As the body becomes more relaxed and the substantial ch'i sinks to the lower tan tien and the feet so the body is able to move from the feet and the mind is able to lead the force through the body. All of this opens all the major joints of the body.
To open the spine in particular it is good to suspend the head as if by a thread. There is an upward feeling at the acupuncture point 'Meeting of a Hundred Yangs' (Du 20) which is created by the mind intent. The ch'i here feels as if it is lifting. The body ch'i feels as if it sinks from this point in a downward direction. This should be applied to every t'ai chi position.
However, sometimes our body is so blocked that we cannot open the spine with these methods. Then it is good to use muscles to stretch in an upward direction and use exercises involving twisting the spine and so on.
White Crane Spreads Wings is a posture which brings the force very strongly through the spine and this can open each space between the vertebrae as the force rises. The force is brought through the right arm and issued from the wrist. Remember the body is rising in this posture and extending vertically at the same time the heavy relaxed downward force is sinking. It is the only posture in the form where this occurs. Golden rooster stands on one leg is also very upright but here the force is brought to the rising hand and the knee. There is also a potential kick from this posture.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Dear Alan
Great post, suspending the head from Du 20 seems essential, it is good to know that the chi at this point should be lifting. I will practice this when I am doing the white crane posture, I have had a similar stretching feeling when in the golden rooster stands on one leg position, the spine here seems to extend to?
Thank you for your blog, great videos.
I find the yoga postures of the sun worship cycle help to extend the back and align the spine.
Best wishes
Love
Scott
Post a Comment