The True War

Each time I work with a group of people I am always struck by the simple fact that everything we do relies on the sacrum in. Without it there is no connexion, either with the ground through the legs and coccyx, or with each other through hands, eyes and heart. And it is the sacrum and not the tan tien. If this sacred aspect properly engages then everything you do has significance and potency. To get it to properly engage you must struggle some part of your mind out of your head and down there. I don't mean your thinking mind, but rather some awareness or natural intelligence. It is almost as though there is a small animal living in your sacral area, ready to come out of hibernation given the right conditions. Don't yoga adepts talk about the kundalini snake in the base of the spine? When it finally rises the feeling is as though all your cares and woes and the petty concerns that stunt your effectiveness as a human being are shrugged off and you suddenly enter a world of POWER, a world where the slightest action or intention on your behalf creates ripples and consequences you'd usually be far too polite and considerate to countenance. Power is very different from strength. Strength is the ability to do things. The more strength you have the more you can do and the more effortlessly you can do it. However power is different. It is more like a world where transformations and exchanges take place - a battlefield if you like. It is something you can tap but which doesn't belong to you. It is the stuff of real connectedness. It requires connexion. Connexion is the price of admission. It is a place of wonder and horror and absolute thrilling danger. It is what a true warrior lives for and dies for. Valhalla. The place where life and death have no consequence. I suspect that if you were thrown into this world then your sacrum would naturally slot into its correct position and your body and spirit would coordinate as they are meant to. Sometimes a teacher will do this for you - her energy will bully you into that leap of faith. The struggle for all of us is to gain admittance at will, and to eventually reside there all the time. This will come about by developing strength (of body and character) and posture through solo practice and by working with others in such a way that you enter the fray together (courage in numbers). Obviously this will not happen by practising pushing hands (although I dare say this would be good preparation - do I sound convinced?), or by engaging in any competitive exchange where the emphasis is on winning (where either party is reluctant to let out their energy for fear of losing). It happens when you both throw all you've got into the cauldron together, one attacking and the other yielding. There is not a great deal of difference between the two when they are done correctly. This is a martial art not so you can learn to win (all victories are cheap) but because the image of the fight is the best one to hold onto to gain entry into this world of spirit, power and real transformative connexion. Welcome to the real world.

in a state of grace

& with a sense of wonder

naked

trembling

i feel the edge

is torn

and shudder

with the pain

of fulfilment