The Complete Relaxation Book by James Hewitt

Author:James Hewitt
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Ebury Publishing
Published: 2012-12-04T16:00:00+00:00

HARA, OR BELLY WISDOM

On the principle that outer influences inner, just as inner influences outer, poised posture has a prominent place in Eastern culture. This is particularly true of Japanese culture, in which there is considerable Zen influence.

Poised posture has an essential role in the practice of such arts as calligraphy, ink painting, pottery, puppetry, Noh acting, the tea ceremony and flower arranging. It is also basic to such sports (and arts) as archery, aikido, judo, kendo (swordsmanship) and sumo wrestling.

Sitting in poised posture is the physical basis for the practice of meditation in Zen and in other schools of Buddhism, and is almost the whole of meditation in one school of Zen, the Soto.

For right posture to play its full role it has to serve right inner posture, a Zen attitude based on full awareness of the present moment, mindfulness, spontaneity, mental clarity, the healthful interplay of positive and negative, yang and yin forces in the body, with no interference from the petty ego-self with its thoughts of success and failure, profit and loss.

Posture and breathing in Japanese culture and in meditation are linked with the concept and practice known as hara.

Hara is the Japanese word for ‘belly’, but has a significance that goes far beyond the literal meaning. Philip Kapleau, in Zen: Dawn in the West, says:

In Zen, the hara – or more correctly the tanden, which is specifically the lower abdomen – is recognized as the body-mind’s vital centre, and by learning to focus the mind there and to radiate all one’s activities from that region, one develops greater mental and physical equilibrium and a reserve of energy.

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