By Karlfried Graf Durckheim; copyright Scherz Verlag 1956; ISBN 1-59477-024-7.

Haragei is every activity made perfect through Hara and is the basis of all Japanese arts whether Martial, Tea, Cultural, Flower-arranging or plain Sitting (Seiza). At the root of Hara is not only the physical  - centredness (symbolised by the Tanden area of the belly), correct breath and posture -  but also a particular relationship between the practitioner and the world around. Right practice develops "... a ground of being so rarely experienced by the modern man ... allowing his unique personal form to unfold".

Durckheim's book on the Hara, a concept so often misinterpreted in Western commentary, is one of the most erudite explorations of this topic in print. Starting with a description of the cultural aspects of Hara in Japanese life and language and Buddhist thought, Durckheim goes onto explore the prerequisites to all practice - posture, breath and relaxation. Fellow Aikido students and martial artists will recognise in these pages much that becomes uncovered through the years of diligent training. It describes well in words, what the body comes to know.

The final chapters are taken over to recent exponents of Haragei, the Zen Buddhist Okado Torajiro, the philosopher Sato Tsuji and the healer Kaneko Shoseki.

This book is profound. Although opaque in some sections (the chapter called "the order of life in the symbolism of the body" reminded me of reading Heidegger in my younger days), there is much to ponder over in this work. It leaves you with a sense of a new beginning and possibility.