Zen Body-Being: An Enlightened Approach to Physical Skill, Grace, and Power

A Zen-inspired physical education program for martial arts practitioners and anyone interested in mind-body transformation Using simple, clear language to demystify the Zen mindset, Ralston draws on more than three decades of experience teaching students and apprentices worldwide who have applied his body-being approach. More of a transformative guide than a specific list of exercises devoted to any particular physical approach, Zen Body-Being explains how to create a state of mental control, enhanced feeling-awareness, correct structural alignment, increased spatial acuity, and even a greater interactive presence. Exercises are simple, often involving feeling-imagery and meditative awareness, which have a profound and sometimes instant effect. Areas of exploration include: - Beginner's Body-Being - Three aspects of body awareness - Five principles for an effortlessly effective body - Opening a door--five steps to transformation - Fourteen points on structural alignment Where similar guides teach readers what to do, this book teaches readers how to be.