solsticio de invierno lunar eclipse

This winter solstice was 'brightened' by a Lunar Eclipse. Apparently the first such for about 2000 years.

Chen Style Sword - 49 Form [cuatro]

Pluck the Stars and Change the Constellations * Scoop Up the Moon from the Bottom of the Sea * The Immortal Points the Way * The Phoenix Nods Its Head * The Swallow Pecks the Soil * The White Snake spits out Its Tongue

Chen Style Sword - 49 Form [tres]

* The Black Bear Rolls Over Its Back * The Swallow Pecks the Soil * The White Snake spits out Its Tongue * Slant Flying * The Eagle and the Bear Vie with Their Wits * The Swallow Pecks the Soil

Chen Style Sword - 49 form [dos]

* nod the head * pull the grass in search of the snake * the golden cock stands alone * the immortal points the way * cover and block * the ancient tree entwines the roots * the hungry tiger attacks the food * the blue dragon sways its tail * the wild horse leaps over the brook * the white snake thrusts its tongue * the black dragon sways its tail * Zhong Kwei wields the sword * the Arahat subdues the dragon

Chen Style Sword - 49 form [uno]

preparatory form * opening posture * homage to the sun * the immortal points the way * the blue dragon comes out of the water * protect the knees * close the door * turn around and chop downwards * the blue dragon turns over *xie fei shi - slant flying * spread the wings

Happy Chinese New Year, Spring Festival, Lunar New Year

Here we are looking forward to restarted growth, renewed energy, positive thinking,
looking the tiger in the mouth: I keep reminding myself that "It is not enough to begin
doing something. You have also to persevere, until you finish doing it."

So, keeping up the practice ...

Once In A Blue Moon,

you get to visit a place you wanted to visit for a while back and it's surprisingly different in some respect to what you expected: Collioure at the winter solstice for example.

Once In A Blue Moon ,

you may walk by the willows and enjoy

Once In A Blue Moon,

I appear here, 3 yellow willows surviving the new works, a white anteroom is painted afresh and pictures hung, some old, some new. Plans are crystallising for next trip, our first to Venice.

It's a grand day when you ...

paint a picture

help a friend

sink and relax

practise forms and ba juan jin

replant your rosemarys to roomier, classier pots

Seeing Colour

Our colour vision developed a long time ago to enable our ancestors to identify the newer shoots. Two books, "The Making of the Fittest", By Sean B Carroll and Neil Shubin's "Your Inner Fish", both of which I read with much interest last year, make this point.

My next photo is showing an exerpt from the former, which interest me as one of the 8% mentioned, having difficulty with reds and greens, but not always. However, I'd probably fail on a navigation test!

At 8 pm

al aire libre, de nuevo

A walk in the aroma of "coconut"

"a magic dwells in each new beginning" - HH

Zen proverb: Enlightenment

"Before Enlightenment: chop wood, carry water. After Enlightenment: chop wood, carry water." So straight-forward, so simple.

Zee

"I do like to be beside the seaside,
Oh, I do like to be beside the sea ...", I was humming to myself the other day, walking on the beach, when I came across these lines in the sand:

The moon, at this point, was ebbing the tide, and so the interface had moved away from where the child(?) had drawn the pointer.

the sun hung lowest

The sun hung lowest at my place at 12:04 yesterday. Here's what it looked like at Drom Beag two years ago.

separate right foot

I’m always grateful after class. I enjoy going to share in the practice with others. It's good to synchronise my movements with those of my classmates. I find this gives me a feeling of being energised and relaxed at the same time.

When teaching class I’m thankful each time for the opportunity to deepen my own practice as I’m demonstrating the details of the form for the first time to a learner.

Lately it has been Separate Right Foot. Stepping back from Golden Rooster Standing On Right Leg, forming the ward-offs, transferring the weight, crossing the hands, turning the waist, kicking, arms unfolding “as do the edges of an opening fan”, exerting no strength from the shoulders. Wonderful!

standing like a mountain

taichi: standing like a mountain or standing like a tree on the slopes of a mountainside looking out over the ocean. We try to cultivate this rather than resisting purposely. Becoming rooted is the key.