Hi David,
Quote:
David Orange wrote:
Just did a bunch of these and got a whole new light on it.
I've also done a bit of a kind of thrusting that Rob showed on a video on badongo, I think it was, where the rear arm rises up beside the head and you sort of thrust downward at the end...unless I badly misinterpreted what I thought I saw....the point of the spear doesn't spiral but just rotates as it thrusts forward, while the rear rotates through a big spiral. The important point being not so much the outer movement as the use of the psoas you describe in generating the outer movement.
|
Right. I don't remember all the details of that video. But, I do work some spear thrusting where I raise the back end of the spear, more like what you see in a lot of northern Chinese systems. However I have held off on that for now because I'm trying to get a larger spear actually for that purpose.
Quote:
|
David Orange wrote:
Very specific use of a very specific muscle for an exact function.
So you're beginning with the back foot pushing the ground. As that moves up the leg, you then begin the psoas contraction? Or even as you're pushing the ground, from the first moment?
|
I hook up one of the psoases in tension at all times. So, before I even start the spear thrust, the psoas of the front leg is tensioned. When I walk around I try to feel that one side is always stretched.
Quote:
|
David Orange wrote:
Will you come back with more on the shoulder girdle?
|
Sure. For me a big thing recently has been gaining greater control over the trapezius. Do you ever do the Aunkai twisted shintaijiku? For a long time I had problems getting my arms to line up straight when I was rotating the torso and dropping into the cross-legged position. I figured out it was tightness of the trapezius which forced the shoulders up. Also, I have been working on articulating the sternum, clavicle and scapula. That system is also known as the shoulder girdle. All of that has to be mobilized and able to be felt individually. This becomes necessary because manipulating the clavicle and scapula orientation will change the relationship between the spine and the lower body.
Say you set up the psoas tension in the left leg, with the left leg forward in the spearing stance. Then, all things being equal, you can increase or decrease that tension by manipulating your shoulder girdle. Manipulating the shoulder girdle can cause you to twist the spine, i.e. the vertebrae will move around the spinal axis. Since the psoas is attached to the spine, then you will manipulate the tension of it when you do this.
I am pretty sure that this manipulation of the shoulder girdle is what is being done in some of the northern chinese styles when they talk about "drop the chest/arch the upper back). You can do it as one piece or manipulate each side independently. For me the shoulder relaxation came from boxing mitt work. I couldn't get anywhere with it until my shoulder girdle relaxed.
Glad you found the post informative.
Tim