Ma is the term for a specific Japanese concept of negative space. … it means “gap“, “space“, “pause“) .

Ma means emptiness and it also describes a certain kind of noticing. Noticing with awareness is often taught in mindfulness practices.

Try it now-

For a moment, Just sigh, or look around and focus on something and be still as you notice the detail.

Ma is ‘noticing’ and it’s part of mindfulness.

This concept Ma describes the tiny pauses that often go unnoticed.  It describes the spaces between things and the in betweenness of us.

Noticing is an art in life

The existence of these tiny spaces between us and between things has been described as the art in life… an artwork.

It’s like “an emptiness that is full of possibilities, full of potential waiting to be noticed for the treasures it has within.

“ Noticing spaces is the art in a life lived with presence”

Hayao Miyazaki is one of Japan’s greatest artists- a masterful storyteller and a talented maker of animated feature films. He is widely regarded as one of the most accomplished filmmakers in the history of animation.

What do the masters teach us about using space?

Miyazaki has learnt to use the space or in-betweenness of things in his storytelling.

In his film making, Miyazaki puts the space there intentionally.

If you take a moment, a moment of pausing, and allow tension to rise, and just be with it, then the tension building in the film and in life can grow into a wider dimension. So too with the tension in life. A new dimension emerges.

If you just have constant tension all the time, you just get numb. So too with life.

• Can you put a purposeful pause into your life?
• Can you put the space there intentionally?

Click here to learn how you and your partner can inject a purposeful pause into your life through transitions.

   

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