Follow Kelley Graham on UCB.social

Upcoming events

Sunday's Class, Raise, Drill, Fall Overturn …

Submitted by stephen callaghan on 2026-02-11 07:27

Hi Sifu

Thanks for the reminder to anchor tailbone. I needed a small bend to get a better feel of the stretch that I was noticing in Raise, Drill, Stretch, Overturn. In going slowly in practice after class I found 'anchor sacrum' added more width to the stretch plus 'lit up' areas of my sides. Very different from my old practice of 'tucking tailbone'.

Other things.

I haven't practiced any partnerwork, push hands, or 'listening' since leaving the school I trained with. I left around the time of the pandemic.

Stillness Experiences Outside of Training.

Submitted by stephen callaghan on 2026-02-02 16:08

I had to get the bus into town last week. I arrived at the stop with 10 minutes to spare. I was the only one there, which isn't unusual as I live on a route that is mostly small villages along the shore road. So, while waiting, I just watched the activity on the sea loch and practiced some "stillness standing."

Stillness Module Update

Submitted by stephen callaghan on 2026-01-12 06:06

I am about half way through the Stillness Section and thought I would post an update on what's going on for me.
 

Stillness Training.

Submitted by stephen callaghan on 2025-11-17 06:53

(My Question has been answered in a later video! )

Hi Sifu Kelley,

I am looking for advice regarding the 'when' of training standing when also training the stillness model.
If I have understood the videos so far,  you mention that a student will find that on some days they will know or feel that then want to go back to standing and other days they will just do stillness.

Is it too much of an interference to refer to both within a single training session?

Introduction

Submitted by ruthjackson on 2025-11-11 11:50

 Hi I am Ruth Jackson.

I live in Scotland. My background has been in Tai Chi and Yoga.

Question Arising From Sunday's San Ti Shi Step Practice

Submitted by stephen callaghan on 2025-11-10 16:12

I Found the San Ti Shi Step very difficult and spent an hour over this morning and during the day trying to find some way of executing the step without landing the front foot with a thump,

I started with basic standing BS/FC Cavities Upper Lower, Soft Chest, Smile, PC, then brought in the intention to step without shifting weight and maintaining the cavities.

Arms Feeling Disconnected (and Arms filling feeling disconnected)

Submitted by stephen callaghan on 2025-11-04 10:55

Recently I’ve been having this feeling of my arms being disconnected from my shoulders. It’s present even on small things, an example being using a pepper grinder at arms length and feeling as if somethings not right with my arm/shoulder/torso connection.

Nearing The End of the Standing Module Material

Submitted by stephen callaghan on 2025-10-09 05:17

With only handful of lessons to go of The Standing Meditation Module it’s time to reflect on my experiences.

I’ve found the material incredibly clear, where there has been confusion it’s been when I’ve added something myself, either wrong ideas or habits from other practices.

What’s A Vector?

Internal martial artists often cite vectors as they describe fajin. Many have little to offer when asked ‘What’s a vector?’ Here ya go then. An introduction to vectors and tensors.

'Ease' & Shift

Submitted by stephen callaghan on 2025-09-22 10:58

In Sunday's training I asked a question around which practices are most optimising towards deepening interoception. What led to this was the desire to get a better feel and understanding of the lower cavities.

Five Internal Breaths

Cultivating The Fire Pearl. The Five Internal Breathing Methods. These are distillations and extensions of the 47 breathing methods I have been exposed to over 50 years of training. I looked through all my training journals and such to arrive at 47. Yeah, there was a great deal of overlap. Still, each documented method has it's own history and narrative.

Yellow Dragon Fiercely Protects Fire Pearl

The 1000 Yard Stare / Open Awareness

Submitted by stephen callaghan on 2025-09-16 03:47

 

These past couple of weeks I’ve been working on raise diaphragm and the other day there was something going on in my body that was really interfering. I was finding it much harder to get past pts 7 to 8 than in the few days before. The interference and sensation kind of intensified and focused at the back of my nose. The soft tissue behind the bone felt funny and it seemed to be stretching and unstretching and the end result was that my body was telling me  something close to 'you can't breathe something's blocked'.

Stabiliser system , Mobiliser system, Stick

Submitted by stephen callaghan on 2025-09-03 06:32

I have found this differentiation increasingly useful in standing practice.

In practice this morning I again found myself 'leaning back and lifting the front' and where before I would have become interested in the 'how' or 'why',  this morning, I more simply understood this as the mobiliser system trying to do the work of the stabilisers and it was easy just to take the attention away and to refocus on listening for what the bones are 'telling me'.