This is how I view Mind and Body Coordination as of July 10th, 2008 while I am a white belt (lowest of the low). I’ve thought about Mind and Body Coordination and Ki Meditation for 10 years.
Do I have the right answer? I really don’t know. That’s part of what makes writing this so much fun!
Ki is consciousness, awareness.
Mind and Body Coordination is the state of being fully conscious and fully aware. It is effortlessness.
Rowers call it Swing. Geeks call it The Cave. Sports players and musicians call it The Zone. Musicians, like sports players, also call it The Zone. It’s when you perform without anaylisation. You’re aware of everything you do, every note you play, every note other musicians play and singers sing.
I think video games let people slip into this state, I’d even go so far as to say that mind and body coordination is one of the powerful addictive forces video games exert.
That’s right. I think mind and body coordination, the zone, swing, the cave, or whatever you happen to call it is addictive. But it’s not addictive like an adrenaline rush or the dopamine dump associated with certain kinds of drugs or sex. It’s addictive in exactly the opposite way. It’s the addictiveness of inner peace.
By my third year in college I’d learned some kiatsu, a kind of aikido ki massage. As building monitor in the music department I didn’t have much to do so I’d occasionally give out back massages to anyone who wanted one.
I remember a girl, I’ll call her Claire, who played piano all the time (she was quite good too). As a result her shoulders were extremely tight, knots upon knots, upon knots. She’d seen me giving out massages and asked for one.
I sat her down in front of me and I went to work. Her shoulders were the tightest I’d ever felt. I worked her back for an hour then sent her back to practice. She gave me a weird look that said ”umm…did I just sit there an hour for nothing?” then she went off to practice and I talked with friends.
An hour and a half later she came back and told me how great she felt. It was a delayed reaction. She’d lived with her stress so long that it absence took her awhile to pick up on.
That’s how I see mind and body coordination. The delayed pleasure is spiritually addictive. You’ve lived so long with so much stress that it takes time for your body and mind to figure out how wonderful it is to be in this other state.
Christian theology asserts that when mankind ‘fell’ they disrupted the natural order of things. One of these disruptions is within ourselves.
Spirit governs the Mind which governs the Body.
Let me put that into better terms.
Spirit leads the Mind which leads the Body.
I mean spirit both naturally and supernaturally. My easy and very superficial explanation of spirit is your intuition, your character, your honor, your ideals.
In the fall, mankind placed his reason, his mind, above his spirit and wars within himself. Mind and Body Coordination attempts to place the mind and body back into instant, unwavering obedience.
This is something I’ve learned about myself during Aikido lessons.
- If my body fights, I am moved (or lead.)
- If my mind fights, I am moved
- If my body and mind silently obey, I am unmoved (and can lead).
I’ve also noticed feeling invincible and infallible. When I’m coordinated I’m confident that all of me instantly obeys without doubt, without questions. …then I think, “wow, I’m doing it!” and the feeling vanishes. Argh!
My thoughts about obedience amaze me. How interesting: unresisting, instantaneous obedience. I must think on this more.
