michael young's blog

I noticed while training and looking into the cavities that I could allow that breath to affect the cavities which would produce movement. I was bending and when I inhaled, all of the cavities would fill and I would be stood up and my arms would puff out. As I exhaled, I would return to the orginal position. I decided to see what would happen if i treated this expereince like the Tai Chi breath. I would inhale, I would be stood up and my shoulder blades would spread and my arms would puff out.

I have recently had an evolution in my view/thinking on The Mental Models. My previous approach was to try to approximate the feeling by moving or stretching. I would stretch my foot and along my ankle, knees, and pelvis in a way that would produce the sensations called for. I'm not saying this is not  good practice. But, it is not working the Mental Models. It is body work. It will not lead to the transformation Sifu is pointing toward. It will only lead to a limited physcal skill that can't carry us forward to emptiness or the ability to "just move". The Mental Models are MENTAL!

On my journey of undoing I have noticed that at times my upper torso actually feels like it is detatched form my lower torso. It's like two building blocks that are not just separate blocks but they aren't even stacked over one another. They are significantly offset from one another. When this feeling is clear enough I can "better stack" them and my body feels comfortable. I know that this is not the mental model we are looking for. It's just an observation. Feeling my body with this kind of clarity ibecome acutely aware of this kind of intense sense of physiological disorientation.