All the greats have told me to take the world as my teacher. O-sensei said to never sit in front of a flowing stream and not let it teach you something. I'm on a little stopover in Ashland, OR on my way to Los Angeles, and I walked into their town park and sat at a river for a while.
My notes:
The river is constantly moving. If we consider the river to be water, then the banks are a container. Not unimportant, but certainly not the main attraction. The river (unless we're in Santa Fe) must be defined by the movement of the water. It is this continuous flow of water - simultaneously homogeneous and varied that defines and shapes the banks. That which is solid (the bank) has an inertia to it. It will not change instantly, but it is in a continual process of change. The energy of the water turns it into what it will be. It is the energy of the flow that shapes the course of the river. Similarly, I must view my body this way. My physical body is analogous to the bank of the river. I can feel this when I walk with awareness or when exercising on Pilates equipment. I can shape the flow of the energy in my body, and slowly, alter the shape of my body. When I talk about a blockage in my left side - that stitch - it feels like a dam in the river. The energy stops and is diverted down my right leg instead of my left.
Like the river, my body and life have a certain momentum. I have gifts, opportunities, inherent setbacks and struggles, but the flow of my energy continues to shape my life. It must flow around certain things, but it can cut right through others. To think that this energy is harnessable is an exciting thought. If I could truly use and direct it for what I wanted (and this is certainly what O-sensei taught), I would find my true power. My confusion arises from the fact that all the greats also speak about a place of stillness and silence. But where is the stillness in the river? How can something be both still and moving?
I may remember this anecdote incorrectly, and I may even have written it before... but when O-sensei was asked why no one could push him over, he responded with a laugh, "How can one move the whole world?"
