Thur. June 23: Great practice! Did rocking, waving, bitter pill, open/close, yin triangle drill and stepping drill (modified bitter pill) - began rocking with major concentration on softening. Really got the "ease" right off the bat and sustained throughout workout. The body is slowly beginning to align itself, assuming from sustained time period of continuous practice, and the 13 points are beginning to become natural. Dropping down the front and up the back is becoming automatic and the feet barely touch on their own, especially with the suction on the yin portion of the bottom of foot. Yang and yin surfaces becoming more defined. Bitter Pill was better, focused on using the intent and allowing the body to follow. Once again, this caused the pace to be slightly slower than it should have been, but it is getting faster gradually. Also did a set of bitter pill at normal speed and worked on staying soft and not initiating the larger muscles. Did waving in the slower, "structural reinforcing" manner and it felt amazing, the yang surfaces are spreading and the fullness is gathering lower into the abdomen, which is naturally correcting the crown suspension. Open and close was about like usual. Did stepping drill and noticed that it forced me to soften and align properly, so with that going on I decided to go right into bitter pill while stepping. I had no choice but to stay more vertical and suspended and also was forced to remain sunk, loose and soft in order to keep from exhausting myself. It actually felt more internal and connected than my initial "regular" bitter pill exercise.
note: real-time action (contact from a partner or the action of stepping while exer.) creates the situation in which I HAVE to do things correctly. the margin for error diminishes and takes out the guess work.