Moment of Stillness

"Moment of Stillness"

There is the moment when things become absolutely still. That moment in nature where everything aligns perfectly, where the sun, moon and earth align resulting in something special, something unique and something extraordinary.

This stillness much like the still lake allows for a reflection. The reflection in that moment of stillness opens a door to another dimension, a dimension of the mind.

When I am practicing kata I tend to reflect through imagery many things. I often come to a still place where without conscious awareness achieve a still mind with no thought and then much like a rain drop striking a still, mirror like, lake sends a small ripple across the stillness. You see that which was not seen, you experience that which is not experienced and you reach the unreachable.

The epiphany, the enlightened state, the moment oh so present. The inspirational moment that many artist refer to when they see the image in the stone and chip away all the exterior garbage.

I am lucky. I experience "moment of stillness" in these present moments that occur without awareness and this is where I achieve shifts in a paradigm called life through those shifts in a paradigm I call martial systems.

I can in those moments suddenly like a spark that shocks new ways of doing things, new ways of seeing things and new ways of experiencing things. This works well in my practice as it has taken me beyond the basics, beyond the fundamentals and beyond any dogmatic adherence to some stunted belief derived as a vilification of a creator of a martial system.

Do you practice and train to achieve a "moment of stillness?" I have had those moments in applying my expertise and it is inexplicable. I am reminded of the unexplainable explanation of the Tao Te Ching.

"Remember to pay attention when you realize you're in a moment of stillness for it is in the next moment when a slight breeze, a puff of wind or a falling leaf will disturb the stillness." - Charles James