contemplation – Intuitive Martial Arts

The Hara Centre, located just below the naval and between the hips, is a region responsible for enormous power generation. In fact, it isn’t a disconnected area but runs through the solar plexus and to the head. This is why, for optimal functioning, you will want to align the entire body correctly, for example when sitting and doing breathing exercises. In this way you will prevent any ” Chi Blockages”, which simply means trapped or dissipated energy which runs along this alignment connection. Steve Morris has often said that the hip and head, which act through “the spinal engine” should be worked on and aligned when delivering powerful hits.

The Hara Centre represents the bowls of the earth, symbolically speaking, from which energy can be drawn to send heavenward (To the head). This region can be dangerous for disciples who have not studied “The way”, that is the virtues, but once you have strengthened your character, you can plumb the depths. Feel free to ignore this advice but I think it’s prudent.

The Hara centre can be considered the true mind or body of knowledge, because when it has been fully developed and organised through breathing, mindfulness, and meditation practices, it becomes the authority which controls even the brain. Yes, because, really, the brain is a receiver which can form images and interprets sensations based on archetypal ideas which are then elaborated by experience. This is why artistic expression and creativity is so important. But it must follow certain rules. Anyway, at this point of unified understanding, the disciple can focus on any area he likes, for example the head or solar plexus, or even the arms and legs, because everything represents an interconnected whole. In other words they represent the same core, and spring from the same centre.

At the moment we tend to operate with an undeveloped Apparatus, with the head, solar plexus, and Hara Centre not doing their job properly as a unified triforce. In this state, nothing works as it should. Modern man is overburdened by cognitive activity and is constantly overanalysing, in everything from how to perform various actions, to how he looks on social media. And when he goes to the gym he is often just going though the motions paying no attention at all to how anything feels. However, when you align all these centres I’m talking about you will feel better able to breath properly and nourish better thoughts. It will then not matter what is going on externally. In this way the Brain can be used for its proper job: to intuitively sense what it has to do when, say, you are training Martial arts. You will have a superabundance of energy as the burden of work is shifted to a bigger generator.

Sun Tzu says “If a general who is strange to the troops punishes them, they cease to obey him”. This means, symbolically speaking that the fighter who does not attach himself to his troops loses their confidence. In other words, if your general (The Hara Centre) does not work properly with the troops (the body and brain), then they “cannot be usefully employed”. This is why there must be harmony in the relations between each of the centres and the body. It then becomes clear what you have to do, even if you don’t technically know all the details.

Disciples often wait for the coming of the Messiah, and if you wait and patiently make yourself receptive to the subtle energies of the Hara centre, you will get a visit sooner or later. But there is no point in waiting if you have not done the work or are looking in all the wrong places. That is why, from now on I recommend you work with the Hara Centre and its related lines of energy not only during training but in all activity. All the technical knowledge takes second, or even third, fourth or fifth place to this.

Whether it experiencing an intensive Harmony of Spirited action, a Controlled Gesture, or a contemplative meditation, it’s all the same. The important thing to remember is that there must be unity in thought, desire, action, and feeling. When you feel this centre is activated in your practice, allow if to take possession of you. When you do this often, it will begin to accompany you in everything you do throughout the day, and therefore it is easy to draw upon this force at will. In other words, you will begin to relate to it as the centre of being. For those that are ready, there is a whole way of practice to totally immerse themselves in, which is more certain than any form of objectively measurable progress. The more you are able to observe this state and conform to it, the more you will understand abstract ideas and forms alter and arrive at truth.

So Instead of acquiring new moves or increasing your fitness, think instead more about changing your perceptions and interactions between the parts and the whole. In other words cultivate the faculty of mindfully going about the most mundane activities. In this condition you will be able to spend decades drawing inspiration from and practicing even the most basic and form or move without ever losing interest or motivation.

The Brain is not designed to stand up to fretting and worrying, and due to this overloading and burdening exhausts itself in anxiety. This is why it is important to regain control over our Hara Centre, so that the burden of activity, and even the problems of existence itself can be overcome. If the Masters of the past we able to become tireless and almost all powerful, it was not because of brain power, calculations or huge muscles. No, instead it was because they were able to concentrate, develop and strengthen the life centre, the centre of gravity, the roots of the earth. The hara Centre represents these roots.

The Bulgarian spiritual Master Omraam Mikael Aivanov says that the secrets of the Hara Centre were well know to all ancient religions and and Sages of the past. Jesus says “From out of the believers belly shall flow the rivers of the living Water”. The Shaolin Drunken boxers even become intoxicated on this water, where they experience an unorthadox balance of grace and explosive power. The Hindu Sages tell us that Shiva, who represents the brain, was the “Destroyer of reality”. The Chinese system of Tai Chi says that their is an energy channel, known as a “Chi pathway” which travels from the Hara centre and out of the crown of the head. As such, when this pathway is fully operational and aligned, the Disciple is “Held by a fine golden thread” from the crown. This thread represents a spiritual thread, a link to heaven, through which almost supernatural powers are granted to the disciple in the form of increased Vitality, power, and Health.

As I have just said, the brain is very much dependant on the signals it receives from the Hara Centre. This is why by focusing and concentrating on the Hara Centre, through meditation and breathing exercises for example, the Brain is able to function more smoothly and harmoniously without nervous agitation and fatigue. This is why it is so important to make sure that the centres of the head, solar plexus, and Hara are able to work as a unified whole. It is then possible to say, concentrate on breathing, or head positioning for optimal posture, from a position of an active Hara Centre. For example, it can be helpful to concentrate on the diaphragm to feel the sensations of breathing, or the chakra in the back of the head which produces an intense surge of energy. Moderation in the latter is advised therefore.

Even if you think this is all spiritual nonsense, if you decide to cultivate this area of practice, you may begin to see that this is the only kind of practice there is. Because we can only maintain an attitude of optimism and progress if we are on the right path. And this path follows many routes, and has many different manifestations, but all lead to the same inner unity.

What I am saying is that the proper measure of whether your meditations, breathing exercises, or martial arts techniques are correct is not whether you can pulverize somebody or look superficially correct. Instead, each of these exercises should awaken and develop this triforce of nature, the head2, the solar plexus, and the Hara Centre. This is not so much something that you achieve with a rigid posture of technique, but is a “felt sense”, as Eugene Gendlin puts it. Yes, because through the intermediary of feeling we can begin to understand.

The deeper mysteries of reality are not seen with our eyes, but are instead felt. In Hindu Philosophy the eyes are said to reveal a false reality of our physical surroundings, or “Maya”1. The full reality is brought to bear when the Hara Centre is developed. Only then can we begin to accurately mentally construct reality (the brain) with our creative imagination and full array of faculties. Otherwise we are held captive by an ugly imposter which sits at the throne. This is the true enemy3.

References

1Signs and Symbols in Martial arts Part 2 https://harmanater.com/2020/06/06/signs-and-symbols-part-2-pedagogy-and-the-art-of-war/

2 Alignment and tension exercises https://harmanater.com/2020/03/22/alignment-and-tension-exercises/ . Here I have mainly used examples from Steve Morris.

3 The True Meaning of Martial Arts https://harmanater.com/2020/05/18/the-true-meaning-of-martial-arts/

Many people believe that if they practice the right skill a few times, such as a punch, then they will simply have it at their disposal. And if a teacher fails to give them the right instruction they go off and find a better one. If the instructor doesn’t have the right paperwork they are ignored. The problem with this attitude is that it robs the student of the only resource that matters: themselves. In fact, if you go about practice the right way, working hard and honestly, even if you didn’t plan to be very good success will be unavoidable. You bring it on yourself through cause and effect. What the Martial arts community thinks of you is then of no real interest.

The skill is only a small reflection of the reality behind it. It is the outer appearance of the inner evolution, and present form, that appears on the outside of a fighter. It is this attitude that should be embodied. I don’t wish to spend time instructing others on the “technique” aspect, as you can find all the details you want everywhere. However, what is often missed is the spirit of perseverance, overcoming adversity, time and effort spent, etc., which are all inseparable from the physical manifestation of any punch, kick, throw, or whatever. Like a shoot from a seed, the seed must be planted in fertile soil otherwise it cannot take root and flower. The fertile soil, symbolically speaking, is the mental attitude and work.

When a fighter “effortlessly” Ko’s an opponent, it is often imagined that he did it easily. Or when they are “super fit”, people think that this grace and physical prowess are obtained through some kind of external fitness program. However, as I have explained before, the skills that can be acquired from instruction are mainly superficial aspects. The source comes from within the fighter 1. It is this source of motivation and drive that you must aspire to work with, rather than have someone else manipulate your energies from the outside. Of course, if a coach or teacher has your best interests at heart, and knows how to bring only the best out of you, by all means allow them to work on you. However this is often not the case.

The inner states, such as motivation and energies, are the essential ingredients, the factors that count. The various expressions of these, such as specific skills, I have called non essential, because their form changes, and in any case is context dependant. Form is therefore unreliable as a source in itself. Focus on what is essential, the driving force. You might say “That isn’t fun, and it takes to long without all the answers given to me”. How do you know that? If people worked on themselves diligently and took their time to acquire knowledge and experience, rather than rushing towards mediocrity, they would be amazed at the discoveries they make. The work is too hard, supposedly, but because so many people don’t bother working hard to to think for themselves they lack all inspiration to go very far.

People argue about and try to imitate the perfect from. They work for years imitating a tiger, crane, or professional fighter, and end up exhausted and injured from copying these superficial aspects. They have never been taught that is is important to use these things as a guide only, or if they are to identify with them it should be in the spirit of full commitment rather than passive observation. It is far more important to maximise motivation and health by pursuing what matters, or the meaning behind performance. Neither moves nor world title belts are responsible for this. In other words, it is essential to embody the work that goes behind achieving any great goal.

Specific skills are the peripheral details, the mere expressions, and the central central prerequisites are work an energy. In other words, these existing natural resources must be given direction and specific form, or meaning. It is not possible to perform a skill properly otherwise. And also, it is not possible to think you have learnt something by going over some mundane exercises, and then hope to inject a bit of energy into afterwards. This is why the Masters of the East used to give their disciples symbols and parables to contemplate: It would draw on their internal resource in a specific direction without working everything out for them. Through this method of teaching the disciple embodied the skills they practiced and became inseperable from them. I wonder if this is at all clear? The work and ideas come before the skill, there is no other way of thinking about it in my opinion. If so few actually achieve what they set out to do, it is because this basic truth goes unnoticed.

Of course any ideas conveyed in stories and parables must be symbolic of some truth so that the disciple will later come to understand. Through certain powerful symbols2, the student of old would meditate on images within the mind until the physical manifestation later emerged. This tradition is virtually lost today with advent of scientific detailed explanations. Such explanations rarely inspire any kind of intrinsic motivation within the student, they do all the work for him.

If you want to understand how martial arts works, you should use your mind to contemplate and experiment with ideas. For example, Snake Style kung Fu is really practicing skills using the imagery of a snake. You can do anything in this way, and the mind has an innate tendency to work like this. You must imagine yourself darting in and out from various angles and snapping at your opponent. Your attacks should have venom and bite. Any skills you then practice will take on a life of their own. Hopefully you can see how symbols such as this become reality having started as an idea.

Alternatively you can imagine actually defending against a Snake, as Steve Morris often suggests. Here you can use your mind which is a tool that, unlike the body, never wears out. It is an inexhaustible arena of practice, and limitless in its scope. But it needs to be exercised by creative thought and use of the imagination. It is then that your ideas become materialised physically. I hope this is quite clear. When it comes to images in the mind, I’ve never found it very fruitful to imagine mundane things that correspond to some dull lifeless training centre. Although this is what is typically recommended. Instead I prefer to imagine myself on a mountain fighting some larger than life opponent, but more about that another time.

Another symbol used in martial arts is the circle. In Tai Chi for example, circles are made with the arms. It is very easy to practice doing this in your minds eye, because a circle is an accessible symbol recognised by anyone regardless of their training. Therefore, a beginner can begin to practice, awkwardly at first, until they are adept, with just this symbol alone. Such is the power of symbolic explanation. A simple idea such as the circle can undelie more complex ideas later on. This is why babies play with shapes in early development. They later understand more complex things. This is seen in all areas of life, for example the world is round, and so are stones, both of which rotate around an axis.

All I am saying is that we should have the same child like inquisitiveness for martial arts, which is only beyond the scope of out understanding if we have failed to contemplate what its all about for extended periods of time. We would not expect a child to understand, say, rotation around an axis or the solar system without first playing with circles and hoops. It is the same with martial arts, we cannot learn complex fighting movements and skills without first drawing upon our knowledge of symbols, shapes, and ideas which have created meaning for our adult lives.

But most people say “I get it, it’s easy”. As long as they’re having fun, the musics blaring, and the coach is shouting commands at them, they’re quite satisfied. They are like dough in the hands of a baker, tossed around and pounded into submission, which they call work. I’m not talking about that kind of work, I’m talking about inner work which is the real reason for martial arts practice4. Work is not just going through the motions and simple amusement, it is a chance to contemplate and accomplish meaningful pursuits. Many people would like an approach that inspired their better nature, and it is them that I write for.

At the professional level, it is very much the same story. Many athletes wear themselves out looking for some medal or glory, and end up so jaded and worn out by all the politics, deception, and debilitating training, that they ruin their health. “I’ll do it whilst I’m young and able” they say, not matter the cost. If they had thought about it, these athlete “development” programs do nothing but exploit their limited resources of youth a lot of the time. They draw on their reserves, absorbing them in some “peer system” of similarly naive athletes, rather than a wise guide, and then as their enthusiasm grows fainter and fainter they are left on the scrap heap. This is all considered perfectly normal, since this counsel of “talent development” specialists has given them a livelihood and has a right to use them as it sees fit. “Here is a guy who is driven!” They proudly proclaim. Not that they have particular admiration for the superstar, they’re just proud of their hold over him.

What is the point in pursuing all these achievements if you are incapable of enjoying them and lose all inspiration and spirit? In my view “A living Dog is better than a Dead Lion”. In other words, a lion who becomes worn out and incapable of anything is useless, no matter his past glory. He was living on borrowed time. Whereas a dog who is still going and has some fight in it will outlast the Lion in the end. I don’t wish to upset anyone involved professional competition, and anyway there are some exceptions, but it is up to individuals to chose their path. Everything can be found in the manuals of technical instruction, except what I am talking about here. The thing to know is that training is all dependant on how the energies are expended. Are they being absorbed in mindless labour, or is there some left over for contemplation and mental work?

Most animals die in mortal combat in the wild. Clearly, this is the law of the Jungle. However, if we wish to understand how to survive longer than animals we must take the perspective of the child who starts at the beginning. In other words, imagine that you are thinking about martial arts for the first time and work to gradually understand. This is really the case, when you consider how many years it takes to learn even the most simple tasks properly, like writing perfectly. Using the perspective of the child, even in adulthood, you can use advanced knowledge of walking, crawling, rotating the body, etc., and apply them to still more advanced moves like punching. Yes, having spent 18 years learning to walk, there is a further evolution. And then tactical applications. You should then feel as though you are approaching everything for the first time, rather than strutting around as if you are some hard nut looking to prove himself. Here is another example of symbols.

In boxing, you circle the opponent. In order to practice footwork it is a good idea to imagine doing this in your mind. You can first imagine circling round an opponent, and once this idea has been set in motion you can begin contemplating what the steps might look like in relation to this circling. Lots of people get mixed up with the footwork because they contemplate all the details of the footwork separately. Instead, it is better to think of the circle, everything else will begin to make sense when you hold this idea and work with it in your mind. Otherwise, you just end up learning some complicated footwork and it never becomes embodies or feels natural.

Symbols, work, and perseverance. Never rush this process!

References

1 Signs and Symbols in Martial arts Part 2 https://harmanater.com/2020/06/06/signs-and-symbols-part-2-pedagogy-and-the-art-of-war/

2 Signs and Symbols in Martial arts Part 1 https://harmanater.com/2020/05/16/signs-and-symbols-part-1-the-way-and-the-number-ten/

3 Movement and Breathing https://harmanater.com/2020/04/17/movement-and-breathing/

4 The True Meaning of Martial arts https://harmanater.com/2020/05/18/the-true-meaning-of-martial-arts/

Tag: contemplation

The Hara Centre

The Skill is not separate from Work and Contemplation.