Peter Ralston - Zen body-being: an enlightened approach to physical skill, grace, and power

OTHER BOOKS BY PETER RALSTON

Cheng Hsin: The Principles of Effortless Power

Cheng Hsin Tui Shou: The Art of Effortless Power

Ancient Wisdom, New Spirit

Reflections of Being

Copyright 2006 by Peter Ralston and Laura Ralston. All rights reserved. No portion of this book, except for brief review, may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photo-copying, recording, or otherwisewithout written permission of the publisher. For information contact Frog Books c/o North Atlantic Books.

Published by Frog Books

Frog Books publications are distributed by
North Atlantic Books
P.O. Box 12327
Berkeley, California 94712

Cover Ayelet Maida, A/M Studios

Zen Body-Being is sponsored by the Society for the Study of Native Arts and Sciences, a nonprofit educational corporation whose goals are to develop an educational and cross-cultural perspective linking various scientific, social, and artistic fields; to nurture a holistic view of arts, sciences, humanities, and healing; and to publish and distribute literature on the relationship of mind, body, and nature.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Ralston, Peter, 1949
Zen body-being : an enlightened approach to physical skill, grace, and power / by Peter Ralston; with Laura Ralston.
p. cm.
Summary: Martial master and consciousness guru Peter Ralston translates his body-being work into a physical education for anyone interested in the body. Teaching a simple Zen mindset that expands our awareness of mind, body, and interaction, he leads us to new possibilities in awareness, skill, and effortless powerProvided by publisher.
eISBN: 978-1-58394-432-5
1. Martial artsPsychological aspects. 2. Martial artsPhilosophy.
I. Ralston, Laura. II. Title.
GV1102.7.P75R34 2006
796.80129dc22

2006008408

v3.1

East-West Journal, November 1979:

1978 was the first time that a non-Asian had ever won the World Championship full-contact martial arts tournament held in China. Peter Ralston not only won the tournament, but did so with an ease and grace that brought comment from the other participants. Afterward, when he said he had no plans to continue in competition, he was asked why he had participated. This was his response:

I did it for two reasons. It was to complete something, and to begin something new. The completion was letting go of having to prove myself. Beginning something new started by acquiring recognition. One of the fundamental reasons I fought in a world tournament is that I ask people to do unconventional things, to actually question and understand themselves. I want people to listen to me, to open up to what Im saying. Winning this world tournament was done so that I could say: I did it. What Im teaching you is functional. It works. Now people listen to me who wouldnt before, yet Im saying the same things.

Peter and I come from two completely different worlds, which is probably good news for anyone about to read this book. My husband has a unique way of communicating about his work. Hes intent on saying exactly whats true, which is probably why his communications can produce what we call experiential understanding in both the body-being and consciousness work.

In workshops, Peter has a certain intensity of presence that seems to help get across the many new distinctions that participants need to make, whether its a new level of feeling-awareness, or a new realm of consciousness. Although the mind work is quite challenging, students say that Peter has a kind of personal energy that guides the focus of the group toward discovery. When I ask him about it, he says all hes doing is holding the room, or being the material. Whatever that activity may be, people who have no personal contact with Peter often find the written form of his work difficult to understand.

Were told that his book The Principles of Effortless Power is already something of a classic in the martial world, but clearly its not for everyone. One student in Japan kept his copy covered in brown paper to hide his secret weapon from the others at his dojo. Someone else in England admitted to finding his copy in a trash can. People get frustrated, which bothers me more than it does Peter. He traveled far to find his own teachers, and he trained obsessively for years to gain his understanding. From his point of view, his hard-won experience has practically been handed to his students on a platter. Theres nothing wrong with having to make an effort to read his books.

People often write in peculiar English from places like Tanzania or Nepal to say that they hope to attend a workshop someday. Meanwhile theyve been working from a single chapter for months and would like to clarify a few things. As I watched Peter answer many such letters with care and patience, I began to think that a more accessible writing style could make things easier for everybody.

Its true that aspects of the Cheng Hsin work are nearly impossible to convey, and require courage and commitment to discover for oneself, but not everyone wants or needs to take it to the level of mastery. Beginning the work involves some simple but potentially very powerful tools, like how to question aspects of being a self and being a body. Peter has a way of drawing attention to what is overlookedfor instance, hell teach you how to feel your own feet. He can take something obvious, show it to you in a plain light, and give you a new way of seeing that will affect how you use your body or think about self for the rest of your life. Some of this stuff is so useful and so delightful that people want to share it with others. The more advanced students have learned Peters language in both martial and mind domains, but they tell me they still have difficulty getting across to friends and family what it is thats so different about this work. I can definitely sympathize.

My friends and family tend to be more artistic than athletic, but, like anyone, they have injuries and strains and emotional issues to deal with. Some of the insights produced by Peters way of shifting our perspective seem to me like little jewels, especially the ones that are helpful in healing the body or calming the mind. Naturally Ive wanted to share these with my people, but it has always required something like translation. My best guess is that all the Zen consciousness work that makes Peters approach so special may also have made it harder for him to communicate to people outside a workshop setting. When hes writing, there is no puzzled student to attend to, and readers do not have the benefit of Peters presence, his powerful and yet humorous way of being the Cheng Hsin work.

After a short time with Peter, I got the idea of a simple, pared-down version of his body-being work. A useful little book that I could give to a family member with back pain or a friend with emotional stress, or even something an apprentice might share with his wife to help explain why hes planning to live in the Cheng Hsin dojo for seven months. Some kind of prequel to Principles would certainly be helpful for the Tanzanian. Of course, I would leave out the consciousness work and just focus on the body.

That idea makes me laugh now, because I understand that what makes the body-being work so uniquely powerful is the way it includes those barely cognized places where mind and body intersect. The body-being work certainly teaches people to be more skillful, but for many of us, the real beauty of the work lies in the recurrent awakenings we have to those places in ourselves that lie hidden in plain view.