Taking the meaning of Mind/Body to a New Level
Consider the breath as one of the most important aspects of bringing the mind into the body.
Breathing is the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide between the air and the blood in the lungs. The oxygenated blood delivers oxygen throughout the body.
The practice of correct energy (Qi) breathing is to increase the pressure of oxygen within the body. With practice, you become more sensitive to the energy you are cultivating and you learn to work with it to give you an edge in your sport.
Now, here’s the rub - the law of thermodynamics hold that once energy is used to do work, it loses something.
It cannot be used again in the same way. It becomes more chaotic. This “wearing down” of energy is entropy. It is often expressed as heat. A machine that throws off too much heat is inefficient. Energy flow within the body is of no consequence unless the energy can be trapped and stored within the body where it circulates to do work before dissipating. The body will wear out and age proportionally to the entropy present. If the body operates more efficiently with less energy leakage, entropy is slowed. Increasing the level of flow of Qi energy through breathing, permits greater coherence, resulting in reduced entropy. Unless the energy is “managed” properly, the exercise gains nothing.
Mastery as an athlete, is to know how to access this unobstructed energy in virtually any situation. The key is to have your energy become “intelligent” energy.
The key to using intelligent energy in your sport is to learn the principles of how to be well-rooted. In martial arts, rooting is the term used to describe the energetic connection to the earth. Rooting comes from amplifying the energetic link between the earth and your body. The problem lies in seeing rooting as something you “do.” It is instead a “state of being.” It happens as a result of energetic coherence.
This structural alignment and rooting are imperative as you put together your powerful new foundation. Rooting will develop your equilibrium and balance to maintain your structural integrity.
As a master says: "The posture is like a tree. Even if the tree is very large and strong, if the rooting is not there, then the tree can be pushed over easily." If you do not create the “center” you have none. The center, or root, is not the train, it is the station.
In conclusion, all too often exercise becomes a mechanical routine, and the athlete ignores the important mental aspects and inner body discipline completely. The warrior alchemy is to exercise the mind and body together – to the point that you are aware of the movements and then later you are no longer aware, as it becomes automatic. This is the stage to reach.
You should be in it and of it.
This means that one does not make mere local movements of the body, nor does one make meaningless movements, such as moving the body in the correct form but without giving thought to each movement. The entire body should be in coordination with the totality of the energy matrix. The body should be able to connect and integrate into one complete system, instead of operating as a bunch of scattered pieces.