Years of Notes

Oh, had I only organized my notetaking. Alas...

The other day, I pulled my notebooks off the shelf to start what I thought was the simple task of transcribing them for this site. After all, I took lots of notes as part of my learning so surely they were in order and ready to be shared.

Ha! Nope.

You can see in this sample that the notes are somewhat chaotic. This is the result of trying to record what had been learned in a workshop at the end of each day. I would gather my thoughts and recollections as best I could and write it down. At first I tried to use a notebook that had similar entries to what had been learned that day. For example, lessons on the Basics would be recorded in the notebook I’d last used for Basics. But since the specific lesson may or may not related to whatever previous entry was in the notebook, I would try to cross reference it. Further, when additional information was taught the next day, I would go back to that note and add the new information.

The result of all this is the books shown here. You can see from this single example that the task of transcribing is challenging. The last thing anyone wants is to be subjected to my seemingly random note taking. What would be of value is to share the actual lessons I recorded by re-writing the notes from scratch.

Of course the notebooks are invaluable to assist my aging memory. For example, at the top of the notebook in the center of the picture you can see the notes,

Yi – imagination – intent

Sung = relaxation = power (not tension)

This reminded me of fascinating exercises for understanding exactly what is meant by these terms and how to manifest the sensations of something like “power without tension”. The value of the notebooks lies specifically in reminders like that.

There was so much information that I find I need these reminders. Over time, the lessons blended into a single overall “whole bodymind sensation”, the components of which have become obscured.

So bear with me, dear visitor, as I start to decipher what I wrote to myself all those years ago. If you are a current active student I urge you to take notes after class or workshop session.

It may not seem necessary at the time since the information will be fresh. But with the passing of the years, you will appreciate having taken the time to record what you learned.