How to Put Out a Candle
[I:http://mymartialartsblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/AlCase14.jpg]One of the less spectacular feats in the martial arts, and yet one of the most important, is putting out a candle. Interestingly, it is simple, almost anyone can put out a candle with just a little bit of practice. Also interesting is the fact that as that is where most people stop, with the simple accomplishment being able to do it once, that is where they should begin their study, for doors are about to be opened.
The basic principle of putting out a candle is to let the woosh of air drain oxygen from the flame by stopping your fist an inch from the candle. There is much higher ability available, however, if one continues to pursue this simple trick. One can, for instance, put out a flame from across the room.
When you stop the fist you are learning to focus your muscles, and thus it is on a physical level. To pursue the technique to a higher level you must not concentrate stopping the muscles, but on letting the mind go. By letting the mind go you unloose your intention, and that is the key to real higher ability.
Try focusing your punch a few inches from the candle. The flame is not bothered because there is too much distance involved. Now, relax and intend the flame to go out, this is the intention that you must build.
Actually, it is better to start this second stage of training at about a foot, although you may have to experiment, even up to a dozen feet or more, to find the distance that is best for developing your intention. When you flick the fist you must watch the candle. Do not watch it hard, but rather increase your relaxation. Relaxation is the key to making this trick work.
Your real body is not the flesh envelope you are wearing, your real body is the bubble of world that you perceive. Thus, you must break free of the desire to improve the flesh, and concentrate on the desire to alter the things that you perceive outside your body. And perceptions, at least the kind necessary to put out a candle across a room, work best through space.
Through space, a vacuum, nothingness, emptiness. Not air, or even brick or wood, or other things which, though they appear real, are merely ideas held in place to support the idea of your real body.
To most people what I have said here is usually an alien concept, and it even frightens some, for it strikes to the heart of the matter of our existence in the cosmos. Our existence in the cosmos aside, that nothingness in which we place the universe is the most important thing…behind the structure of the universe. So still the mind until it is as peaceful as a coal mine at midnight, and practice launching your certain and relaxed intention, and a few dozen hours practice will enable you to see what I am talking about.
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