Popular forms of toning exercises, such as yoga and qigong, along with modern martial arts, are based on repetition and memorization of forms. The approach fits well with our civilized training to be mind-centered and lead repetitive task-based lives.
We are designed to function differently, as we evolved in the natural world, where nearly every movement is an adaptation to an ever-changing environment. Such movement does not originate in the mind, and we cannot rely upon memory to execute it. Rather, we must be in communion with the life around us and attuned to its collective consciousness. We are then able to remain centered and move in a coordinated fashion, ever observing and analyzing as we adapt and adjust like a bough to the breeze.
In such a state, we are fully alive—a functioning organ within an organism. We can carry on a continual dialogue with all that surrounds us. No longer just creatures trained to execute cause-and-effect responses, we begin to see new options presenting themselves. Looking around and through situations at hand, we can reformulate them and come up with creative solutions.
Even more importantly, we’ll find that situations will often evaporate. The energies at play are then freed of their structures and lose their identities, and we can align ourselves with them. We will then know the Zen—the essence—of all forms and movements.