Avian Seijaku: Bird Flaps Its Wings

Being an avid birder, I can’t help relating some bird story to the class after closing this movement. Recently I told of watching ospreys dive down and catch fish at the Tingley Fishing Ponds. They are impressive to behold. An osprey has a wingspan of six feet while weighing only 30 pounds. Its normal flight tops out at 30 miles per hour and is capable of speeds of up to 75 miles per hour in steep dives to capture the fish.

The next day one of my students, Peg, told of watching a video of an osprey on the Pacific Coast. When diving for fish, it got beaten under by a giant wave. With its immense strength it was able to extricate itself to rise and continue its patient scanning aloft. Without knowing anything of Seijaku, she described this event’s relevance to our practice as an example of the power of softness, scanning the surface for a fish, followed by the power of force breaking through the resistance, rising to become soft again, expending only the effort necessary to resume its slow rhythmic flap, flap, flap of wings.