Sky Eye Gong Pt 5

It was another fascinating Sky Eye seminar. You can see how all of the movements relate to developing the Sky Eye, but as Sifu said in the lecture developing our Sky Eye is part of our overall health. We should try to see everything as one; if we look at all of the skills in the Centre we can see that Taiji Quan can look gentle but it is a martial art, Dayan Qigong is for health but it has martial forms, like Dayan Fist and even Dayan sword, and Chun Yuen Quan looks very martial but we practise it to improve our health. So every skill has internal and external, the colour orange can have many shades but it is still orange. People think that because Taiji Quan looks soft and slow that therefore it is internal, but it is a martial art, so it has both. What makes a skill have an internal side (something that is often missing from Western sport) is that they all incorporate relaxation, moving with the whole body from the Dantian, and connecting the breathing so that your blood and Qi circulation will be stronger, you will feel warm, your internal organs will be soft and healthy and you will have more energy. Of course we will also have meditation as part of our training and this is more internal because we are not moving, but we must consider both sides, so movement is also important.

With respect to developing our Sky Eye Sifu suggests that it is a good idea to keep a notebook and record what you notice, then you can see how your Sky Eye develops. You can note anything unusual, especially if you suddenly think about someone or you have a strong feeling about something. Sometimes you won’t know why at the time. When I was visiting my Sifu last time he said that I should stay for some watermellon otherwise he would puncture my tyre. It was a very strange thing to say and I didn’t know what to make of it, but of course I stayed and had some watermelon! When I got home I discovered I had a flat tyre! I had driven a long way so it must have happened close to home. If I had paid more attention maybe I would have checked my tyres thoroughly before leaving or noticed a bit sooner when it happened, but mostly I’m just thankful I didn’t have an accident. It is important to be aware of unusual things and to trust your intuition, especially as you develop your Sky Eye more.