I was born in a hurry.Early this morning BF set out to recreate a game of Go (picture of the board left) from a book, the same way he sometimes recreates Chess games. In the dim morning light his patient setting of the pieces reminded me of a time long gone, a time I have not heard of since the firing of my imagination off the pages from "One hundred years of solitude", or "Love in the time of Cholera".
Somehow I got reminded of those old days that can only be described by Garcia Marquez in his hot Caribbean gaze of boredom, the smell of siesta, and the wild, parrot filled silence of an isolated tropical life.
Do those times still exist? Are they buried under our hurriedly daily existence? Is it possible to practice without thinking about the next thing? Can we, in this time and age, enjoy a moment?
Practice went slow. I started breathing 6 times in the sitting poses, then 7, then 8. Purposely I slowed down everything, respected the breath, felt and silenced every thought.
When the time of drop-backs came around I got dizzy. Iose smiled, as he always does, with that timeless serene energy he has, I said that I was probably not breathing. He said that it has nothing to do with the breathing...
Really?
"It is your blood pressure, and I can tell you have low pressure, because you are pale". So what do I do? "Go slow", "don't I always ask you why you are in a hurry?"
How do I slow down? how come even on the day I count 8 times I still appear rushed, where is it I want to go?
In the yellow gloom of the newly painted shala, at closing time, I somehow connected to those "lazy days of summer" thought-forms that Americans have. It felt good.
Lovely post Claudia, and a picture of a goban too, I have one exactly like that, except that mine is older and has old ink stains on it from shodo. My own practice is getting slower and slower and thus longer and longer. I'm up to two hours now for Primary and want to steal another half hour from somewhere, i seem to want to savour every pose at the moment (i used to fly through Primary in an hour with the Sharath DVD). Perhaps it has something to do with doing Paranayma before practice
ReplyDeletebtw there are some Go apps on the iphone, i have GoBang Master and there's one called tetsuki for playing online.
ReplyDeletehi Grimmly, that is so interesting that you play too... I just showed your comments to BF and he says if you are ever in town we must organize a match :-) By the way, what is "shodo"? and also thank you for the applications and the thing on tetsuki, BF is keen to check them out now :-)
ReplyDeletehi Claudia
ReplyDeletei like the turn on the "cien anos de soledad title". as a child i experienced those moments while walking on the beach of my family's farm, or when floating in the warm ocean looking at colorful fish while snorkeling in an offshore island. as an adult i've experienced them while water tubing in an attraction called Schlitterbahn and while getting a water massage where the therapist floats you around and hurls you as if you were in the ocean. so you see, for me water was usually present to experience the feelings that there was no care in the world.
hugs
Arturo
Arturo, I think I will remember your comment next time I'm in the ocean (hopefully soon), I relate to how the water has a power for bringing us into the present, into that sense of awe... thanks for sharing those moments :-)
ReplyDeleteShodo is Japanese Caligraphy. My father-in-law gave me one of his old gobans when i was living in japan. i don't play now, learnt while i was there but M and i never seem to get the time to sit down anymore. We keep talking about getting back into it though. I used to have to walk through a little covered market to get home when i lived in Osaka. There was a little Tofu shop and in the evening after they had finished hosing the floor they would get their goban out and play. Used to love the sounds of the echoing stones as I would go by.
ReplyDeleteOhhh how interesting! It's difficult to find time to play. I don't yet play but have been reading those Manga comics and got inspired.
ReplyDelete