Sensei of Shambala - Anastasia Novykh (english novels for students .txt) 📗

to believe in him right away!
Just take our contemporaries, the prominent individuals. When are they all being acknowledged? In general, after death. It is only after their deaths that people speak well about them, even those who, during their life, did many mean things. However, these people are probably glad in their private thoughts that their rival has died. That’s authentic animal nature.
When will we finally wake up, when will we be thinking with our souls and not our bodies? Because then the whole world will change and will become completely different! I just want to yell this to the entire world. But what for?! I shouldn’t yell but instead do something and change myself and not permit these parasites to enter into my consciousness or mind. Yes, if only this could be understood by the majority of people then, maybe, we could all learn together to value and respect those geniuses who are so rarely sent by nature to the world! As one great classic stated, “Mother Nature, if you didn’t send such people to the world, the field of life would’ve died.”

34

The next day, during our trip to the spiritual training, I was telling the guys the entire way my great news that our Sensei is the famous chiropractor and what I had heard and seen while visiting him. For them it was also a big surprise. In our secret glade, almost everybody had already gathered. Sensei, having greeted us, politely asked me how my mother was doing.
“Thank you, a little better. She has strong pains still, of course. But at least she slept calmly last night.”
“This is good. That’s all right, she will slowly recover her health.”
I didn’t have a slight doubt about this. For the most part, I was very happy that everything turned out exactly this way. I could not wish a better doctor for my beloved mother. Now my soul was calm.
“And you know,” I continued, “I was so surprised to have seen you. I thought that chiropractic was only practiced by dilapidated old men and women.”
“Many people think this way.”
“Why is that so?”
“Because in chiropractic, real knowledge and experience comes with years, and that’s why most of us are older.”
I noticed that none of the senior guys, including Nikolai Andreevich, was at all surprised by the word “chiropractor.” They had probably known about this for a long time.
“Tell me,” I continued, looking with admiration into his eyes, “Can spinal diseases be cured with the help of faith?”
“Faith is capable of moving mountains, not just curing spinal problems. But few people have true faith.”
“Why?”
“Doubts gnaw, our animal nature suppresses. That’s why it is very hard for a human to acquire true faith. But for a soul dominating in the mind, it is very simple.”
“If a human simply blindly believes in his recovery or in the recovery of those close to him, will treatment be faster?”
“Of course. And not just faster, but a lot lighter and more efficient.”
“I apologize,” Nikolai Andreevich joined the conversation. “I have long wanted to ask you, why exactly did you choose this profession?”
“Well, what can I say?” answered Sensei. “Just like any man, when I needed to choose a profession, I began to think. You will agree with me, what can be better in the world than to restore people’s health, and what can be more complex in a body than the spinal cord, perhaps only the brain… What is the spinal cord? Take a look at a picture of its nerve plexuses - it is a real tree of life that goes with its top to the brain and is connected with roots to every organ of the human body. Figuratively speaking, this tree of life nourishes the entire body with health. And if, God forbid, it has some kind of disorder, this immediately affects the work of organs and the entire body as a whole. Because practically more than ninety percent of all diseases appear as a result of the malfunctioning of the spinal cord, from the most insignificant to those that are fatal. Almost everybody has problems with his spine during his life... The spinal cord, for today, remains the mystery of mysteries in science. And it is, just like the brain, insufficiently explored.”
“In general, yes,” pronounced Nikolai Andreevich. “Honestly saying, I never thought about this... But since it’s such an important and complex organ in the body, one needs to posses considerable knowledge to treat it.”
“That is indeed so. The spine is a very interesting, perfect biomechanical structure. Its treatment is a great responsibility because a doctor has to precisely diagnose the patient, considering information, age, weight, and a whole range of various factors, and then make the right decision and calculate the corresponding power and dose of impact because this is a sort of microsurgery, only without opening. The revitalization in the process of exploitation should be also taken into account. Chiropractic is a very serious profession. One needs to thoroughly know everything: biomechanics, anatomy, pathology, genesis, morphogenesis, physics, and chemistry of the cell. To put it briefly, one should perfectly know vertebrology.”
“What?” Ruslan asked. “What is this for… ‘brology’?”
“Not ‘brology,’ but ‘vertebrology,’” Sensei answered with a smile. “It is the science of the spinal column, which includes all those sciences plus specific knowledge about the spinal cord.”
“What kind of specific knowledge?” Nikolai Andreevich got interested.
“You also need to know the details and techniques of different manual ways of treating vertebral pathologies, osteopathy, chiropractic, and so forth. In other words, it’s necessary to know the experiences of previous generations in the area of chiropractic because it is a pretty ancient and interesting profession.” Sensei added, “And, of course, it means communication with a large number of different people.”
I don’t know about the others, but I clearly understood that Sensei’s last words were the main reason for choosing his profession. I was absolutely sure about it.
Meanwhile, Sensei changed the subject of our conversation to meditations. We started discussing our home results and then tried to work intensively on ourselves, approaching with tiny steps our far-away cherished goal: to become human.

35

I noticed that the days started flying by, as if in one instant. I felt that I did not have enough time for everything. I even stopped visiting a few hobby groups so that at least, somehow, I could manage to do everything. Our exercises and trainings continued to gladden me with their novelty and uniqueness. At one of the trainings, Sensei began explaining a new subject.
“Today we’ll study and, as usual, partially will learn the style of Tai Qi Quan, considered to be from the soft style of Wushu. This style originated in one of the most famous monasteries of China, located in the Wudangshan mountains. It is noteworthy that the local mountains used to be called the Mountains of Great Stillness. But then a man, whose name was Zhen Wu, flew to heaven having reached Dao (which in Daoism is considered to be the internal divine power and primordial substance that created everything in the Universe). The mountains were renamed in his honor.
“According to one of the legends, a monk named Zhan Sanfeng lived in that monastery in the twelfth century. One day, hearing an odd sound in the yard, he looked out of the window. The monk saw a crow sitting on the tree and a snake on the ground, both looking at each other. Each time, as soon as crow flew out of the tree to attack the snake, the snake would quickly turn its head and would curve in such a way that the crow wouldn’t be able to peck it. While observing them, Zhan had an insight: an opponent can be defeated by dodging attacks.
“According to another legend, he received this wise hint from Zhan Wu in a dream. As the proverb says, ‘A saint said, a wise man understood.’ Having perceived the main principle of martial art, Zhan Sanfeng, after many years of training, developed the soft style, which received the name Supreme Ultimate (Tai Qi Quan). To translate it literally, ‘tai’ means supreme, ‘qi’ means ultimate, and ‘quan’ means fist.
“According to another version, the development of this style is ascribed to another Zhan Sanfeng from Wudang who lived in the fourteenth century, a disciple of the famous master Ho Lung (Fiery Dragon). Of course, there are other legendary versions of the origin of this style. Bur the main principle of Tai Qi Quan didn’t change and is stated in the following principles: Statics begets dynamics; the pliable overcomes the rigid; the slow defeats the fast; the short defeats the long. In other words, for example, you should respond to the sharp attacking movement of your opponent with soft pliancy, in this way amortizing the strike by letting it pass into emptiness. As a result, the opponent loses balance. And then a few grams are enough to overcome the power of a ton. The ancient writings of the masters of Tai Qi Quan say about this style, ‘Little movements lead to big changes. The pliable overcomes the rigid: make use of power of your opponent; attack suddenly, affecting points.’
“Tai Qi Quan is similar to a smooth dance. At the highest level of mastery of this style, there are no fixed movements or complexes, only the major principles remain. The body moves as if on its own, performing in dynamic meditation an undefined peculiar dance.
“But to reach something big, one needs to start with something small. That’s why we’ll start with the simplest exercise, pushing hands. It is done in pairs. Here, it is necessary to slightly touch with the hands, softly, taking turns to push each other, for the beginners under the known trajectory of movement, and for the more experienced, arbitrarily. This exercise develops reaction to the actions of the opponent by foreseeing his intentions. In other words, by ‘listening’ to where he wants to move, you should attempt to trick him by breaking free from his ‘stuck’ hands. With the inaccurate movement of your opponent, for example, if he moves roughly or loses balance, you, with a light push, can cast him to the ground. Movements should be relaxed, but the consciousness stays vigilant. Also I’ll show you the corresponding complex of breathing.
“These and the following exercises can be used as health-improving gymnastics. Especially for medical goals, Tai Qi Quan is helpful to people who are in a constant nervous stress because these smooth movements with even speed align potentials in the cerebral cortex, protecting it from overload. Moreover, the concentration of thought on movements distracts man from everyday problems, restoring his nervous system. And, of course, gymnastics trains all joints and ligaments. It is helpful for everybody. So, coming back home, you can show it to your mums and dads, grandmas and grandpas, so that they will never be sick.
“I want to draw your particular attention to the fact that the ancient masters of the Tai Qi Quan gymnastics insistently demanded from their disciples ’purification, stillness, absence of wrong actions, preservation of purity of heart, restraint in their desires.’ In this way, a human not only will defeat his diseases but also will destroy his ego, thus clearing a path to the perfection of the spirit. They were strongly convinced that Heaven sees the ’de’ (spirituality, love) of man and that, based on his ‘de,’ he gets a reward. The wisdom of the masters that reached us from the depths of centuries is relevant today. Each one of us can use this knowledge to the maximum, and not just for self-defense, but also for the opening of his own internal world, for the perception of the mysteries of nature and the universe. You always need to remember that