Entry tags:
Sphere of Protection and Eastern Exercises

One of the things that was just beginning to happen back in the waning years of classical American occultism's golden age was that certain Asian exercises were beginning to find a home in the occult repertory. That's a process that deserves to be restarted, because (for complex historical reasons) Europe and the European diaspora lost their subtle-body exercises a long time ago, while Asia kept the traditions going. Since occult training (as distinct from magical training) doesn't involve circulating energy through subtle centers in the body -- the thing that can produce messy results when you mix it with Asian ways of doing the same thing -- it should be possible to combine occult training with practice of some of the more widely available Eastern exercise systems.
"Should be possible" is a shaky reed to lean on, though. Thus I'd like to ask for some help from my readers.
I know a fair number of readers of mine have taken up the Sphere of Protection as a regular practice, using either The Druid Magic Handbook or my posts here on Dreamwidth as a guide. I know that some of you also practice eastern exercises or physical disciplines such as yoga. What I want to know is whether you've noticed any interaction at all between regular practice of the SoP and regular practice of Eastern movement arts, including but not limited to:
- Aikido
- Hatha yoga
- Karate
- Shintaido
- Tai Chi Chih
- Taijiquan