martial arts

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 27 Mar 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

marlowe	27 Mar 2003
I'm just wondering if any of you practice any martial arts? I have been homestudying Shaolin Kungfu and Jeet Kune Do for a couple of years now, and I used to do kickboxing as a teenager. I've found the shaolin exercises are much like yoga (ie/ standing in one spot in one position with muslces and tendons straiined). I find it also relaxes my mind and enables me to focus and think lucidly. So, if any of you don't practice martial arts, may I just promote it as a very useful tool for yoga, not to mention the philosophy behind it, the balance it gives an individual, and the general beneficiary effect. :)

Astraea	27 Mar 2003
Hi, marlowe! I practice tai chi (one of the so-called "internal" or "soft" martial arts), along with qigong -- according to my teacher, the patterned movements of the tai chi forms are actually aspects of qigong. I can't praise it highly enough. Jeet Kune Do and Shaolin Kung Fu are complex, fascinating and beautiful martial arts. You must enjoy them very much.

marlowe	27 Mar 2003
I do indeed feel invogorated after practicing them. I have a book on tai chi, which I aim to study. It's kinda hard right now, since I live in a stinking city - it's hard to find a place of peace to practice it. But I'm moving to a desert city soon, so I hope to find solitude enough there to properly tackle tai chi. I believe the key to all is balance and rhythm. From microcosm to macrocosm. It's just about the only thing I believe.

coldsuns	27 Mar 2003
I wanted to learn Tai Chi very much. But hard to find a time to do so. Practise or do Tai Chi early in the morning before the cock do is the best time. It will help you to slim down and get rid of the oil. It also makes you relax and "kill" stress. It is also wont make you sweat much. A very good form of exercise!

HudsonGray	27 Mar 2003
I've had a year of tai chi classes also. It helps quite a bit with focusing & balance, you learn to control small moves very completely. Our teacher was involved in a car accident after our classes ended & had to take time out before teaching again, so I didn't follow through with more classes, unfortunately, then I moved, so I've been out of it for a while, but may go back to it if there's another teacher in the city. He was teaching the Tai Chi Chuan method, I know there are others. He learned it from someone down in Chicago who was following that style.

Amythist	27 Mar 2003
I never knew that so i am going to start paying for a class to help me with yoga. My dad got me a the full yoga set for christmas all so my birthday. I was so proud of it i also use my mat for medating to. So to help me with all my effort i will take up matrial arts so i get more benafit out of yoga Thankyou for telling me that

Page	27 Mar 2003
[quote]Originally posted by marlowe and I used to do kickboxing as a teenager. I've found the shaolin exercises are much like yoga I'm glad I found this thread!:D I was watching my yoga DVD last night and thought to myself I'd better get back into it. I done a few kickboxing classes but I need to get fit again, it was such a good feeling. I'm in the middle of relocating and I just want find a good gym 5-10 mins from home so I can go 3 times a week in the morning. I used to be one of those 6am gym freaks. pumping weights and spending a full hour in the jacuzzi and looking like a prune after. I get a bit in a flap sometimes and need to burn of energy. So thread has inspired and has give me a bit of a kick. well I've got to start from the beginning again as I left it for soooooo long. I'm just going to log off now to do my yoga.

Demonesse	27 Mar 2003
I do Tae Kwon Do and am currently learning to use some traditional weapons, namely the nunchaku (two wooden handles joined with a chain, which really HURTS when you make mistakes) as well as the shuriken (throwing iron star). Kungfu and wushu, I have found, are beautiful as a showcase sort of martial art, with flowing circular styles, but as for actual 'fighting', or sparring as we prefer to term it, the linear movements of aikido, taekwondo and karate are more realistic. Muy Thai, or Thai kickboxing, is a very interesting form of kickboxing which makes much use of the shins. Yoga is not a martial art - indeed, it is the very antihesis of 'martial' and is intended to promote spiritual as well as physical well-being.

marlowe	28 Mar 2003
Yeah, I wasn't comparing Yoga to the fighting/contact aspect of martial arts - but in the exercises one does as part of the preparation. The one I had mainly in mind was the horse riding stance--standing in this stance, still, for a long time, is comparable to the Yoga talked of by Crowley. And also, martial arts promote mental stillness and meditation &tc to rid the mind of external & internal irritants, which again is similar to the earlier stages of Yoga.

HudsonGray	28 Mar 2003
The horse riding stance is one of the stances used by Shamans too, and even the Eskimo people put that one into their art when they do carvings of their shaman. The stance is pretty powerful from what I hear.

marlowe	29 Mar 2003
The thing I love about the horse riding stance is that it lowers the centre of gravity, which in turns aids balance; it is in itself a good yoga position, aiding in the stilling of body and subsequently of mind; and that it is good as a stretching exercise.

Lady Skye	07 Apr 2003
I have been in martial arts for 2-1/2 years ~ Wado Ryu karate ~ my son has been a member for 7 years. It is part of our spiritual paths. It not only conditions the body, but the mind and spirit. It's teachings are of great integrity, discipline and respect. I feel "at home" when I'm in the dojo. My son and I are members of the club and it has molded him in ways of respect and compassion that a lot of 16 year olds do not learn until later in life when they are adults. I also challenge myself with the new techniques. There is so much "thinking" because your thoughts become movements and directions. It's good for the spirit! I study Tarot and crystal healing and dream work, but the martial arts feeds the spirit a banquet of new learnings. Here's a little quotation our sensei put in the window of his dojo recently and I'm not sure where the quote came from: "Confuse an oncoming frown with a smile." :) )O(

The martial arts thread was originally posted on 27 Mar 2003 in the Spirituality board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Spirituality, or read more archived threads.