I.

There’s an important concept in judo called Tai Sabaki. Roughly translated it means “body management.” It means that in order to advance, to execute a throw against a live, resisting opponent, the most effective posture is a loose, relaxed, upright stance. However, this stance is also the most vulnerable to one being thrown and defeated oneself. Most people, therefore, rely on a defensive posture. Crouching low, keeping the body tight, hips back. Unfortunately, it’s hard to move in this position, hard to throw. And if you get two people doing this at the same time, the match resembles two grunting football tackles trying to push each other. The point then – at least in judo – is that to advance means you must allow yourself to be vulnerable. However, being loose, relaxed, leads to gaining a sensitivity to when an attack is imminent. Therefore, you learn how to deflect an attack not by meeting it with rooted strength but by giving way, slightly opening, turning the energy into a circle. Meeting it with vulnerability transforming it into a redirection.

II.

Beyond judo, tai sabaki is being at rest while being awake and aware. Lead with your heart high is something I hear at my yoga studio when being taught asanas. There’s more there than just yoga.

III.

I am reminded of Alan Watts’ book The Wisdom of Insecurity. In it, he describes a seemingly paradoxical way of defining the difference between faith and belief. Belief, he says, is to hold on tightly. To squeeze God into everything. Faith is letting go. It is releasing God into your world to be confronted with God’s possible non-existence, and carrying on in faith.

IV.

“Gnostics on Trial”

Let us make the test. Say God wants you

to be unhappy. That there is no good.

That there are horrors in store for us

if we manage to move toward Him.

Say you keep Art in its place, not too high.

And that everything, even eternity, is measurable.

Look at the photographs of the dead,

both natural (one by one) and unnatural

in masses. All tangled. You know about that.

And can put Beauty in its place. Not too high,

and passing. Make love our search for unhappiness,

which is His plan to help us.

Disregard that afternoon breeze from the Aegean

on a body almost asleep in the shuttered room.

Ignore melons, and talking with friends.

Try to keep from rejoicing. Try

to keep from happiness. Just try.

(by Linda Gregg from Too Bright to See)

V.

Linda Gregg writes in an essay called “The Art of Finding”: “I believe that poetry at its best is found rather than written. Traditionally, and for many people even today, poems have been admired chiefly for their craftsmanship and musicality, the handsomeness of language and the abundance of similes, along with the patterning and rhymes. I respect and enjoy all that, but I would not have worked so hard and so long at my poetry if it were primarily the production of well-made objects, just as I would not have sacrificed so much for love if love were mostly about pleasure…”

VI.

“Breath Control is the bedrock of my jiu jitsu system. Until you learn to control your breathing in extreme circumstances (against better opponents, while tired, when being crushed from on top), all the fancy concepts, techniques, and submissions are just pie in the sky.” (Nicolas Gregoriades in The Black Belt Blueprint)