Mindfulness and Seitai
I heard that the Mindfulness is really popular in western world, also Holland in these days. They say the idea of Mindfulness came from Zen or Yoga, and presumably the necessity has been increasing for contemporary us tend to regret the past and worry about the future.
Haruchika Noguchi, the originator of Seitai method had always brought a book of Zen with him, The Record of Lingji. We would say that is the bible of the Linzai sect, and the core creed of this book is
“On your lump of red flesh is a true man without rank who is always going in and out of the face of every one of you. Those who have not yet confirmed this, look, look!”.
Today, Seitai is irrelevant to any religion. However, it seems to me that the fundamental thought of the Seitai method is really affected with this ideology of Zen.
Dr. Kuniaki Imoto says “Mind and Body are One” and “If you have to all the way out to take a waterfall or something for awareness, it is nonsense“. Certainly, if to balance our body means to balance our mind, there is no need to go anywhere but here for us.
Seitai is a method that brings out true human vitality by gathering your strength into “The centre of axis“. Gathering strength is the same as gathering attention. This is something simple but forgetful for us living in this complicated modern society.
Why do not you try this simple Breathing Exercise below and gather your strength into “The centre“? You may find yourself getting vitality and mindfulness at the same time.
Spinal Breathing Method – 脊椎行気法
- Sit on a seat with your back straight (if possible, Seiza is the best)
- Imagine your top of the head has a hole. Then slowly, deeply breathe in from there along your spine
- If you could breathe into your lower back bone(Lumbar), breathe out in reverse route to the vertex
- Repeat 1-3 over and over as long as you are comfortable. When you finish, while breathing out, slowly open your right eye then left eye(there is a reason why you should open your eyes in this order).
It seems like a really simple and easy way in words, although you might not be able to breathe into your lumbar, because of clogged feeling in anywhere in your spinal bone. That vertebra is the cause of your symptom. When you continue this breathing as moving the bone slowly and slightly, the clogging will gradually be eased up, and you will become able to breathing deeper and deeper.
This is the way to approach to “The perfect health” with relieving each clogging in this way. It can be said that this is the ultimate breathing method that is easier said than done.
