Butoh, Body Weather Laboratory and Karl Frost

Luck of the draw...

as it was put by my latest okc acquaintance. 

The world of Butoh and the discovery the body,emotion and soul through explorative and raw movement.

Disturbing... discomforting... unsettling...

the discomfort comes from the feeling of having witnessed someone on the brink between animal/human..

[it is] shamanic voyeurism...

the body, the flesh, the human on display

it is at once quite vulnerable, intimate, yet objectified

objectified because it is on display

abject because of our discomfort

I am utterly taken.

There isn't much to say at this point...I know nothing.

I am utterly taken.

As our conversation danced, she provided me with more and more to follow.

there's an offshoot called Body Weather Laboratory...created by a Butoh dancer who went into the farm to learn how to dance closer to the land/elements...his name is Min Tanaka..very worth you knowing, I think."

Min Tanaka:

"'...the body that measures the landscape, the body in intercourse with weather, the body kissing mass of peat, the body in love-death relation to the day. For me the dance has been a symbol of despair and courage.' This is the basis for his Body Weather Farm, a unique approach to communal living, working and creating."

Karl Frost:  "contact-based but taken to .. another level"

"He is devoted to.. reclaiming the joy of being in the body...a necessary part of the revolution against materialism."

I feel some sort of deep connection to all of this.

This is Taketeru Kudo

There is a Butoh workshop in San Francisco every Monday.

In addition, I've been invited to walk blind folded and barefoot on a beach somewhere in Marin.
How intriguing...I am drawn into the depths of the unknown.

"this thing is a curious place (okc)...who it churns out is somewhat of a rolling of dice..."

I totally agree.

Links:
Body Weather Laboratory
Karl Frost- Body Research
Wiki
Bay Area Butoh_FaceBook
Min Tanaka

Critical Analysis of Butoh
A Practice-Based Exploration of Butoh in Contemporary Performance and Performer Training

More Parkour and Freeruning

Wiki: Parkour

Ryan Doyle 2013 Parkour in Baku City

Pilates 2 the People in Oakland

Mat Pilates at 10:30 this Sunday morning.
It was awesome.



Sliding Scale $10-$18...pay what you can afford.

$125 a month for unlimited classes...

Farmer's Market on the weekends right close to the Ferry Landing.

Click on the image to check out they're site.

The Mind Tires Easily..

Making my daily walk out of the canyon yesterday, the great obviousness of its macrocosmic lessons dawned on me as I contemplated my existence yet again.

Riding. It always comes back to riding.

Riding has become my martial art. Truly. Within the phenomenon of this acrobatic endeavor lies the secrets of the lessons of life and potentially of existence, it seems.

More strategy as well as psychology concerning mountain biking/racing has revealed itself during my short time so far in my new office of employment, than in four years of riding and racing.

Such as:

A tired body is an exhausted mind.

The body follows the mind. Outside of actual physical breakdown, what seems to really tire is actually the mind itself.

Imagine five equally (physiologically) fit athletes on a 50-mile epic event (in this example we will call genetics all equal, which includes breakdown).

As the event progresses and each drives to out-race the other, their bodies break down accordingly and all tire.

But it seems that the condition of fatigue is bit premature in most cases. In the end the victor is he who the masters their mind, for it is the mind that commands where desire is concerned.

As the body goes through constant demands to perform, it is taken to its physical cap. Naturally there is a mechanism in the mind, likely in the older part of the brain, that normally governs how much - including how long - such demands will be tolerated, all based on the laws of self-preservation.

The mind interprets this as pain.

Thinking about all this as I raced up the high steps of the Kaibab Trail
I had to ask: Then what is pain?

Once I had thought that pain was another experience, as in something to be experienced.
But now it seems that it is actually just a label, for the only thing tangible is the sensation itself.

While hiking, I decided to observe the ever intensifying feeling of the legs filling with lead, simply as it was. It was reduced to the sensations of the individual muscles at work. So what seemed to be the legs working to an unsustainable limit was actually just the muscles working hard. That's it. Context and relationship were changed.

This so-called pain is really just a sensation, be it an intensely gross one, given a label.

When the phenomenon in question is reduced to what it really is, a mere sensation, then the question must then be reconfigured:

I feel tired...but what is tired? The body? Or is it the mind?

And what then does the mind tire of?

It grows weary of the constant bombardment of these sensations that are fueled by a greater drive.

Denied its desire to end its suffering, the mind creates a powerful aversion to the continuity of the physical act.

And because we identify our source of consciousness within the mind we perceive the body's supposed tiring as actual ruling reality.

The sensations themselves and their interpretations by the mind are two separate occurrences.

I seek the state of No-mind.

"I Think You're Afraid of Winning"

A good friend once told me,
"I think you're afraid of winning."

Competition. Every human by thier very connection to the animal kingdom exhibits the base qualities of this condition of survival. Fitness, right? Simultaneosly I have tried to embrace and reject this innate drive.

I have never thought of myself as a very competitive person, yet as long as I can remember in this lifetime I have shown the classic characteristics of being very much so.

Though strong characteristics seemed to have always been present, this way of being never meshed well within my psyche. Being competitive may have come naturally, but it always "felt" like I was "going against the grain."

This led to what seemed to be a primary condition to athletic performance below a predictable potential. The conditions for such scenarios orbit specifically around components that embody pressure, such as a race or even a ride with a person who may fulfill certain criteria of superiority.

Though the awareness of this internal struggle existed, the absence of understanding it obstructed the path to a solution and the ability to perform unconditionally at the highest personal potential physically, mentally and most importantly, spiritually.

The great sages of time have all said the same thing.
Only one sin: ignorance.

And so one of this life's conundrums asks again to be solved.

Today during the last class of Motorcycle Safety Course, the following subtlety spontaneously came to awareness:

In Truth, it is not the drive for competition, but the inspiration given me by my brother, with whom I share this moment, that encourages the drive to facilitate the manifestation for Excellence!

I claim no understanding still. I will however, in this new light, embrace the connection to my neighbor as we ride, be it on a trail or at a "race," for we as a group strive for Excellence in the endeavor at hand, whose truth lies in the essence of the Divine Father.

In order to aspire, one must first be inspired.