Here at the frontier, the leaves fall like rain. Although my neighbors are all barbarians, and you, you are a thousand miles away, there are still two cups at my table.


Ten thousand flowers in spring, the moon in autumn, a cool breeze in summer, snow in winter. If your mind isn't clouded by unnecessary things, this is the best season of your life.

~ Wu-men ~


Wednesday, December 11, 2013

A Home Dojo

I tend to practice on my own in my basement. It's out of the way. I have space. The berber carpet with padding under it is easy on my joints. I don't disturb the rest of the house and no one disturbs me.

Other people practice in their back yard, on a deck or maybe under a car port off the the garage. Perhaps there is a park nearby. I read an entry on a forum once where the writer said that he had a high school behind his house and he'd practice laps of the Five Elements (I'm not sure I believe that, but it's an interesting idea).

Some people are more ambitious. Maybe convert the garage to a gym/dojo, tack on an addition or erect a pole barn.

... and then there is this guy. I am an amoeba. I simply can't do what he has put together for himself and his students justice. Just follow the link. Enjoy.

5 comments:

walt said...

As I moved around through life, moving to more than thirty locations, I would try to find places with some sort of open/level area where I could practice. When I got around to owning property, I thought in terms of creating spaces for such things. The article shows a man who took that idea to a whole new level, albeit underground.

He wrote he derived the strength of character required by his project from his practice, which had "revealed and nurtured these qualities though consistent training and reflection."

Precisely. That's that "clarity" we seek, now embodied. And put to good use, as his photos show. Thanks, Rick!

Rick Matz said...

30 locations?! Are you on the Most Wanted List or something?!

walt said...

My early life was:

Fail! --> Forward! --> Fast!, and then move on upstream. You know: no root.

Compass Architect said...

--->he'd practice laps of the Five Elements (I'm not sure I believe that, but it's an interesting idea).
It is nothing new. I have seen people also performed laps by doing circle walking (10K steps per day). ... You are a XYQ/BGZ player. Is it in your "Silver and Blue" playbook of BGZ/XYQ exercises? ...

Rick Matz said...

10K steps = ~ 5 miles.

I am a little skeptical about high numbers of repetitions some people claim to make on a daily basis. Just walking 5 miles takes a certain amount of time.