_Simon_
Senior Master
Heya guys, a few months ago I did my contribution to a particular martial arts organisation zine. I'm really so happy with what came out here, and something I hope to embody in this rough time, and thought I would share it here.
It's a drawing of how I see Sanchin kata; very much a kata that teaches principles of grounding, rootedness, alignment throughout the body, moving always from your centre (and returning to it), and projection of energy from a stable base and foundation.
This is how I feel when I do the form haha, and it was only really after a particular session with someone on this that this kata changed completely for me, and took on a whole new life. Every time I do it now, it has elements of this feeling.
It very much reminds me of a tree, and of the earth-man-heaven idea. The art is very much Celtic-inspired in theme (been obsessed with it haha), but lots of different symbology in the pic haha. I've had such a reverence and fondness of trees, and love that they are firmly grounded in their foundation, have a central point, but also reach out into the infinite, towards the sky. Something so incredibly beautiful about that... this sort of vertical alignment and being like an antenna moving through life rather than a horizontal time-based being is really fascinating...
Sanchin translates to "three battles" or "three conflicts", and speaks to what seems initially like a battle between these three aspects, but really to me it's about recognising the interplay, and bringing into and seeing the unification of "mind, body and spirit". Many other themes of "3" too haha.
I enjoyed so very much every time I would delve into drawing this... I felt like any sense of creativity was stripped away over the last few years, but this has really gotten me back in touch with it and it's so very joyful to draw and create again and to reclaim this. I did an extra placard as I felt a bunch of words on the piece would utterly and irreverently butcher it haha.
But anyway, wanted to share this piece which came from my heart.
It's a drawing of how I see Sanchin kata; very much a kata that teaches principles of grounding, rootedness, alignment throughout the body, moving always from your centre (and returning to it), and projection of energy from a stable base and foundation.
This is how I feel when I do the form haha, and it was only really after a particular session with someone on this that this kata changed completely for me, and took on a whole new life. Every time I do it now, it has elements of this feeling.
It very much reminds me of a tree, and of the earth-man-heaven idea. The art is very much Celtic-inspired in theme (been obsessed with it haha), but lots of different symbology in the pic haha. I've had such a reverence and fondness of trees, and love that they are firmly grounded in their foundation, have a central point, but also reach out into the infinite, towards the sky. Something so incredibly beautiful about that... this sort of vertical alignment and being like an antenna moving through life rather than a horizontal time-based being is really fascinating...
Sanchin translates to "three battles" or "three conflicts", and speaks to what seems initially like a battle between these three aspects, but really to me it's about recognising the interplay, and bringing into and seeing the unification of "mind, body and spirit". Many other themes of "3" too haha.
I enjoyed so very much every time I would delve into drawing this... I felt like any sense of creativity was stripped away over the last few years, but this has really gotten me back in touch with it and it's so very joyful to draw and create again and to reclaim this. I did an extra placard as I felt a bunch of words on the piece would utterly and irreverently butcher it haha.
But anyway, wanted to share this piece which came from my heart.
