cool blog post - Secrets of the Martial Arts Masters Revealed!

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[ashe]

came across this guy Josh Leeger's blog and thought you guys might enjoy this.

http://joshleeger.com/2012/03/08/how-to-heal-all-movement-wounds-pt-2/

[Thomas Campbell]

Interesting post, Ashe--thanks for the link.

I've followed Josh's blog on and off for awhile. He's got some good information on barefoot running. He also used to train baguazhang with George Wood in Virginia (a few years ago).

[mathewjgano]

Very interesting! Thank you!

[ashe]

He also used to train baguazhang with George Wood in Virginia (a few years ago).

as it turns out, he's agreed to host a workshop in Seattle with Sifu! pretty cool. Keep an eye out for details.

[gregstec]

Interesting - but he does not talk about fascia that is also being affected by the exercises; which I think is more important than the musculature for developing internal connections.

Greg

[ashe]

well, the fascia will end up playing a role in the kind of "whole body" power we're looking to develop, but this is a ,more fundamental, and I think more important basic kind of exercise; one which trains you not only physical, but more importantly, MENTALLY. this is a great drill to build up awareness of the entire hara.

i use the Japanese here because i think it encompasses the whole center conceptually, which would include the dan tein, ming men, perineum / pelvic floor (hui yin) and the diaphragm, as Josh discusses in the clips. in I Liq cuan we refer to it just as the center of mass.

it's the ability to mindfully engage the hara / center, and maintain the engagement over prolonged periods that really matters. this is especially true regarding the perineum / pelvic floor.

skipping ahead to training the fascia without being able to keep the bottom from falling out is putting the cart before the horse.

[gregstec]

skipping ahead to training the fascia without being able to keep the bottom from falling out is putting the cart before the horse.

Ah, so you are still in the horse and buggy phase :D

(just kidding, I know what you are saying :))

Greg

[ashe]

Ah, so you are still in the horse and buggy phase :D

http://youtu.be/L9nXfffeAIU

[gregstec]

http://youtu.be/L9nXfffeAIU

Those guys are masters of intent :D

[AlexF]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKhEw7nD9C4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

With great fighting spirit

[Lee Salzman]

well, the fascia will end up playing a role in the kind of "whole body" power we're looking to develop, but this is a ,more fundamental, and I think more important basic kind of exercise; one which trains you not only physical, but more importantly, MENTALLY. this is a great drill to build up awareness of the entire hara.

i use the Japanese here because i think it encompasses the whole center conceptually, which would include the dan tein, ming men, perineum / pelvic floor (hui yin) and the diaphragm, as Josh discusses in the clips. in I Liq cuan we refer to it just as the center of mass.

it's the ability to mindfully engage the hara / center, and maintain the engagement over prolonged periods that really matters. this is especially true regarding the perineum / pelvic floor.

skipping ahead to training the fascia without being able to keep the bottom from falling out is putting the cart before the horse.

When you talk of maintaining mindful engagement of this region of the body, are we talking of merely maintaining structural integrity via a holding patterns, or or actively mobilizing/moving the area to generate force from or conduct force through the area?

I rather like not interpreting it as skipping ahead, but as having your training occupy multiple levels. Keep working on an increasingly expanding whole while also continually isolating control of various parts as your understanding of how they play into the whole grows. So rather than building this foundation here, putting it behind, then moving onto that advanced thing there, it can be continually refining two different views on the system, one narrow, one wide.

I like these sorts of awareness drills because whenever I do them I always notice something I missed in doing similar seeming but different drills. I think it is something like contextual body stupidity, the body is only smart in things it has already practiced. But make a little change, and suddenly that can throw off any pattern of coordination that is not quite fully generalized yet. And then taking that understanding back to my practice of the whole, I almost always usually make a leap in progress there if I made some progress in one of the parts.