[L4nce]

Some of you might have clicked that thread now "uh, archery ?" or by thinking "ok =) i know whats comin now"

The art of archery is a book by a german author about the Zen way of freeing your mind. But what is this in relation to Breakdance ?

Well... let me start with another thing. Read it for the moment, i'll promise its worth it for those that never were into buddhism or asian ways of thinking.

There was a german guy who was once at a presentation of archery by an asian group. He was deeply impressed by their agility and precision by using their bow. They always hit. And plus.. they even hit when the room was dark as a cave. No light, he hit. Light goes on. Right in the middle of the target.

There could be no cheating in it, he saw it with his own eyes.. he was so deeply impressed by their precision so he wanted to learn archery for himself and... get a precision like they did. He wanted to learn the trick in it. The technique.. so he trained several months in germany first then moved to china where he had a master that was teaching him more about the art of archery. After he learned the techniques he was pretty good, but not as precise as they were... he never accomplished to be that precise tho he looked as close as he could everytime he saw them do it.

He never figured the trick out. He had to learn in this time, and it was a horror... that his problem was in his mind. His mind was caught by the bow... the bow had the power over him, not he over the bow... His mind was caught by every thaught he made when he wanted to hit.

Usually, a normal guy tries to focus... to focus as hard as he can to accomplish whatever he wants to do.. to hit a target. or... as in our situation, to perform a move. And we say if you dont manage to make it, you didnt focus enought.

Well, that is completely wrong. The trick is.. if you want to call it that... to NOT think. Free your mind, dont let your mind be bound by anything. Whenever your mind is bound by a thought "my leg has to go there and there" or whatever.. your mind is frozen... its still water, but you cant wash your body with it, its concentrated in one particular place.

If you think "i will do a babyfreeze" your babyfreeze will have the control over your mind, its bound by it.

If you think "when his sword is coming for me" your mind is controlled by the opponents sword.

If you think "i need to be carefull to stand strong" your mind is controlled by your strong stand.

Whatever you think your mind is in one place and not in another. Fact is, whether you take breakdance or kung fu or whatever, you do not do one thing after the other you have to control countless actions in your body... legs, arms, torso, head, everything needs actions from your brain. if you would think about controlling everything you would never manage to do anything right.

And for this, you have to understand that if i yell your name and you awnser immediatly "yes?" without thinking "someone calls me, i have to awnser", there is no space between your reaction and the action that caused it. Your mind was free... Like the stone that is smashed on the ground, the spark jumps immediatly. There is no time between. And this means... in martial arts, that causes an ironic effect. If i hit someone with a fist, he will defend himself as a reflex, his mind was free, his technique was weak but he will beat me if i'm new in martial arts. Because.. if you learn martial arts you have to learn new techniques, and to wipe the old ones.. you have to go away from what your reflexes would have done. And this makes you in the first place defend your self WORSE than before. Some1 that never did martial arts, beats in most cases anyone that is in it for 3-4 months.
Same in Dancing, to get the feeling new and with the new steps takes time... much time.

There is one way.
Forget your old behavior.
Learn the new techniques (most people stop here)
and
Free your mind. Lose your focus. Dont try to think... try to forget. Be

And by understanding this the german guy realized the "trick". He wasnt here to learn archery... he was here to Free his mind amnd NOT to learn to fire a bow. To master it, so his mind was everywhere and not bound to anything. And as a sideeffect he managed it to fire a bow like a master...

It doesnt matter what you do.. techniques are learned fast...

Some of you might understand, some of you might already left the topic. But i give you an excerise. Which you might make you understand a bit.
Some that consider themself already cracks in breakdance might understand faster cause their mind freed himself already a bit as they got deeper in dancing, cause your mind will free himself as longer as you do the same thing (but very slow and you'll never achieve a high level unless you work for it). But to work towards that can save you loads of time to get better and be better than anyone around you, that thinks everything is a matter of practice and physical power.

Oky doky... try to freestyle with whatever you can.. pick one move thats difficult, and go on the floor, dance and focus yourself on that move till you are in a position to perform it, but after you did your move try to dance on. (some people get caught by a move when they are perfoming, they dont wanna fail in a difficult move, and fail because of that)

Now just dance... try to not to think about any move (its really really hard, and you might need several attempts till you manage it for even some seconds), just be... dont plan anything. Dont try to do a particular move, just dance. DONT think. If you think about not thinking, your mind is caught by your plan of not thinking.

For those who never did it intentionally, some of you might notice a huge difference to before. Its another way of dancing completely. And if you stick to it you can make a difference even if you dont plan to get deeper in it.

If there is anyone that wants to get really deep in it, wont come along with it without meditating and stuff. But all i can say is.. it is worth it. You can count on my word.

There are 52 levels of freeing your mind in Zen, the 52's is the Level of Buddha so dont think its easy, or this way can be done fast or easily... all i wanted to do is maybe to wake an interest in informing yourself about it...

It wont make you things you cannot do. You still have to learn the techniques. Its both needed to do it. Technique and Mind. But with both at the top you'll be the king in your castle.

If anyone wants more info, mail me. I awnser as good as i can every question.

[Xero0197]

I have a small question i need to clarify. So u are saying that while im breaking I shouldnt concentrate on learning a move for example a (flare) i should just clear my mind and justDo!! the move so to speak? And the whole concept is not to concentrate on learning the dance but mastering it? If i confused u at all post any questions u have or email me at Blu_mitsurugi@yahoo.com

no i think that wut he meant is that u have to learn the move but wen u perform it dont think about it like in flares( ooh now i gotta lift my left leg up and put my right hand down) this makes u confused and lose ur focus...
btw l4nce wut u said was deep

[L4nce]

Xero

Xantos pretty much pointed it out. You have to learn the techniques with your mind anyhow... but when you perform it, or wanna get a higher level of perfection just do it.
Well.. actually. Learning can be done like this also, but this is another topic, and it takes even more practice to learn intentionally without takin the way of thinking.

But if you are afraid of a move for instance a flare in a high angle and you do it the first time.. losing your focus can help you to manage it. You dont let your mind have time to fear basically. Sometimes that can help, but sometimes you can hurt yourself badly cause, dangerous moves are dangerous. But if you dont know why you are afraid, lose focus. It will work. When i'm tryin a new move and i'm afraid of doin it.. i jus start to do something else. And after i'm done. I wont leave myself time, i just do the move from before. I dont leave myself time to have fear.

And its not about mastering the dance. The dance is "easy". Your mind needs to be masterd. If you wanna get a higher speed than you already have, this is the only way to achieve it, to get everything out of your muscles.


Xantos

Thank you.


To All
if anyone has experiences with this, or makes cause of my topic any experiences, write them down, its not easy to get in it. Some have it easier, some not. Write it if it helped. But also if it didnt...

Regards Ben

EDIT: Misstyping corrected

[Moochy - Mania]

hmm , it's quite interesting .
do you have links to sites where people can dig some more information about it ?

[L4nce]

Actually, no.
I got my knowledge out of books, since its a very very complex thema in the end. I could only give you tips as books you could purchase. There's no step by step guide, cause it wont work that way... you might have to read a book, try to get deeper in it, then read it again, and you'll understand it then in another way the 2nd time you've read it. I hope i'm not confusin ya =)
But i'll have a look wheter i can find some stuff on the net.

Regards, Ben

[soviet]

bhuddists always strike me as fascinating. good post

[L4nce]

I know how you feel. It was the same fascination that got me into this.
But every way is different from the other.. thats the hard lesson buddhism will give you. There's no way for you made. You have to build it for your own, others can only give you advices. There's no god no nothing that will walk your way. It must be done by your own feet.

Its like a gift. If you work for your money and buy something its more worthy for you than to get the same thing as a gift and without workin for it. (although i dont think goods can bring you happiness)

It makes it easier for you to see that its good that it takes time to learn breakdance. The harder it is, the more valuable it is in the end.

[Bboy airborn]

man i think ur a wanna be asian

[L4nce]

I was talkin about buddhism, not about to be asian.

[AgileAntics]

airborn..half your posts are completely ignorant..acting like you know everything won't get you shit..the more you post things like what you just said..the more people will overlook the things you say

"I think your a wana be asian"...what the fuck are you talking about..wether or not you believe/agree with what he posted what does that have to do with anything..you obviously didn't understand it..so you felt the need to try and bring it down

just don't post if your going to be an asshole about everything

[Bboy airborn]

it didn't have anything to do with the topic it was just a statement, saying hes a wannabe asian i mean i'm not talking about the buddism, but i just wanna to state that i mean look his avatar, chinese characters and this dude does zen buddism from what i hear and top of that he does kung fu, now i just wanted to say he was a wannabe asian thats all yes i'm cold hearted and i will probably to hell when i die, or if ur buddist like lance i'll become a ant, anyways yeah i understood his post but i just wanted to say what i thought about him

[L4nce]

wow. take it easy. both...

First, airborns statement is ok. He just expressed what he was thinking. So, if he's not in with what i wrote its ok to critisice it.

I'm not mad or something but i think you should ask before you judge some1. Actually my location says "Switzerland", does that mean i'm swiss ?
When i say i'm interested in Buddhism, does that mean i agree with it ?

You assume pretty much as you dont know me. The Asian Character you see as my avatar means something to me. You dont know my story so you can only assume why i got it. But i tell you this much, even it's not related to that topic. I can write / read Chinese simplified, so this is just a symbol for another word which would look stupid if written in our letters. I like it mystified. As you can tell from my writing as well...

Its ok to express your concerns, but next time, know the facts before judging anyone or anything. BEsides... i dont believe in reincarnation (although i'm not against it as well), so your thought with the ant, was also to early i think. Dont jump on some1's faith just for fun. I'm easy with it, since i know you didnt mean to take me down but just to defend yourself. And thats cool.

If you want to know anything about me. Ask and i'll awnser truthfully. If you wont take that time, dont judge me as i'm not judgin you in any way.

But please.. lets stick to the topic i dont want to get this discussion to, whom is right and whom not.

[STIFF_UK]

Wannabe asian? Bullshit.
Anyway - that's beside the point...

I have very mixed feelings about Buddhism.
The mental aspects of it are fascinating, and there really is a lot to it. However when it comes to the "there is no God" part - then it grates.

You see, the idea of letting go and just being it is great, I can actually relate to that, but other aspects just seem wrong.

[Bboy airborn]

what ur not mad? I've failed NOoOO