In the past few months I’ve changed my 太極拳 practice in two distinct ways. The first thing I did was begin a series of exercises given to me by Ho Tsong Yuan. Part of this was kicking drills which take my legs through a variety of movements and stimulate a variety of meridians. This was not a totally new practice for me but it was a significant expansion on my previous practice.

The other thing that Teacher Ho showed me is a kind of body shaking, stretching and rolling. If you think of a cat stretching and a dog shaking off water you have some idea of what I’m doing. I vary the speed and size of my movements but basically I’m moving my body in a kind of primal dance. The result is that a lot of the tension I held in my back and shoulders isn’t there anymore or if it is I can roll my way out of it.

This is a very powerful practice moving the muscles, the blood, the lymph and the energy. I can feel some of the places where my energy is stopping, it is a feeling something like the “stitch” one sometimes gets in ones side when running. But right now I get this feeling in my right pec, it’s moved around a bit since I started. I keep practicing and keep getting less and less blocked. I’ve also taken the practice into the pool where I thrash around like a drowning person, it’s probably funny looking but it feels good.

The second big change is that I practice my yang style 太極拳 long form (30 minutes) instead of my short form (10 minutes) now. The results are harder to explain but I feel like it’s deepened and widened my perception of my body and the space around it. Those who know, know as for the rest of you I wish I could put the feeling in your body/mind/spirit because it is really something.

peace