Just watched a documentary about how the Estonians gained independence through songs and music – (click here for The singing revolution trailer). The documentary hit home with me because I can just see the similarity to the mechanics of internal martial arts – alignment. Of course, in this case, it is not about alignment of your body but alignment of the people’s passion and hope through music. Just imagine the advantage that you can gain as a club, a sport federation or as a country when everyone is aligned in the vision and its execution!
Do you see the diagram about ferromagnetic material? The object do not usually display any magnetic property because the domains are randomly oriented and neutralizes each other. When the domains are aligned, you can detect magnetic forces outside the object.
One of the journeys of internal martial arts (e.g. lhbf, taiji, Hsing-I, I-chuan, baqua, etc) is on the discovery of perfect alignment and effective use of all the mental and physical forces. Internal martial arts involve the mental aspect and therefore having a deep understanding of the working principles (and truly believing and being it) is more important than just perfect imitation. Since internal martial arts require the use of your body efficiently, therefore effective relaxation (as well as tension), sequencing, coordination should be interim training goals.
Exercise (email to discuss):
- Can you apply the alignment metaphor to the learning process?
- Give me other applications of the alignment principle in other aspects of your life.
- (Optional) You can read more about the Singing Revolution from wiki here.