Month: April 2006

More on shoulder freedom: Hold hand in hand and keep them straight. Now move them as a unit around and use the locomotive movement as in each shoulder is like a pivot point while you are drawing a big elipse. We do that in systema too, Walk and draw shapes and words with your feet and hands. or even your body on the floor. Make your own kata as MR sais. When you reach double digits and so on it goes beyond finding your rythem and style and goes to coordination and making fun of your self relm.

Sometimes a teacher is better off not being over talented. That way he (or she) can relate better to the student and from personal strugle and needed intuition can become a better teacher and person for the student. We tend to take things for granted and value only what we have top struggle for. I am not sure that is a good way to live. Knowing what matters is important on it’s own. health as opposed to muscular streanth. The comparison is not black and white of course and my view is never objective. However, What is best in life ? Being able to lift 1000 pounds if specially made metal bar or playing with your grandchildren in the garden ?

Simple task: take a length of rope and see what ties you can do and how do they work for you. Learn from friends and books (the web is full of good stuff for the ones who seek it) and on a more general note, take the simple things and use them as building blocks. Some painters used to use real ground preacious stones in their work, Just a thought. 

OK, Today i woke up tired. Very tired. I allowed for more sleep till I had to get up and as I waited for the water to heat (for the shower, I don’t drink the black stuff) I made the bag for work, bought and ead the paper, made breakfast and lunch for work, got the clothes ready and lots more. It’s no workout but still the movement helps you feel less sorry for yourself. That notion is not new and even though I am feeling rather sick with the cold I will do my job today. There is no heroism there of course. Life isn’t magical. Living is.

Oh and on another note: Try putting your shoes and socks (not in that order) on as you are crouched and no hands on the ground are allowed. If there are a lot misspelling here I blame it on my cold :)  Just kidding I am responsible for everything I do. Be happy about it. It means you are captain of your ship. Why would anyone want anything else. 

 One: walk regularly and start to lower the upper body slowly but keep it perpendicular (I like big words) to the floor. Go till you reach the lowest point you can reach and slowly go up from there, all while walking. This builds endurance and tendon streanth allong with stability. If you have a partner to work with have him guide you with a hand on your head. this builds sensitivity in both of you.

Two: Stand with feet together. Tilt from the hips forward till your hands meet the floor and walk with your hands till you are almost parallel to the floor and back again. Now walk with your feet backwards to the same position and back. You can even do this sideways. There is no end to the fun… 

Expectation: Let’s assume we can do something and than try to do it ? Maybe it will go fine but maybe not. To me our set of beliefs are like a filter we view the world with. I don’t mean your values but the, I am better than him or green is better than tan evaluations we hold dear. It takes less effort in the short run to work by a pattern but it’s not very nice considering we are working like machines and not really living our lives. We fail at learning and observing this way. Another point is that when you exepect nothing from people (not think of them as nothing) than you can truely see them and pretty much never be surprised.

Last thursday I say something very inspiring and it motivated me to follow suit. A girl in my Ballet class can go down to a bridge, do the splits in the air and most impressive, can hold hand in hand and rotate them from front to back. When you see something like this live is is different than watching the olimpics on TV. I will start by using a wall to assist me (hand walking) on the way down to a bridge. A static bridge hold, The sit down on the shins (zazen in Japanese terms) and relaxing all the way down to a point where the head and shoulders rest on the ground (you have to learn to be aware first and than relax the back and behind muscles (relaxing the behind is key in learning the slow squat and advancing your balance in crouched and uncomfortable stances and movements))

For the arms freedom I will start with a stick at regular length and start moving it around. Slowly lessen the distance between hands and use that to increase my freedom.

I came upon this as I was going to Korindo class and was going down the elevator with my Jo(I opened the evevator door with the end of the Jo). Take a stick and hold it at the end. Start to push objects with it but avoid leaning into it or tensing any part that isn’t working. In fact try not to tense at all but be whole instead of a collection of limbs. Once all the furniture in the house is in a neat pile 🙂 Place the end of the stick against a wall and push it back. Don’t break it now. Especially if it’s not your own.

If you have a pull up bar or anything that serves you as one you can enjoy the benefits of rope climbing by using towels. Just wrap two or one around the bar and do pull ups from them. As you and your grip become more comfortable you can climb a long one that was rolled well or actually get a rope and use it.

Ah Nothing like cold water to wake the body up. If you are tired and need a fast wake up, Just wash your face with cold water or better, douse yourself with a bucket of ice cold water. It will jolt your system and bring up the core heat to a high for a short period. This will burn parasites and sick cells so the good cells will be able to grow well. It also builds spirit as it is considered unplesent by some who haven’t tried it. Once in the morning and once before midnight wil get you both daily cycles according to healers and the double dose is felt especially well if you fast during that day starving the bad cells and letting the body ssytem quit and relax for a while.

I am assuming you know the Chinese balls routine. The small metal balls that have bells within. You can work on lots of stuff with them. For one you can do the original rolling in the hand having them not touch and make no sound. You can hold them and rotate them with the hand to the side or backwards and it is fun to do. Check what direction is easier to rotate the balls as your palm faces the floor. Anther way is to throw and catch them trying to make no sound. From the back and over the shoulder works nicely and helps in working or a good punch. As in all work. Noise is a tell you are doing something wrong (Well almost any work 🙂 ) Try to make no sound as you walk, sit and do anything in daily life. Practice and enjoy your progress and understand why we sometimes fail.

Spring or bounce action: There are many ways to load the tendoms in power so you can resue or diver power. As you run or walk you can (with little practice) divert the enrgy or hitting the ground from hip to hip if you move with the breathing rythem and feel the bounce from the floor. let the power move you forward and enjoy the ride. The same way you can load the arm as someone is coming toward you. Put your hand on him or her and let his enrgy load your arm so you give him back his energy with a little more of your own. These are just two examples of this work. If you are heet, you can lead the power to your fists and release or re- use it as you wish as long as you don’t get tangled with emotions of getting hit or taking it personal and holding the tension within. This is not easy but it is rewarding. You might say the Kingdom of heaven lies within.