Spring is in the air
Published: Sat, 02/23/13
Spring is very nearly here. I was training outside this morning, I
always try and do the Karl Stances on a Saturday, and axe training.
It was cold, the water butts have a thick layer of ice on them,
yet the snow drops are already in flower and the daffodils are well
on their way. The bulbs are all a pleasant surprise since we
didn't move in here until July so we had no idea what had been
planted by previous tenants. It turns out they had put in quite a
lot of bulbs. The grass is also going to need its first cut of the
year soon too. So although the temperature is still winter some
days there are so many signs of life that all the possibilities of
another year are to seem like realities. I am traveling to London
by train today and if I keep my eyes open I will certainly see
fields with new born lambs. The festival in early February if
often called Imolc which apparently means 'Ewes Milk'. The
sheep being the first animals to welcome the new year by producing
young.
It is nice to recognize that a new year is getting underway and now
is a good time to plan how we are going to make the most of it.
There are quite a number of things we are doing right now and I
won't bore you with them all at once. But one thing is to be
deciding what training and events to be investing in for this year.
Tomorrow I am doing a Guided Chaos
http://www.attackproof.com/what-is-guided-chaos.html workshop near
Slough and what I have been learning there has been subtly
permeating my understanding of Stav training, not changing the
basics but helping me understand them better. I have also signed
up for the Noble Science weekend http://www.thenoblescience.com/ in
April which is a spin off from Fightcamp with the emphasis on
unarmed skills such as wrestling and pugilism, I am not sure what I
will get out of it but it will certainly be fun, it will test me
out anyway and give me an incentive to get prepared with fitness
training and bag work. It has also been suggested to me that I
would benefit from attending the summer school at Cliff College
http://www.cliffcollege.ac.uk/page/summer_school in June which
would effectively be a 5 day spiritual retreat. Although, being a
Methodist event it will have a strong element of teaching and
discussion too. I probably will go for that too.
So that is some of the things I am investing in during the next few
months. There is other exiting stuff too but I will share that
when I am ready. So what about you? Learning Stav and committing
myself to making it a daily practice has been one of the best
investments of my life. This is why I teach Stav and make the
Summer Camp happen as an opportunity for others to learn. So what
about you? I hope you will invest some time, money and effort in
developing your potential this year. If that includes Stav then I
will be very happy to help, see
http://www.iceandfire.org.uk/forthcoming.html for current list of
training opportunities.