Flying Lessons

The first time that I saw Jet Lis film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (in a little theatre in Boulder, Colorado) I wept, fairly continuously, for about the first thirty minutes, and after that sat enraptured, amazed & deeply grateful for the beauty, power & truth that I felt being emanated from the film. Two days later I returned, for my second viewing. By the third time (all week-day matinees: cheaper & less crowded), the theatre clerks & I exchanged amused glances of recognition. By about the fifth time I was definitely feeling sheepish, if not downright embarrassed, by what I imagined was being perceived as clearly-addictive behavior. But I didnt care! I saw the film, over the course of about a month, no fewer than seven times. Each viewing revealed some new wonder, some previously-unnoticed level of meaning, or just an exquisite detail, that my eyes, ears & heart hungrily consumed.

And what was the cause, in this film (and later also in the re-made Hero) for my tears & rapture? For drawing someone who doesnt even really watch many movies, back like this, again & again, almost magnetically? Its a bit hard to articulate, though what I can say is that there was something being portrayed ~ in both of these films ~ with which I resonated so deeply, that at a soul- & cell-level I recognized, which so rarely, in this culture, is portrayed. It felt like coming home. Particularly powerful for me were the fight scenes: not for the conflict that was being enacted (I actually have an aversion to violence, per se), but rather for the fluidity & lightness ~ the Mastery of physical movement ~ that was being so beautifully demonstrated. Some who I spoke to about the film considered these scenes merely fanciful, a kind of science fiction that perhaps had been taken to an extreme ... but for me those scenes were ~ at long last ~ portraying a reality, something the very fibers of my being understood to be not only a possible, but also in many ways a preferable way of being-in-a-human-body. There was and is a knowing that: Yes ~ Flying is possible!

Now this love affair with movement-as-flight, with enlightenment expressed as human form & movement, has been with me for a while: As a child I adored the graceful connections between Terry Bradshaw & Lynn Swann; Later, Michael Jordan became my all-time hero. Then it was Bruce Lee. On a number of occasions Ive felt my life to be transformed by the performance of dancers: Mikhail Baryshnikov (who I saw in person for the first time when he was in his fifties, and stunning!), David Parsons (whose magical piece Caught still resonates inside of me), Diego Pinon (a Butoh Master, whose sensual & organic explorations of human movement opened within me whole new realms of possibility re: intimacy & empowered vulnerability). Each year that Ive lived in Boulder Ive watched the world-class runners in the Bolder Boulder 10k race, and noticed how the winners (in recent years, Kenyans) most often have broken through their intense effort into a level of ease, of rapture, of something clearly beyond the physical ... In the realm of yoga asana, Richard Freeman has expressed this same level of power, grace & fluidity. Among the Tibetan Lamas that Ive encountered, it has been Mingyur Rinpoche whose light-filled physical presence has inspired this same level of appreciation for the kind of intelligence (genius, really) that can be manifest through & as a human body. To all of these beings (and countless others whove accomplished something similar): a deep bow of gratitude.

So how does this happen? This appearance and/or experience of flight? This transformation of a seemingly-dense human body into something capable of such magical displays?

As a starting-point for this exploration, it might be useful to learn a bit about the principles of fluid mechanics which create the aerodynamic force of lift in an airplane ... for perhaps the key to our own flight as yoga or qigong practitioners lies in the emulation of these physical characteristics. First, know that air, just like water, is ~ in terms of the (Newtonian) physical & mathematical principles to which it adheres ~ considered to be a fluid. Know also that lift can only be generated when a fluid is in motion. So, for instance, a wing must be passing through the air or the air must be moving around a stationary wing (or both) in order for lift to happen.

Most of the lift in an airplane is generated by its wings, and specifically by the way air flows around wings of a particular shape. What we notice about most airplane wings is that, when viewed edge-on, their upper surfaces are curved (convex) and their lower surfaces are flatter. As air moves around a wing of this shape, the air that goes over the curved upper surface undergoes two important changes: (1) it is reduced in pressure (by the centrifugal force of flowing across the curved surface); and (2) it is accelerated downward (as it leaves the trailing edge of the wing). The wing is then forced into the region of reduced air pressure above the upper surface of the wing by the higher air pressure beneath the wing; and the downward acceleration of the air at the trailing edge also forces the wing upward. Since lift is dependant on the motion of the air, it increases as the speed of the air increases. Lift also increases, to a point, as the angle that the wing makes with the airflow increases (past a certain point, however, an increased angle will cause the wing to suddenly lose its lifting ability).

So how, in the context of a physical practice such as yoga asana or qigong, might we emulate the qualities that give lift to an airplane? Lets explore ... Creating or energizing physical structures which have the same shape as an airplane wing is something we certainly can play with: If I extend my arms out from my shoulders, like wings, I can cup my palms slightly, away from the floor, and at the same time deepen my armpits, while allowing my shoulders, biceps & the top part of my hands to feel puffed upward. In this way Ive created a shape similar to the shape of an airplane wing. And as it turns out, there are many other places in my body where Im able to create suction-cup-like structures, which will act to generate lift in this same way, when met with flow: the soles of my feet; my pelvic floor, my thoracic diaphragm, & the roof of my mouth, to name just a few.

Now that Ive created these structures which have the potential to give me lift when met with a flow of air, the next question becomes: how do I create a flow of air? I could, of course, go outside in a high wind, and see what happens ... But as yoga practitioners we like at least at times to practice indoors, and at all times for the practice to be moving in the direction of being internal, of being something that doesnt depend too heavily on external conditions. Luckily, our pranic bodies, like air and water, operate in many ways like fluids. Whats even more fortunate is that we can utilize the basic yoga/qigong principle prana follows citta (qi follows mind/intention) to create the high wind (high vibration) conditions that will ~ in combination with our wing-like structures ~ give us lift (transform matter into light, structure into flow). To do this, I simply imagine that Im facing a high wind (or standing waist-high in a fast-moving creek, facing up-stream) ... Its as simple as that. Then tilt your wings (and all those little suction-cups) slightly upward (into the on-coming wind or water), feel the upper surfaces of your body being drawn into the low-pressure areas above you, and feel yourself becoming lighter: little by little (or perhaps all at once) taking flight! (At this level of practice, what youll also discover is that remaining heavy in your heels, sitting-bones & coccyx actually supports the feeling of lightness of the body as a whole, particularly along its central axis ... Its kind of a paradox!)

So thats a way of working in the direction of flying which takes as starting-points: (1) our conventionally-perceived bodies (a collection of muscles, bones, organs, etc.); as well as (2) our habitual identification with our bodies (I am my body so what it means for me to fly is for this physical body to do more-or-less what an airplane does). And this can be an interesting and useful exploration.

What can also be interesting is to begin by challenging these basic assumptions, for instance by thinking: To the extent that Im currently perceiving my body as something solid, to this extent Im still caught in wrong views, in delusion. (And creating my yoga practice on the foundation of these wrong views is the equivalent, say, of building a philosophical argument upon a set of faulty axioms/assumptions.) What might happen if I begin instead with the assumption (adopt the view) that my body is of the nature of light, color & sound (like a rainbow)? Or that my body is of the nature of space, like the sky itself (am I then always already flying)? That instead of being continuous through time, my body is being created anew in each second (pulsing in & out of existence)? Or wondering: If the belief that I am this body is the basis of all suffering, and I somehow now let go of or at least soften around that belief ... If I am no longer identified with this physical body, then what might it mean for me to fly? (Who or what is it thats flying, if not this physical body?) I dont have the answers to any of these questions, but do feel very curious ...

What I do know is that many of us have had dreams of flying. In my own dreams of this sort, Im almost always flying in/as a body which looks just like my waking-state body. (There are Tibetan dream yoga practices in which we train in transforming our body into many different shapes ... so, for instance, we might choose to assume the form of a bird, or an airplane, to do our flying ... or might transform our body into the body of a particular deity, and simply hover in space in that form, or fly around with our consorts ...) What I notice in these flying dreams is that it is my intention (mind, will) that is the pilot, i.e. its via my thoughts (or mental body) that I choose the course of my flight. And how this takes a certain relaxed focus, which at times is quite precise & effective, and at other times less so. (Sometimes I crash-land.) And then I wake, and think: Ive just been dreaming of flying!

Now there is the story ~ perhaps youve heard it already ~ of the Taoist sage Chuang Tzu, who dreamed he was a butterfly, but then woke to discover again that he was a man. But then he wondered: now is it true that Im a man who has just dreamt that he was a butterfly, or am I really a butterfly who is now dreaming that Im a man?

Just something to consider, as you continue your research & practice of (yogic and/or mechanical) flying ... Om Shanti.

Elizabeth Reninger holds Masters degrees in Sociology & Chinese Medicine, is a published poet, and has been exploring Yoga - in its Taoist, Buddhist & Hindu varieties - for more than twenty years. Her practice has been inspired by Mingyur Rinpoche, Richard Freeman & Eva Wong. For more yoga-related writing & resources, please visit her website "Alchemy Of The East" at: http://www.writingup.com/blog/elizabeth_reninger

Yoga Mat With Design

The American Side of Niagara Falls, An Overlooked Gem

When most people visit Niagara Falls, they often head straight for the Canadian Side of the falls. Just across the Niagara River, in the United States, are some too-often-overlooked attractions and views of these majestic wonders. In the USA, one would be hard-pressed to differentiate Niagara Falls, New York from any other small upstate town. Aside from a small collection of hotels and attractions around the falls, and the towering Seneca Niagara Casino, the American side of the falls has little to distinguish itself as one of the most-visited vacation destinations in the country. It is only until visitors approach almost the brink of the falls themselves where they see that the American side has many wonders to behold.

Niagara Falls State Park
The United States part of Niagara Falls is in the Niagara Falls State Park (sometimes called "New York State Park" or "Niagara Reservation State Park"). Started in 1885, the park is the oldest state park in the United States. It was landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted who was one of the initiators and designers of the Niagara Falls State Park but he is better known for another creation: New York City's Central Park.

The Niagara Falls State Park manages and operates many of the attractions on this side of the falls. The park encompasses all of the American Falls, Bridal Veil Falls, Goat Island (and surrounding islands), and about one third of Horseshoe Falls. Although the park itself is open year-round, including the Visitors Center, most of the attractions are seasonal and thus off-season adventures offer less direct activity with the falls.

The Visitors Center features general information about the falls, including a snack bar and gift shop. The large garden outside is maintained seasonally. Also in the Visitors Center is the Festival Theater, a year-round attraction which features the 1999 History Channel movie, "Niagara Falls: A History of the Falls."

While most Niagara Falls visitors will agree that the Canadian side of the falls is superior, with better views of all that great water, a distinct advantage to the American side is interestingly enough much closer access to the falls themselves, by actually standing "on top" of them (plus, visitors get a great view of Canada!).

Goat Island
Goat Island is the piece of land that separates Bridal Veil Falls from Horseshoe Falls. Accessible by car and part of the Niagara Falls State Park, Goat Island has an interesting location. From here, visitors can see rapids up close, which lead to the American / Bridal Veil Falls and Horseshoe Falls. It is additionally the location of several of the parks best attractions. Though the island is big, because of its location and the surrounding hostile waters, it is slowly eroding and will eventually disappear as the three Niagara Falls move upstream over many years. Goat Island is where several of the Niagara Falls State Park attractions are located, including Cave of the Winds. Shuttles take visitors around Goat Island and throughout the park, but there are additionally many walking paths, benches, and scenic vistas on which to stroll around endlessly.

Luna Island
Luna Island is the tiny island that separates the Bridal Veil Falls from the American Falls. It is accessible on foot, but no cars are allowed (the island is so small, more than a few cars wouldnt fit, anyway). The walkway to Luna Island is on Goat Island. The walk to Luna Island is worth it, as it situates you in between two waterfalls, which is an unusual place to be.

American Rapids
The rapids approaching the American Falls visible only on the American side, roar through the middle of the park and around the several small islands before toppling over the brink of the American Falls. The rapids reach speeds of up to 25 miles per hour. At night, they may be illuminated with bright spotlights for a more unusual view.

Terrapin Point
Horseshoe Falls is bordered on the Canadian side by Table Rock Point, and on the American side by Terrapin Point. Here, visi-tors can feel the mist of Horseshoe Falls as they look across the gorge at Canada. More remote than Table Rock Point, Terrapin Point has great views of the Canadian Fallsview resort sections, and the mist here can be just as powerful as Table Rock, if the conditions are right.

Cave of the Winds
The curious name of this quintessential attraction is misleading. Cave of the Winds is not a cave, but rather a walkway that leads visitors over to the base of Bridal Veil Falls the smallest of the three Niagara Falls. The attraction, however, used to be a cave. Named after the Aeolus, Greek God of Wind, it stood behind Bridal Veil Falls and was a popular tourist spot as early as the 1800s. The earliest tourists had to climb down a rope, and eventually a staircase, to reach the cave. However, there were occasionally cave-ins, which killed or injured tourist. It was intentionally destroyed in 1955 because it was in danger of collapsing.

Visitors are given a poncho and special footwear prior to commencing the hour-long adventure. In groups, they are led with a tour guide down an elevator to near the base of Bridal Veil Falls. From there, they walk on a wooden walkway to what has been dubbed the "Hurricane Deck" the closest accessible point to the falls. It is at this point where visitors get positively soaked, sometimes even more than on Maid of the Mist. Ice makes the attraction largely inaccessible in the winter, and also requires the decks to be completely re-built each year a process which can take weeks.

Observation Tower
Located just beyond the Visitors Center in the Niagara Falls State Park, the Observation Tower is the best place in the United States to view the American and Horseshoe Falls. The tower extends out a little bit from the mainland, but still does not come close to the spectacular views from the Canadian side of the falls. Still, the tower offers a very different point of view than the one most visitors are used to. Also, there is a Maid of the Mist dock at the Observation Tower. When boarding here, the tour encompasses basically the same experience. However, near the dock, there is (when weather permits) a path where visitors can walk up next to the American Falls kind of like the Cave of the Winds, but free, and you dont get as wet.

Whirlpool State Park
Located on the American side of the Whirlpool Rapids area, the Whirlpool State Park is a hearty adventurers place. Here, a crude cement staircase makes a long descent into the Great Gorge, down to nearly the water level of the rapids. For those who dont wish to make the difficult descent, there is still the perfect place for picnics and play on the upper level, with great views of the whirlpool and rapids.

Dirk Vanderwilt is the author of several travel guidebooks for the Tourist Town Guides series. Tourist Town Guides offer independent, honest advice about America's top tourist hotspots.

For more information, visit http://www.touristtown.com

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Abstraction And The Dreaming Extraordinary

For all energy and beauty of the body, all sureness and boldness of the sword, but also all genuineness and ingenuity of the understanding, are grounded in the spirit, and they rise or fall only according to the correct power or powerlessness of the spirit. spirit is what sustains and rules, and first and the last, not merely indispensable third element

-Heidegger in the fundamental questions of metaphysics

Non-figurative art shows that art is not the expression of the appearance of reality such as we see it, nor of the life which we live, but that it is expression of true reality and true lifeindefinable but realizable in plastics.-Mondrian

It is now a fact that in culture almost every thing is politicized, organized, structuralized and has lost its generic value. In arts there is always a danger of to be politicized especially in fine art, cinema, and theater since these art forms are most prone to it because of these being most communicative languages. And when a theory of exploitation is in existence which sees language as a tool for repression and exploitation than one must take precaution. Another danger is from capitalism who do consider art as a product to be produced mechanically so far they could do business and create more and more capital. Not satisfied by what they do earn from industrial production they want to make quick money from art works and not in open market rather in virtual field i.e. in auction mechanism.

These both trends will do no good to artists and art. Artist community should be aware of these dangerous trends in order to rescue the spirit of art. In fine art, abstract art genre faces no danger from political side since its power of communication is very limited but for figurative art this danger is looming large and we have seen how Husain, Nalini Malani, Arpita Singh and many other Indian modern artists has been corrupted and their consciousness has been purchased. Husain is captured by the above said both specters; first he was corrupted politically than purchased in 100 million by an industrialist thus having lost his consciousness of freedom, the very condition of to be modern he is finished.

This danger of being exploited is most critical question than an attack from a fascist regime. You can easily face the enemy if he comes in open but an enemy who is insider and have camouflaged, not easily identified than it would be tough to defeat that enemy. Fascism no doubt is our enemy but most important enemy is that one in which these all political singularities like liberal parties, pseudo Marxist parties etc. are interknitted. This enemy is identified as capitalism, in india it is feudalist-capitalism characterized by non progressiveness.

On this juncture of history no philosophy of reason can save the most sublime aspect of humanity i.e. culture. But art have that spirit since it had always fought against these forces. Those art forms which represent appearances figuratively, or narrate in a visual language had always been victim of political. However there were artists; who in figurative genre did something remarkable and immortal. Starting with Da Vinci Leonardo we have Matisse, Cezanne, Vincent Van Gauge, Paul Gauguin, Henri Moor, and Brankusi, who were engaged in creating something new other than appearances.

They wanted to transcend empirical reality, more correctly they wanted to separate art work from it since they believed that by doing so they will be able to create a second nature. This is why for these masters artworks are answers to their own questions of art. These artists were advocates of autonomy of art. Without autonomy art can not be creative as for as creativity is concerned. This question of autonomy is very important today since some political minded artists want to politicize art. The danger of loss of autonomy is not only from political side, it is also from them who want to convert art in industry and art work as an industrial production.

Artists should realize their responsibility sincerely in order to create something new. Art is not production. Art work inaugurates the truth; act of art is inaugural not political or declarations nor appeals nor interpretations of history, as we see today. In fine art only abstract art has the possibility to take a leap from the all hitherto subjects of representation because it is only available form of visual language other than philosophy which can think and take a leap. Being inaugural abstraction has no purpose other than itself i.e. completion of work in progress.

work in progress is the very field where abstraction finds its horizon, its immanence. Abstract painting is not made; it is inaugurated in the process. This process is subjectively mediated but objectively accomplished. Abstract painting says nothing other than itself. It is poem, a visual poem but without meaning. To belong to the language of abstraction, means that we disappear in to the event of painting.

In Indian modern art context there are few masters who give us hope today. Today many abstract artists are producing designs in the name of abstract art; they dont understand the demand of abstraction except market demand. They are selling abstract art in the name of spiritual art though they dont know what is spiritual. These artists are mostly from a recently born school called Bhopal school of which there is a pope ( not naming now ) and a sanrakshak artist. This school follows Raza since sometime he promotes them and distributes them Raza award. They are religious-spiritual in their tone and language.

I have come across many artists who are cleverly using religious words and terminology as a title for their paintings though they have never come across those philosophical concepts. Abstract artist should not identify abstraction with religion since abstraction is a modern concept of art. It may or may not be necessarily spiritual and mystical; abstraction is just going beyond empirical reality, it is transcendental. This is why it is more concerned with philosophico- mysticism than religious.

In india abstraction has become religious; it has lost its philosophical flavor. The most important abstractionists in india like Raza, Gaitonde, Sohan qadri, G.R.Santosh, O.P.Sharma., KC.S.Pannikar, J.Swaminathan (before initiated in Vedanta swami was materialist) etc are religious abstractionists. They do associate themselves with religions and religious mysticism. Though it is not bad concept regarding abstraction (if one really understands religious consciousness) yet it dilutes artists consciousness because of which they do not really experiences the real ecstasy of artistic creation.

Abstraction as an experience itself; an experience in which one discloses him self into work of art is what is described by modern masters and aestheticians as an act of abstraction. In Kandinskyan sense too, Abstraction is the seeking of the inner by the way of the outer means through work in progress one opens himself. Abstract art work is spiritual only through the negation; it speaks the language of neti neti. Abstraction gives freedom to negate but it is not nihilism; it crates something out of nothingness but at the same time this something is not about something. It is that something itself, it is self sufficient entity: it is a work of art. This is why it is autonomous entity and demands autonomy for its existence.

From this point of view Abstraction is not considered as a genre rather as another form of expression within visual language. And it must be considered as such because this is the only platform from where one can take a flight. This is its relevant today when art has been considered political if not social. When postmodernism as a philosophy of life is knocking our doors and pursuing us through communication industry to indulge in a sheer material pleasure by declaring the demise of subject itself; the theory of abstraction becomes more important. Abstraction is most revolutionary of all art forms because it defies rationalist challenges and gives hope to humanity. Mans manliness is not only the gratification of desires rather to discover his being. See what Heidegger says in his poem -

At first take the last glow of blessing

from the dark hearth of be-ing

that it may kindle the countering:

godship-human kind is one.

Through the distress of bold clearing

Between the world and the earth as song

To inaugurate all things

In joyful thanks to accord and rank.

Shelter in word the silent message

Of a leap over the large and small

And lose the empty findings

Of a sudden semblance on the way to be-ing.

Author is an art critic and writer of three books 'contemporizing Buddha', ' Hindu Tantra Yoga' and 'Concerning The spiritual In Art-an Indian modern art perspective'. He has been awarded with 'Lalit kala Academy Scholarship Award' for art criticism in 2005. Currently working on a book 'Buddhist tantra yoga'. He lives and works in Delhi india.

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