Maintaining ease is not easy
Oddly, or perhaps not so oddly, maintaining ease has been quite the transformational highlight during my UCB journey. On the one hand, shouldn't ease be easy? On the other, it seems clear why this...
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San Ti Shi Elbows, Arm pit and Ribs
Up until now when I've done the San Ti Shi I've felt a big stretch in the back like I was getting rid of some of those fascia crosslinks and getting more mobility. Today when I was doing San Ti Shi I...
View ArticleTaiJi - Mental and Physical Development
Embedded video for TaiJi - Mental and Physical DevelopmentDavid Beckham is AIA's Global Ambassador for TaiJi. Many don't like this sort of thing, to me, any additional awareness is good for TaiJi and...
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STS Bending
I was practicing the beginning of the san ti shi with the bend and coordinated arm movement. I was trying to not float from the crown point, not sure if I was doing it correctly or not but the thing I...
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5 Elements stomach
I know I've noticed this before I got busy with moving but I was doing the 5 elements some more and I noticed that after I do it when I sit down my stomach feels different, maybe larger or full? Is...
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Yi versus imagination
I have recently began to notice the qualitative difference between the light yi associated with movement and what I normally associate with "thought". With yi, it always leads to movement or change in...
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Bone Basics - Gravity vs Gravitas
This is a weighty topic. When students first encounter the bones, they laugh. Bones don't make sense. I say:"Bone Training is weird. You enter a strange and uncertain place. With gravity there is no...
View ArticleRooting / Grounding
A couple of days ago I had my wife push against my arms in the ward off stance for fun. She was probably humoring me and not pushing very hard but she did push and it felt like I was able to withstand...
View ArticleDisoriented
On my journey of undoing I have noticed that at times my upper torso actually feels like it is detatched form my lower torso. It's like two building blocks that are not just separate blocks but they...
View ArticleUCB as a cultivation path
I have recently had an evolution in my view/thinking on The Mental Models. My previous approach was to try to approximate the feeling by moving or stretching. I would stretch my foot and along my...
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Back of the U pushing up
In the beginning when I first started feeling the back of the U it was just a tiny horizontal line up nears the back of the ribs that would sometimes feel a tiny pulling down when I would do bending....
View ArticleThe breath and movement, the cavities
I noticed while training and looking into the cavities that I could allow that breath to affect the cavities which would produce movement. I was bending and when I inhaled, all of the cavities would...
View ArticleGood vibrations
I had an intersting experience this morning. I was having tightness in my neck and my throat, again (eye roll), and I was unable to get back to sleep so as I was lying there I decided to try to use the...
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pressure suit
When I was practicing today I did the standing, then did some wash face and arm swings. Then I did the standing. Then I did some of the punches/elbows and windmill kick (not sure if that is the correct...
View ArticleBe a Slacker - Seven Aspects of Minding the Slack
There are seven aspects to minding the slackNo collapseeveryday ordinary movementmonitoringseparate bones and meatone thingEasy
View Articlepushing up feeling and hanging down
When doing the standing today I did feel like I had a pushing up feeling in the neck area but it also felt like my body was kind of hanging off from the top of the head. It almost felt like if you put...
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Spine / Back of the U
Most recently my ability to feel or perceive what I've thought of as the back of the U has travelled futher up the back. I thought that the back of the U was from the lower part of the ribs down...
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Shoulder Blades and Ribs
In last weeks class I asked some questions about the shoulders and posture and since then I've been thinking that maybe I've been interfering too much with their placement and I've been trying to let...
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One Time Feelings / Upper body twisting and pelvic floor
Last week there was one time when I was doing the standing and I felt like I had this sensation where the upper front part of the hip was connected into the front part of the abdomen, maybe it was the...
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Upper transverse stretch or nothing important
A few days a go when doing the push pull elbow I felt a stretch in the middle of the upper back right on the spine and inline with the shoulder blades. When I did the standing that spot felt similar to...
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Getting the junk out
When I was doing tai chi in college I remember carlos saying that after you do tai chi for a while you could become ill because the tai chi movements help squeeze the lymphatic system which can make...
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Ribs, Shoulders, Hip
I feel like I am able to notice the ribs a little more than before when I do step tap but what I've noticed is that I have to keep the shoulders down. If I don't try to keep them down then the feeling...
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Abdomen stretch
Yesterday when doing the standing meditation I felt a stretch on the front sides of the abdomen. It felt a little like a balloon type feeling like there was a tissue being stretched over an expanding...
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Provoking Step / IT band
After the lesson this week the next day I felt some pain/soreness on the side of my leg beneath my knee. I also remember one of the times doing the provoking step when I was torqueing my body I felt a...
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Feeling in the solar plexus
I've been noticing throughout my day a feeling like clearing up and softness throughout my torso like I can breathe better and see better and generally am more relaxed. I was wondering what it is - it...
View ArticleStanding taller through the ribs
I forget what the proper terminology is for when we talk about slack and how it can be loose or more taut but for now I will just say pull out the slack to mean more taut.Normally when I do my standing...
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On Stillness
We all want stillness. States likened to peace, rest, harmony, always seem just out of reach. Yeah, I don't do that. This method doesn't foster that feeling. It's designed to reveal your intrinsic...
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Upper Transverse
The transverse stretch that I've previously felt has always only been in the back part of the hip region. I posted more recently about how the part of my back that I feel stretch when I try to stand...
View Article5 Elements
Just coming to class was so hard today mentally. I was about ready to call it quits for the night but, as per usual, I stuck it through class. It's always rewarding in the end. I feel ok and my organs,...
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Exploring the foot couple and restarting practice
Week two of practice. Two experiences stand out from the last week of practice. The first was after watching a video on the plex server. Sifu Kelly was leading an exercise where one foot couple is...
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