Warriors' Notes for July 1997
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Subject: The New Times Interview
The New Times Interview
www.speakeasy.org/newtimes/97-07-carlos.html
"TENSEGRITY" AND MAGICAL PASSES
More than thirty years ago, as an anthropologist doing fieldwork
among the Yaqui Indians in the state of Sonora, Mexico, Carlos
Castaneda met a Mexican Indian shaman named don Juan Matus. Don
Juan became his anthropological informant, and then his teacher.
He introduced Carlos Castaneda into the cognitive world of the
shamans who lived in Mexico in ancient times, and who were the
founders of his lineage of shamans.
Carlos Castaneda has written about his apprenticeship with don Juan
in nine best-selling books, beginning with The Teachings of don
Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge in 1968, and most recently, The Art
of Dreaming in 1993. All nine books are still in print, and have
been translated into more than seventeen languages. Scheduled to
appear in 1998 is a new book from HarperCollins by the author,
entitled Magical Passes: The Practical Wisdom of the Shamans of
Ancient Mexico. Here, Carlos Castaneda provides the reader with
direct instruction on the magical passes, a series of bodily
movements taught to him by don Juan Matus. Tensegrity is the name
given to the modern version of these movements, and the name of a
series of three videos which have appeared over the last year and
a half, drawing enthusiasts to filled-to-capacity workshops on
Tensegrity in the U.S., Mexico, South America and Europe.
Clair: What is Tensegrity?
Carlos: Among the infinitude of things that don Juan taught me were
some bodily movements which were discovered and used by the
shamans of ancient Mexico to foster states of profound physical and
mental well-being. He said that those movements were called
magical passes by the shamans who discovered them, because their
effect on the practitioners was so astounding. Through practicing
these movements, those shamans were able to achieve a superb
physical and mental balance.
I have labored for ten years to make a synthesis of those
movements. The result has been something I have called Tensegrity:
the modern version of the magical passes. The word Tensegrity is a
combination of tension and integrity, the two driving forces of the
magical passes.
Clair: You say that those movements were "discovered"...
Carlos: Don Juan explained to me that in specific states of
heightened awareness called dreaming, those men and women were able
to reach levels of optimum physical balance. They were also able to
discover - in dreaming - the exact movements that allowed them to
replicate, in their hours of vigil, those same levels of optimum
physical balance.
Clair: Why weren't these movements mentioned in your earlier books?
Carlos: The magical passes became the most prized possession for
the shamans of Mexican antiquity who discovered them. They
surrounded them with rituals and mystery and taught them only to
their initiates in the midst of tremendous secrecy. This was the
manner in which don Juan Matus taught them to his students: Taisha
Abelar, Florinda Donner-Grau, Carol Tiggs and myself. I never
touched on the subject of the magical passes because they were
taught to me in secrecy and to aid me in my personal need; that is
to say that the passes that I learned were designed for me alone, to
fit my physical constitution.
Each of his other students has a set of magical passes taught
exclusively to them, exclusively geared to each of their energetic
configurations - to their personalities. The four of us, being the
last link of his lineage, came to the unanimous conclusion that any
further secrecy about the magical passes was counter to the
interest that we had in making don Juan's world available to our
fellow men and women.
We decided, therefore, after a lifetime of silence, to join forces
to deal with the magical passes and to rescue them from their
obscure state. After years of effort, we succeeded in merging our
four highly individualistic lines of magical passes into modified
units of movements applicable to any physical constitution, and
all of us together arrived at composites that fulfilled our innermost
expectations.
We call these composites Tensegrity.
Clair: What is the difference between the magical passes of
Tensegrity and other forms of exercise like aerobics or calisthenics?
Carlos: The difference between the magical passes and aerobics or
calisthenics is that the latter are designed to exercise the
surface muscles of the body, while the magical passes are the
interplay of relaxation and tension at a deep bodily level.
The magical passes go beyond the musculature to the glandular
system: the base of energy in the body.
Don Juan said that the movements were viewed as magical passes from
the first moment that they were formulated. He described the
"magic" of the movements as a subtle change that the practitioners
experience on executing them; an ephemeral quality that the
movement brings to their physical and mental states, a kind of
shine, a light in the eyes. He spoke of this subtle change as a
"touch of the spirit"; as if practitioners, through the movements,
reestablish an unused link with the life force that sustains them.
He further explained that the movements were called magical passes
because by means of practicing them, shamans were transported, in
terms of perception, to other states of being in which they could
sense the world in an indescribable manner.
Clair: What would you say to those who have never done the
movements? When can one expect "results"?
Carlos: The positive results are almost immediate, if one practices
meticulously and daily - increased energy generates calmness,
efficiency and purpose. We all want instant enlightenment, instant
expertise; that's the flaw. Don Juan used to say the collective
malady of our day is our total lack of purpose. He repeated to us
endlessly that without sufficient energy there is no way of
conceiving any kind of genuine purpose in our lives. The magical
passes, by helping us store energy, help us to grasp the idea of
purposefulness in our thoughts and actions.
Next year marks the thirtieth anniversary of the publication of The
Teachings of don Juan; Simon and Schuster will publish a special
thirtieth-year edition of the book, complete with a new preface
from the author.
Copyright 1997 New Times
There is a new series of brief and intensive workshops on
Tensegrity in various U.S. cities, beginning with a one-day
workshop in Seattle on July 19. It will be conducted by a team
of two Tensegrity instructors who have been working in close contact
with Carlos Castaneda for at least ten years. Participants will
practice the magical passes presented on the three Tensegrity videos,
plus a number of magical passes conducive to relaxation, and, at the
same time, alertness - two conditions needed for the keen attention
required to deal with the limited time.
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