The phrase has come into our lexicon from the 1984 movie The Karate Kid (omg–it has been 30 years!) when the mild-mannered handyman who is also a Karate master teaches young Daniel the martial arts through cleaning and waxing his car.
I became curious about the phrase and wondered if it had a deeper meaning. Could it apply to leaning soy wax batik? After all, I have my class Waxing Eloquent coming up in April, (see here) and maybe it is worth thinking about…
waxing in process
Of course I headed to Google, where I soon found a site where commenters debated the underlying meanings.
A number of commenters felt the purpose of the Daniel’s assigned chores was to learn the muscle memory of martial arts moves.
Donna begins the process.
Others felt that it meant more; that a skeptical student learns to trust the master, and learns that mastery is a commitment to a lifelong process.
Still others felt that it referenced the Zen art of meditation–finding a mediation in everything that you do, whether it is practice sessions and formal lessons, or something as simple as daily chores.
I know that when we come to class to learn batik with soy wax, I will not lead the class in meditation! However, I also know that making marks with the warm molten wax and building layers of color will be a meditation in its own right, and that working with the materials will be joyous as it never fails to reach the deeper parts of my mind.
So I guess that is my meditation for today! I hope you enjoyed these images from past classes, some of my class examples, and some student work from class.
Do you love dipping into the wax, too?
