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The Middle

Submitted by gregory hollick on 2021-01-10 17:26

I am finding that for a while my training, no matter the exercise has been focused at my head or hands and then at my feet, (and then when doing @thewalk my attention has been on my legs because I want to work them), but the middle of my body is a blank zone, even when I do squeeze and drag its not quite getting there. I noticed that today as I ran through the steps that there was kind of a void where my attention should be, so this seems like the next step for me to focus on. I know all of the things are important but I think I need to fill in my attention there.

Changes

Submitted by michael young on 2021-01-02 17:20

If you would have asked how confident I was in my progress I would have said that I was really feeling everything was coming together and that i was feeling more comfortable in my body. Then, the week after Thanksgiving, everything shifted all of a sudden. The biggest thing that changed was my comfort level. Now, I have this "up" feeling at the solar plxus that pushes up on my throat. There are times when I suddenly sense what to let go of and it'll just drop away. Then, after some time, it will return and I don't know or can't feel what I need to let go so that it will drop down again.

References

Submitted by gregory hollick on 2021-01-02 07:24

In standing mediation today I am realizing how little my attention is on my torso, specifically my abdominal area. I mean I have a couple things, but I have not been doing that as much lately. I closed horizontally after I checked in with closing on the frontal plane (because that helped in the past to get my alignment back on) and it helped, a lot actually. Then the though came up for me is should I even be doing either of those movements. I mean they helped me but that is part of a different training model.

Bottom of the wheel or doing it wrong?

Submitted by pchou42 on 2020-12-31 20:58

A few weeks ago we discussed how doing this type of training can feel like being on the outside of a wheel moving forward. When you are moving upwards and forward on the wheel it feels like progress but when the wheel starts to move downward and backwards you can feel like you are making no progress or moving backwards. This topic came up because I had been having difficulty feeling the bones pushing forwards/backstop/stretch. Sure enough the next day I had more clarity in feeling these sensations again.

My Year of Realizing Things.

Submitted by gregory hollick on 2020-12-26 21:51

Do you even walk bro?

Submitted by gregory hollick on 2020-12-21 20:19

Have I even done @thewalk before?
Workout - @thewalk Mental Model - @structure @weakness

Connecting from bottom to top

Submitted by pchou42 on 2020-12-01 12:42

I tried to asked this question in our last class but maybe I didn't really articulate it correctly. When I practice the standing meditation it feels like there are small tiny corrections that can be made to make the foot couple or backstop or bones pushing out feelings more clear. Whenever I am able to make some kind of correction it feels like my body becomes more connected. At first it was from the foot to the bottom part of the leg. Then foot to the knee. Now I am starting to feel connected to the hip.

Reorganizing

Submitted by michael young on 2020-10-29 15:57

I have been doing this training long enough to recognize the states that my body goes through during the learning process. Right now my body is "in between". It's not what it was. It's not what it's transforming into yet. But, it is in a new and interesting phase. My whole body is perceived differently than before. I have found so much body dysmorphia, perceiving my body in a way that does not reflect reality, is the root of the lack of integration in my body.

Standing inside the body

Submitted by pchou42 on 2020-10-13 12:49

Last night I felt like I actually had some kind of real sensation of standing. In earlier weeks of the pratice sometimes while doing the standing mediation I would shift my weight from front to back or back to front very slightly to try and see what alignment would bring out more clear sensations of backstop, foot couple, bones pushing, tissue pulling.

Bubbling under the skin

Submitted by pchou42 on 2020-10-06 05:28

Yesterday while I was waiting for something to finish baking I did some arm swings and then some standing. When I was standing I felt like underneath my skin or maybe between my skin and my fascia there was some bubbling or some kind of pulsing feeling going on, maybe related to my hearbeat but it didn't seem to quite sync. This was going on in the space in between my shoulder blades. Is this the kind of stretch we are trying to accomplish with this warm up or was this maybe just a coincedental feeling.

Backstop Feeling

Submitted by pchou42 on 2020-10-06 05:13

Yesterday when I was doing my standing meditation I felt something in my foot but I wasn't sure whether it was the backstop feeling or not. I thought the backstop feeling was described as like a right angle sort of sensation where it feels like the back of the heel is up against a wall (maybe I'm not remembering correctly). I was feeling a stretch that felt like it was stretching from the bottom around going upwards but it wasn't in the back of the heel more like in where I imagine the center of the bone is in the foot.

Filling/peng

Submitted by michael young on 2020-09-30 18:56

I have started to experience something interesting. When I Stand and relax my soft tissues they seem to "empty out". This void between the skin surfaces is filled with an empty support that pushes out in all directions and the muscles soften even more. I'm neither light nor heavy. The support in the tissues does not produce a feeling of high pressure. It feels simply full and soft yet there is some power when I move. It's very interesting. I can tell that it's a weak version of something that will continue to increase as I train. I've never felt this before. It's really exciting!

Linking Form - Lianhuan Quan - Li Cun Yi

- This from David DeVere's Empty Flower archive -

The following pictorial of Lianhuan Quan was originally written by the late Grandmaster Li Cun Yi. It was published by his student Jiang Rong Jiao in 1930 in the book "Xing Yi Lianhuan Quan." The following information is from the book "Xingyi Lianhuan Quan," translated by Joseph Crandall and used with permission. I highly recommend you visit his Smiling Tiger website. He has a wealth of material previously unavailable in English.

My Response to the Covid19 Pandemic

Submitted by imklg on 2020-09-16 09:51

Effing --wham! --ugh-- seems like 2020 has been one body blow after another. All the while thinking: Keep your guard up. Stay on your feet. Keep training. Keep teaching. Change. Adapt. Overcome. Move forward. Keep pushing the skill. Wear that mask. These are not normal times.

Why Standing Meditation?

There are many different kinds of meditation. You probably know about mindfulness. However, mindfulness training is not really the best for high performance. After 6 weeks of light practice, it helps with conflict resolution and general stress reduction. Mindfulness doesn't appear to assist with intentional learning methods like internal martial arts.