First Post

This drawing is called 'After Ploughing, Planting'. It's a meditation on what to do with all the preparation and practise a person may find they've accumulated over the years, in their chosen Art.

I practise Art, Music, and Tai Chi/ Hsing I / Ba Gua ( the so called 'internal' martial arts' from China), and this blog is a journal to plant somewhere the thoughts that come up during practising and teaching Tai Chi and its sister arts.

In the picture the landscape is huge, much bigger than the single figure bent to their task. Shunryu Suzuki calls it, "To light one small corner of the world".

When we go deeper into an Art, it gets harder and harder to 'report back' to others. All's fine for a while, as you can describe the techniques and difficulties that go with them, but soon you may find yourself alone and quieter than normal, and that it's not unpleasant. A lot of people come to a class to get an hour or so of exercise, and hardly practise during the days between. After a while though, their time in class may lead them out further, and the urge to practise builds.

We tell ourselves it's for this or that reason, but with luck, certainty collapses slowly and we just do it. " Be there while it's happening."

Kai Out