel more sharply. Like Qi, mental energy can be cultivated and developed.  The highest levels of Shen can be developed through exercise, diet, internal martial arts and meditation.  When someone is scattered or confused it is said that his Shen (mind) wanders.  When your Shen (mind) is weak, your Qi is weak.

When constantly training and operating with breath and the cultivation of Qi, your normal habits begin to fall off and you can operate and perform at a higher level.  This is describing someone who can “ground” from the center of the head – they can reset the mind and tap into “simultaneous time” where all things come together at the same frequency.  Basically, it is up-grading your operating system like up-grading your computer.  The old computer will not work at that lower level again – you have re-written the outcome of your practice.

Anthony Finno:  (Starting left side)

Over the past 10 years Anthony has applied his passion to develop a better understanding of what it means to live a life of internal balance, compassion and openness.  Over the past decade he initiated and developed a socially motivated for-profit venture in West Africa, sharpened his business prowess at an investment bank, published ideas concerning consciousness and well-being and founded City Life Wellness, a community-inspired center for thought and expression.  Through City Life Wellness he hopes to communicate the importance of practicing conscious choice for a personal experience. He is forever a student; learning everyday what it means to be a man while discovering the common thread that connects all of us. In leadership and thoughtful interpretation he strives to guide wellness to the forefront of creative consciousness in the minds and bodies of the City Life Wellness community. www.citylifewellness.com

Lara Sackey – Bio

Anahatha Lara Sackey has been practicing yoga since the age of three, and currently teaches her dance-infused version of it, OLM, (called OLM because it is Original Live Movement set to Original Live Music ) in Orange County, Ca.   Anahatha Lara has taught yoga and dance nationally and globally for seventeen years.  She was certified by Yoga Zone (now Yoga Works) in NYC 1996, and in Yoga-Dance in1999 trained by Master Magha Nancy Buttenhiem of Kriplau Center.  She is a freelance journalist, with a weekly nationally syndicated column as the LA Yoga Travel reporter on Examiner.com, and currently writes for Allvoices.com, Xoopla.com, and LA Yoga Magazine.  She is a “Broadway baby”,  dancing and singing across  LA, Seattle, NY, and London stages.  A Wellesley College alum, she is a jazz singer, music videographer, lounge lizard, and composer (see Jamwave.com/anahathalara for a listen,) and is in the process of writing and composing a theatrical musical about the life and death of Ms. Betty Page. Anahatha Lara and her musical counterpart Brian E. Plaster  are planning the opening of their own studio The OLM Yoga Project  (and Bagua Flow) somewhere in North Orange County, after a summer of intensive training and taping with the Bagua Flow TV series.  She’d like to express special gratitude for the gift of the extraordinary and inspiring athlete, artist and innovator, Master Teacher Maria Camille for coming into her path, and for opening this exciting new door of learning, adventure and opportunity.

Laura Fern Lacey

Laura was raised in Benicia, Ca., the youngest of 5.  She began dancing at age 5 and became an assistant instructor at age 17.  In 1990, she founded the Laura Lacey Dance Theater.  Four years following, Laura and her family of 4 relocated to Enchanted Hills, a 15 acre garden estate in Springfield, MO.  At Enchanted Hills, Laura redesigned and restored the gardens and launched Enchanted Hills Weddings, hosting over 300 weddings in her time there.

In 2000, Laura opened Quisenberry Gardens, a 60 seat, California eclectic restaurant located in a historic Springfield Victorian home.

Laura completed her Pilates certification in 2004 and built a practice blending Pilates, Yogas, dance and guided imagery.  Laura is a Pampamesayok healer in the Inkan Shamanic tradition.  She continues to study with her mentor, Karen Duncan of Marshfield, MO.  With her knowledge of varied alternative wellness therapies, Laura aspire to open a creative wellness center in 2011.  She currently resides in Salt Lake City, Ut.

Lori Anderson Craze – Bio

Lori Anderson Craze, owner of Fitness Craze in Orange County – link: www.fitnesscraze.org has been involved in some form of fitness most of her life. As a child she enjoyed karate, soccer and dance. As a native to Orange County, she enjoys anything that allows her to get outside and take advantage of the beauty her hometown has to offer; that could be riding her bike on the beach, hiking, kayaking or a number of other activities. Lori started out in the medical field and witnessed firsthand the ill health brought on by the standard American diet and lack of exercise. It was then she decided to redirect her career and take a “preventative” approach to health. Lori became a certified personal trainer in 2001 and has been happily changing lives ever since. She trains clients throughout Orange County; at gyms, parks and in her client’s homes. She is also a Holistic Nutrition major, LA Nutrition Examiner and published author for Live-Strong.  Lori is very passionate about teaching people (especially children) the importance of proper nutrition; (see latest article in the Examiner – http://www.examiner.com/x-23170-LA-Nutrition-Examiner.   One of Lori’s aspirations are to help change school cafeteria standards.  Because of proper diet and exercise, Lori feels more comfortable in her body now than she did in her youth­­!  She is also a firm believer that it takes more than exercise to be “fit”. Lori has learned through her own life that the essence of a happy and healthy lifestyle is not only rooted in physical fitness, but diet and mental strengthening as well!!  Currently, Lori is working on a Hypnotherapy certification with an emphasis on weight loss.

Lopsang Dhargya – Guest Instructor

Dhargya Lobsang was born in Muli, Tibet in 1973.  His family practiced the ancient art of Tibetan healing and produced medicine from plants collected in the wilderness. At the age of seven he became a Monk of the Seramey Monastery where he studied Buddhist scriptures and healing arts under his Guru, the Master Ven Geshe Thumcho Sampo.  He specializes in ancient Tibetan Tantric Yoginic Healing.

Maria Camille – Founder – BaGua Flow

Christy Christensen:

Christy found her joy in life through movement. Trained in many styles of dance since age three. She narrowed her movement studies to Modern Dance and Ballet at Southern Utah University. She was first drawn to Yoga while studying Dance in Southern Utah at SUU and performing with the Modern Dance Company there.

Christy is 600 hour yoga certified, having certified through Dana Baptist’s multifaceted Teacher Training Certification program. Her proven knowledge of the principles of kinesiology and movement make her a well-rounded instructor of mind-body practices like yoga. Christy is owner of Mindful Movements, where she offers private yoga therapy and group classes. http://www.mymindfulmovements.com

Christy is currently certifying at the 1000-hour level in Yoga for Therapy through Inbody Academy, and is certified in Prenatal & Postnatal Yoga. Christy contributes the ease of her pregnancies due to her devoted yoga practice. She enjoys helping others find joy in pregnancy and motherhood. Christy has witnessed how mind-body skills, when applied can remarkably support the recovery process. She wants to share this understanding with all who are ready to hear it.

Christy feels blessed to have a love and understanding of Moving Meditations and Internal Martial Arts. She is grateful to have been certified in BaGua Flow### level one by Founder Maria Camille. She is looking forward to continued education as one of the first trainers for BaGua Flow. She is excited to be sharing the BaGua Flow wellness/fitness program, while honoring the ancient energy arts.

Sheri Moody

No Bio available

DeNa Munoz -

DeNa is a Karma Yogi, devoted to expanding health, agility and well-being in a nurturing environment.   She stepped on to the Yoga mat in 1997 at the advice of a friend, in the effort to relieve chronic wrist, neck and forearm tension caused from mental and physical exhaustion and an unbalanced lifestyle.   Along with the rewarding personal benefits she has received as a body-worker, DeNa credits the 8 limbs of Ashtanga Yoga for gifting her with the permission to surrender to God and embrace her personal journey toward her spiritual truth.

As an avid athlete, The Primary Series satisfies her desire to remain in perpetual motion.  This daily practice continues to increase her strength, flexibility, and allows her to open a reserve of untapped energy.   She experiences calm, yet grounded ‘lightness’ which is a primary goal that she invites all who make it to the mat to achieve.   DeNa has sailed the high seas with an abundance of gratitude for her past achievements and mistakes and holds an open hand for her current and future teachers and experiences.

DeNa is a Certified Ashtanga Teacher, graduate of The Mount Madonna Center in Watsonville, California under the tutelage of Baba Hari Dass, Ginger ‘Kamalesh’ Hooven and the MMC Community. It were Babaji’s words “teach to learn” that inspired her to seek out to “teach and learn” from individuals of all levels, ages and conditions of the human spirit.   DeNa has studied Ashtanga Vinyasa-flow, from Yoga Loka under Marc McCauley and family of Marin County, California.  She has over 500 hrs of teacher training experience…ongoing.

DeNa enjoys traveling the world, seeking training and workshops under master teachers. She is currently studying Iyengar under Sandy Carmellini from the Brentwood Yoga Center.  This is where you can find DeNa teaching a creative, intuitive Ashtanga vinyasa flow celebrating the breath, individual alignment and with health potential awareness.

DeNa grew up 40 miles east of San Francisco, California in the Delta river town of Antioch, California.  She was raised with conservative values from married parents of 48 years.  She is the youngest child and only girl with two brothers.  At an early age, she studied jazz, tap & ballet.  These were natural outlets for her creative spirit. Her natural desire to nurture animals and people, to experience relationships, her compassion and intuition led her to massage therapy. She is available for private yoga sessions, charity events, and retreats.  She teaches at the Brentwood Yoga Center, in the San Francisco-East Bay.  Off the mat, she is an avid snowboarder, cyclist, runner, gardener, music appreciator, star gazer, tree hugger, lifestyle motivator, culture loving world traveler. Most days, you can find her hiking after class in the East Bay hills with her favorite teacher, Kota~son, her faithful Golden husky.

Mike McGowan -

Mike was born in Martinez, California on August 14, 1951. At the age of seven Mike began competitive swimming under the AAU Banner (now USS Swimming). During this time Mike held numerous national and regional records. In 1964 Mike was picked for the U.S. Junior Team against Canada. Mike continued to swim and play water polo through his college years. In 1969 Mike started to train in Doshinkan Karatedo and continue to actively train in that art today. In 1976 Mike began to train in the traditional Korean art of Kuk Sool Won. Mike trained until 1985 until an injury sidelined him. Mike returned to the art in 2001 and continues to train actively today. Mike also trains in the traditional Korean sword art of Haidong Gumdo. In 1980 Mike moved to Japan where he coached swimming an water polo. Mike continued his martial art training while there. He also met his wife there. Mike now has four children – two boys and two girls ages 17- 25. Mike has actively trained in martial arts for 41 years. He was fortunate to have three masters who taught open minds as well as his initial Karatedo instuctor.

We’d like to share the Samasati Story:

The Samasati Retreat started with four people passionate about creating a spiritual oasis — an environmentally protected area, a loving, friendly haven where people of all origins and walks of life could come to rest, rejuvenate, and reestablish a healthy connection with nature. The vision started to become reality in December 1994, when 270 acres of the Caribbean rain forest heartland were purchased.

The four founders of Samasati and of its parent company Zorba el Budha S.A originate from Italy and Argentina. Their combined visionary acumen; administrative, marketing and construction skills; depth of experience in yoga, holistic therapies and meditation’s practices; and intense desire to create an energy-filled, protected place for solace and reconnection created a formidable team – a group of people fervently committed to seeing the project to completion.

Samasati quickly became an organism, as opposed to an organization. It started as an idea, a “project,” and from the very beginning Samasati took on a life of its own. It became a living entity growing at its own pace, defining its own rules and creating its own very unique character. We, the initiators, builders, owners and promoters of this wonderful creation, found ourselves as instruments of a power greater than our own capabilities, tools of what wanted to manifest in this remote piece of Caribbean rainforest.

Samasati is a place where ecological awareness has been translated into beauty and sustainability. Samasati lives in balance with nature, sensitive to its cycles and its timing. It is a place where the respect of indigenous cultures and the cooperation with the local community spring from sincere interest and appreciation of human diversity, efforts and evolution.

Samasati right now includes a hotel/resort, the Samasati Nature Retreat, a 150 acre nature reserve, the Samasati Biological Reserve and a land development project, the Samasati Gated Community.

The Sanskrit word “Samasati” was the last word pronounced by the Indian mystic Gautam, The Buddha. It means “Remember you are a Buddha, that you are Godly.”  It is an invitation for every man to remember that he has the capacity to attain the highest state of consciousness and to live in harmony with existence.

In 1994 the sum of Samasati was a great idea and 270 acres of raw, unexplored jungle with a stunning ocean view. There were no buildings, electricity, running water or roads.

The first order of business after the land purchase in 1994 was to set up an official headquarters in the capital of Costa Rica, San José, to handle the administrative, financial and legal details. On site at Samasati, construction began soon afterwards. An oxen team carried the timbers of fallen trees out of the property’s forest to build the first structure – the Leela House. No new wood was cut from the forest for the entire construction of this whole place. This is how the construction of Samasati Nature Retreat began. All the buildings that followed the Leela house, the restaurant, the yoga room and the bungalows, were built with wood from the local reforestation programs or from fallen trees. These materials are known as ‘’green wood.’’

The water that supplies Samasati Nature Retreat comes from the property’s sweet water springs. A dam was built on one of the five streams in the property. A generator was the only power’s source until electricity was installed in 1997 (in the nearby village of Puerto Viejo electricity was installed only 8 years earlier). Hiking trails were opened in the forest, and later an entrance office was built (the retreat buildings are located one mile uphill from the entrance) as well as a second yoga studio and a large Jacuzzi overlooking the ocean.

In August 1997, Samasati Nature Retreat’s first guests arrived. Since that time, the hotel/resort/retreat has been operating successfully. It has become well-known in the eco tourism sector and awarded in the sustainability and conservation’s worlds for its consistent environmental effort and for its support of the local community. It has been recognized in the Yoga world as a unique destination for yoga groups and yoga lovers.

A few of our clients really fell in love with the place and wanted to own small parcels of land inside the Samasati’s project. The Samasati Gated Community was recently created.

A few interesting facts about the mission, conceptualization, building, and continued running of Samasati:

• The original name of Samasati was Eco-project Samasati.
• For six months, 52 workers camped on the property and worked to build the entire place. No heavy machinery was used. There was no electricity. We used only generators.
• Gray and black waters are treated with septic tanks – 2 for each building, placed at two different levels. The tanks contain live bacteria so that only cleaned “black water” goes into the ground.
• With a vegetarian restaurant, the bulk of the trash is vegetables and fruits. For about 10 years, we composted all trash using banana leaves. Now, Samasati gives the scrap vegetables and fruits to the neighboring animal farm to help feed the animals.
• The Samasati Team built a 50,000 liter tank to collect rain water from the restaurant roof.
• They created dams in 2 creeks on the property and they pump the water to tanks up the hill. Water comes to the facilities by gravity.
• While they were building the retreat, a team from the Nature Conservancy of Washington DC came to Samasati to conduct a study on the Samasati birds. Every week for 8 months, they came on Thursday and Friday at 3:30 in the morning and stayed until noon. They found 423 different bird species in the forest.
• Samasati did not cut any large trees in construction. They built the Retreat in areas which had been cleared by the previous owner who was living on the land in the 1960s and 1970s. They had grown bananas trees, corn and beans. The Samasati Team cleared the new vegetation and built on these already cleared areas.
• Samasati uses only biological detergents for dishes/laundry/ cleaning/personal cleaning. They never use anything with bleaching agents or harmful chemicals.
• Samasati prohibited hunting in the whole area. In the past 5 years, the forest on the property has filled with animals escaping hunters on other properties. At Samasati they find refuge.

Come experience BaGua Flow at Samasati – - the perfect refuge for mind – body and reinvention.

Contemplate the Teacherless Knowledge

When training and competing over a period of years reaching pinnacles either in winning or enlightenment will happen less often without an acute focus to “seeing beyond” what you have already learned.  If you are just starting to train and learning a new sport, the same is true, however, it’s truer right up front, as you have not built the foundation of your learning. To maintain and learn new enlightenment for any sport or teaching takes contemplation and always building on foundation.

This was particularly true for me after some years where I did not keep a foundation and training going.  I was taking care of my mother until she passed. Shortly after, my sister passed and then my father within days after that.  At that time, I was out of balance, my energy was drained, I was not focused the right way and needless to say, doing business was particularly hard.  So, I went “to the mountains.”  All my life, the mountains have been where I cultivate my spirit and where I do all my exercise and meditation – (never in a gym or studio if I don’t have to).  It was a time to re-cultivate and bring back the foundation.  When you go into nature and take the time for contemplation over a period of time is where you will find the “Teacherless Knowledge.”  It’s an alchemy you can cultivate if you “listen.”  For me it happens in the mountains – when I went back I started hiking every day – for almost three years I did this – no mind, no contrived exercise – just building a new foundation – I entered “the Heart of Trees” – (Zhan Zhuang).

As Zen Master Takuan (1573 – 1645) taught, “penetrate the place where heaven and earth have not divided and yin yang do not reach, this is where the experience will attain success.  It’s the teacherless learning.  Whether walking, sitting, speaking – keep up the relentless effort to seeing directly.  Reverse the light!  Then over the years it will be as if you found a lamp in the night, attaining teacherless knowledge and exercising uncontrived action.  At this time you transcend the ordinary without leaving the ordinary.  This is called the Tai-A, the peerless sword that has no equal.  The Tai-A sword is inherent in everyone – complete and perfect.  It refers to the mind. The mind is not born at birth and does not die at death, so it is called the original face.”

Keeping up unremitting effort, constantly focusing on finding out, “seeing directly” means that you always return to yourself and focus intently, investigating the principle. To attain the teacherless knowledge means to realize the fundamental knowledge that even a teacher cannot convey.  It is the first hand experiential knowledge that is not learned or acquired, but rather is uncovered and activated.

It’s always been there – the will to achieve and ultimately compete.

Everyone learns their lessons from a source – mine is geared towards the mindset of Internal Martial Arts and the alchemy of energy.  The principals have always resonated.  But, it was Skydiving that become the perfect sport for me – and, it was a long hard road.

The form I trained in was Style and Accuracy. Style is one of the fastest mind/body sports in the world. Accuracy is the science of flying a parachute to hit a one centimeter disk in the middle of a pea gravel area.  The Style competition is the epitome of mind/body focus – you’re all alone in the air, you only have 26 seconds of airtime, and you’re going about 200 mph. I achieved winning the first World Championship for the U.S. women – competing with the best from 30 countries. The most profound lessons in my training came from internal martial arts theories. I recount some of these ancient lessons by what I learned in training.

Great Potential and Great Function: from Soul of the Samurai, by Thomas Cleary

Everything has body and function. For example, a bow is a body, while drawing and shooting the target is the function. A lamp is a body, light is its function. So potential is the body, while the existence of various capabilities, manifesting outwardly from the potential is called function. Great function appears because of great potential.  Because this potential is always there within, when it is natural, an extraordinary speed occurs; this is called great function. When potential is unripe, function does not become manifest. In all paths, when concentration builds and exercise is repeated, potential matures and great function emerges. If you build up effective exercise, the potential will mature. Potential is energy. Mind is the inside, energy is the entrance. Since the mind is master of the body, it should be understood as that which resides within; energy is at the door, working outside for the mind, its master. Therefore the potential is something very important. If this potential is working, it emerges outside and the great function manifests.

Flashback: My lesson of: Great Potential – Great Function

I wanted to become good enough in my sport to be on the U.S. Parachute Team.  The best place to train was in Raeford, N.C. This is the headquarters for Ft. Bragg and the Army Golden Knights Parachute Team. People worldwide come here to train. It was the ultimate. At the time I owned a parachute center in Coolidge, Arizona.  So, I sold it. I also sold most every thing else I owned to go train. – the first lesson in doing what it takes – giving up all!

When I arrived in Raeford, N.C. I was intimidated from the start and was the most inexperienced jumper at the training center. It was a difficult place to make skydives. I was used to the desert where you had an expansive amount of room to land and the sky was clear and mild. At Raeford the sky was always heavy with overcast and clouds – it was hard to see the ground from the air. The landing area was extremely small with tall trees and buildings circling the DZ, which created a very bumpy and scary parachute ride into the target area. The wind was always blowing – if you could not “spot” your jump right, you would have a very difficult time landing anywhere near the drop zone. Just to make the jumps here took an expert.

Within about a week I knew I would probably leave. Then a former “sky god” flew in into the airport in his Cessna 180. A “sky god” is a playful term skydivers use – it’s someone who is a master in skydiving and has achieved significant status throughout the world. “Sky gods” are revered. “Sky god” watched some of my jumps on the telemeters (you can SEE EVERYTHING from these telemeters). He came over to where I was packing my parachute after my jump. He knelt down and spoke with me – he said “don’t listen to what people are saying – I can see that you actually have great potential. You have the body for it (gymnastic figure and strength) with natural ability, and the most important thing, a strong will and energy.” I listened – he became my coach. He dedicated himself to all who wanted to follow his unorthodox training. No one else liked his “out-of-the-box” theories. Normal training was the path everyone else took – I trusted in the unknown. “Sky god” saw my “potential” and began teaching “function.” I became a vessel, or, the potential for function. I became “teachable” so function could manifest.

Many years later, I now understand even better this theory of “potential.”  Through years of training and effort, I learned “potential” is the “foundation” – the starting point of desire, will and focus, but it is useless without proper function and cultivating the foundation from the internal energy directed by the mind.  It’s developing the “alchemy” and practicing right form over a period of time until it becomes mindless.  Your mind becomes refined where you can tap into the power – energy and right function when you need it.  Think of your own lesson on Great Potential – Great Function if you are beginning to train in any sports or endeavor. It’s a “key” to your success.

My Best,

Maria Camille

(

 The Great Learning – from Soul of the Samurai – Thomas Cleary

 The Great Learning, or Daigaku in Japanese, is a Confucian classic. One of the famous lines of The Great Learning cited in Zen teaching is “The Way of Great Learning is in clarifying enlightened virtue.” In Zen terms, this clarification of mind is what the sword master calls entering the house and meeting the host. It is the gateway to elementary learning. When you go to a house, first you go in through the gate; thus the gate is an indication that you’ve arrived at the house. Going through this gate, you enter the house and meet the host. You get to the knowledge by going through the gate. Therefore, learning is the gate, not the house. When you see the gate, don’t take it for the house. The house is inside, past the gate.

Flashback:

The training conducted in Raeford, N. C. to ultimately compete to win a spot on the U.S. Parachute Team was a 365 day per year effort. My coach had ideas of how the body moves which were very unorthodox for Americans at the time – (still is actually). I had to trust in the process. I listened. I had to make hundreds of jumps just practicing parts of what would ultimately be put together as a whole. I spent over a year on just “the parts.” No one else did this. Others started by practicing the whole “set” right off, training to get better through repetition.

One “part” was learning to gain more speed before the actual gymnastics part of the jump (Style Set) started. My coach had me start the jump completely different than normal. Normally, you exit the airplane and fall away in a tight ball until you have enough speed, then you start your maneuvers. This “fall-away” takes about 15 seconds of your total 26 seconds of airtime before you have to open your parachute. The normal fall-away was “safe” because you could see your “headings” on the ground to line up each turn. This is critical because if you’re off your headings you are eliminated. But my coaches theory was that a vertical dive would be better as you can gain speeds of up to over 200 m.p.h. (a faster start- means a faster gymnastic set. You are judged on speed and precision.) I started practicing this vertical dive. It was very scary and unstable to come up out of the dive and still be on my heading and then slam into the first turn. It looked like this; I would exit the airplane, line up on the heading, then flip over into a head down dive – just head and shoulders vertical straight down. Now, I was looking backwards at the horizon. I could not see the headings. I had to “see” from the back of my head – intuitively. It feels like the bottom just drops out underneath you – it’s so fast. No one else in the world started the Style jump with the dive. My coach’s theory was that by starting with the dive you can gain more speed and the judges would not be able to determine when you would start the turn, hence getting perhaps one hundredth of a second on the stop watches (hundreds of a second could ultimately make a big difference in your time). The risk for this was that you could be way off your heading when you came up out of the dive because of wind drift, which would essentially eliminate you. So the dive was a big risk.

I spent literally hundreds of jumps just learning this one part. Just perfecting the dive. The dive essentially means nothing as far as judging the Style set (it just gave more speed to start). So, to not have the dive work, would mean many months of spending time and effort on something that ultimately may not do any good. Years later I realized – - this was “the gate.” It took many months, but the dive started to become comfortable. I learned to get a sixth sense on whether or not I was drifting in the air and if I was still lined up on my heading. I began to “see” with the back of my head. I had eyes throughout my whole body – I starting getting used to the speed.

Ultimately, this was the lesson of “The Great Learning.” I realized that the dive was just “the gate.” It was not “the house.” I spent hundreds of jumps at “the gate.” It was the entrance “to learn.” This part of the training taught me that “the gate” is the time to develop. These preliminary steps are what gave me the ability to take on the even more difficult lessons I was facing when I finally entered “the house.” The dive eventually became automatic, then it left my mind. It became spontaneous without thought. I could now enter “the house.”

In your own sports practice or endeavors – -look for “the gate.” One day you’ll enter “the house.”

My Best,

Maria Camille