Month: February 2008

Take your chain and hold it in one hand in front of you. Now lift one leg moving from the body and wrap the leg around the chain avoiding being tangled in it or making agitated movements. It is best to do this barefoot for more awareness and respect for the chain. Do this a few times in each direction and in different stations around you and if you can do this as you move in some way.
Now hang the chain on your leg and under control move it down and swing it back up to your hands and repeat. Relax your foot and move your entire body so there is no harm done to you. Now hold the chain in one hand and push it with the feet and legs here and there. See how you can move it without getting hurt or loosing control and this is an important lesson on making things work using small controlled movements. The chain shows you your imbalances and is a good harsh teacher at that.

Breathe and keep your eyes free from focusing on the chain and your awareness will grow.

Take a stick and hold it in your hands. Measure it’s size and mass and move it around your body to see how it handles. Now hold the stick without using your hands (arm pressed to side, armpit, shoulder and neck, between the legs, tension between the hand and leg holding the stick and so on) and tense against it and work to transfer your tension to the stick so you remain relaxed as you work, change your position without using your hands and repeat this tensing and relaxing while you change the angle slightly to see how you can work better.  Progress to moving the stick all the time as you apply the least amount of tension and continue to walk as you do this moving the stick without stopping all over the body and not worrying about how it looks or if it is effective. Find new ways to move the stick and you will learn something.

Now get up and down as you hold the stick static on your body and add rolling on the ground to it. I found holding the stick at the back of the neck and bracing it with both forearms very educational while rolling backwards.

have fun and focus on the learning.

Stand a step away from a way and push yourself with your feet on the ground toward the wall, place your hands or fists on the wall and absorb the push and use the movement to send yourself off the wall adding move power to the movement so you move your feet as a result of it. Do this drill from all directions and using one arm as well placing it high and low to see how your mind and body deals with it and than do this as you relax your feet and see how this changes the drill and how you can move more freely.

Knowledge comes from thoughtful practice.

Do the four basic drills of push up, sit up, leg raise and squat in this way”

10 repetitions breathing in
10 repetitions breathing out
10 repetitions holding your breath

Note how you felt through your mind and various body parts and how you felt in the start and the beginning of each breath phase. It is important and can be beneficial in everything.

Take a metal chain in both hands (choose either side of the fist for the chain to come out from) and start to shadow box keeping the chain moving as little as possible and silently as possible. Move the position of the chain to your shoulders and than to your back and continue to shadow box and vary the hight you are moving from. Note how you get the chain to move less as you move from the body and as you learn to move as a whole you get more done with less and with less tension creating a much less visible movement. (chain length can be twice the distance from your hand to the ground standing or as you wish to hold it)

To gain your freedom of motion along with the knowledge of how you move, you can practice by yourself and with friends and family. For example, start from the push up position and move your body at that distance off the ground around your feet which stay at the same place and in each direction. Move your body around your hands which stay at the same direction and see what you come up with. Now place your middle on the ground (hips or behind) and move your body around this spot without having your feet or hands touching the ground. This is another way to find posibilities you already have. Once you do this, have a partner get in your way as you work and work by blending with his movement so you can survive and do the work.

You can add to this by having a partner move as he holds your feet or hands and you work on your movement as you blend with his.