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In Response to Ryan Murdock
Murdock authored the book that blasted backpacking into world awareness: Vagabond Dreams
Murdock wrote, “Why does travel change you…?”
My responses to a few of his observations are below. I’ve rearranged the original order so as to answer in a sequence that makes sense to me.
In the same way that physical exercise strengthens the body, solitary travel and the pains and hardships that accompany it hone and temper the inner being.
As Far as You Can Go Before You Have to Come Back has tai chi and chi gong as one storyline. What is chi gong?
If tai chi comes across as mellow, meet chi gong. In the 12th century, the deadly martial application of tai chi was used by the Emperor’s guards. Nevertheless, from a Western perspective, it don’t look so damn deadly.
Chi gong, however, moves one step even closer to stillness. While I’ve learned one chi gong form that was quite challenging, physically — balancing like a crane on one foot, extending the leg as slowly as a ballerina — the majority of chi gong uses and/or repeat simple movements. Concisely: each movement governs the processes of at least one of the body’s organs, system, and/or meridian channels. (In Traditional Chinese Medicine, meridians are lines of energy in the body.) Doug, the tai chi/chi gong teacher in As Far as…
