The frame from the ground up Part 2

Ok now we have set up the basic position of the body we can start to go into detail about how we can begin to tie the frame together and start to build a useful and dynamic structure.

Beyond the basic position of the body we also need to begin to work on the structures that connect the body together.  Here we are not talking about building muscles individually, but building the lines of muscle/connective tissue/fascia that connect distant points of the body, for instance the hands and feet or the top of the head and the Perineum.

So onwards with part 2 on building the body frame.

Drawing up the Legs.

The legs are an interesting area of the body to begin to work with, especially as we mean here,  as it is not the most natural structural method we are used to. However i can very easily show you what we mean by drawing up the legs.

1.       Stand feet shoulder width apart Knees bend slightly and aligned with the big toe

2.       Very gently start to pull the feet together on the floor, like your gripping something between your feet.

3.       You should begin to feel the upper inside area of the leg engage as you begin to pull in.

4.       Focus on the resulting direction of power, it should feel as though your pulling up into the area of the perineum and the direction your body wants to go in is up.

This is the drawing up power that we talk about when describing ‘drawing up with the legs’. However there are several points which are of importance when we consider this power.

-          Do not allow the power to put lateral pressure on the knees. This is very important as it can lead to knee injury. The knees should be unaffected by the force travelling up from the earth along the insides of the legs.

-          Do not overdo it. This force should be felt and should be demanding to maintain, but NOT painful! I have seen a few people overdo this training and injure themselves. If your building this part of the frame correctly you will feel it the next day initially but it will not cause any damage to your body.

-          Create this force once the rest of the initial points are set. If you start to action this force when your upper body is misaligned or your not set up correctly you will most likely not start to work the wrong line of tissue.

Arms and Legs like Drills.

Visualise a screw being drilled into some hardwood. This is what i mean when i say drilling the legs and arms. It is a very useful practice to begin to work with especially as one of the core components of IMAs is the idea of Spiral force or power.

I will start with the idea of Drilling the legs as this is the most important to get right. Here we are not looking to see any external movement or rotation in the legs. The spiral power is held inside as the muscle and tissues ‘wrap’ around the frame created by the skeletal structure. Due to the way the legs are constantly under load it is important for work on this idea very softly, with deep concentration and awareness and without tension. If you feel any points of tension as you drill the legs you will need to adjust your posture or force to release the points of pain or tension you feel.  The direction of the spiral can actually change or reverse based on what direction you want to receive or project force in, but for basic training i would suggest that you focus your intent on the leg rotating as if the toes are turning inward and the heels are turning outward. Again, i stress do not allow any external expression of the spiral to show.

The arms are slightly different in that they are not anchored at both ends. This means that the joints are not under load and are more protected when spiralling. In the arms we want to produce counter rotation rather than singular spiralling. You can think of this like a double helix wrapping around both sides of the arms simultaneously.

To start with you can hold your arms out in front palms facing down, now without letting the hand rotate, use the shoulder to rotate the orientation of the elbow joint. This is a good initial basic exercise but can take a little time to become good at. One very useful idea with this is the ability to touch and without changing the touch completely change your line.

Intent driven structure setting

In terms of building useful structure, one of the most vital tools is your ability to feel the body state and use the mind to make micro adjustments to force and lines. I call this intent driven structure setting and at its most fundamental level it applies to the ability to listen to the body and its reaction to load. We need a very deep and clear attention on the body to be able to feel for the main culprits of changing or misaligning the posture.

1)      Points of tension caused by misalignment

2)      Points of tension caused by breath hold

3)      Points of pressure caused by internal collapsing

When you set up your posture, become used to turning your attention inwards focusing on the physical structure of the body. This process of Recognization is the first step. From here we need to resolve the tension with small deliberate changes, either to our breath cycle or to the physical position of our limbs, bones and muscle.

The next step in intent  driven structure setting is to actually use your intent to produce force in the structure. This involves using the mind to affect how the structure maintains its position. When we do this we are trying not to move at all externally.

One good exercise to feel what we mean by this is to set up your structure, Then focus all of your intent from the centre pushing out to the skin of every surface. Everything inside is pushing out strongly, the joints want to inflate opening the arms, the body wants to rise up, the stomach wants to expand, but you hold them all in place. Then relax and repeat. This should be a Physical process, the body should react to the minds intent, it is not visualisation of expansion which is something different all together.

Not this should not affect the breath at all and should not cause any pressure in the body or head. We are using the mind to create the expansion in the body, not Tension!

Other intent driven internal changes can be:

-          Leading to the horizon

-          Condensing to the centre of the bones

-          Coiling the tissues

-          Power to the fingertips

-          Melting into the earth

-          Becoming light

Part 3 will discuss some more points on structure setting and how to build the body for work.

Happy training.

Ukemi - intermediate level rolling

This video follows on from my last one which highlighted ground rolling for spine health.


Now the aim is to increase softness and ground awareness and also start to move between standing and ground into rolls.

Developing the ribs and chest for power and health.

This evening we were working on exercises to develop the ability to use the chest and ribs in a meaningful way to develop strong up/down force and to promote lung health. When practiced for some time the chest can open and close independent of breath and the practitioner is able to create a large volume of power from this one aspect of generation.

The bonus of these exercises is that they are very good for health of the lungs. I recently suffered the onset of Asthma from lung damage due to a chest infection, combined with a high volume of cardio vascular work. These exercises have cleared the asthma from my chest entirely so I can personally vouch for their effectiveness.

There are a few primary rules to stick by when working with the chest area and they are there to make sure that you don’t ‘raise the energy’ or compress the heart or associated structures. The primary ideas to stick to are.

• Relax the chest and upper back. This is easy to write… it is not easy to achieve! You need to work hard to relax the chest without disrupting its structure in order to free it up and give it the ability to move.
• Do not compress the chest inwards. This is a common issue seen in internal arts stemming from the phrase ‘hollow the chest’. However something hollow is something that is empty inside, not collapsed, so we need to keep the chest open and natural, but without excess tension held in the chest area … then the chest would be ‘full’ rather than hollow!
• Do not force the breath in and out. The main point of this practice is to promote mobility in the chest and promote lung health. We Should not lead the movement with breath or force the breath in and out so that its audible. The breath should be completely natural and go in and out as needed as you move through the postures. There is a saying that ‘The posture breaths for you’ that is useful for understanding this.
• In the early stages do not try to move the chest. Simply do the simple exercises and the chest will move naturally. Eventually the movement of the chest will come to your attention and then it will come under your control. Then you will be able to open each side independently of the other … even with the breath fully out.
• The upper back and chest should open together, be careful not to simply ‘puff the chest out’ by curving the back inward.
• Make sure that after the practice you stand still and focus your body energy into the lower abdomen (hara or dantien). This is not esoteric, but is a simple process of removing any residual tension from the upper body muscles and lead your body to become rooted and centred.
• All of these exercises should be done SLOWLY and SOFTLY. They are not to be forced at all if they are to be effective in developing useful force. There is also the real danger that you could damage your health if you over pressure yourself in them.

These rules should be adhered to in the following exercises. The videos show the method for this movement so I will not describe the movement process in detail. However I will mention some points of importance that I have found useful in developing lung health and Rib power.

Exercise 1. Bird flaps its wings.

• In the beginning lead the motion with your Elbows and have your attention there. This will help to pull your body open as your raise and lower the elbows mobilising the chest area equally without opening the front not the back.
• The arms and hands should be very relaxed and open. The main aim is to facilitate the opening of the chest and any tension in the arms joints will ‘lock’ the chest in place. Its important that the method is achieved through softness and not tension. Relaxing the arms helps to achieve this.
• let the breath naturally flow into the lungs as the arms raise and naturally come out as the arms fall.
• Make sure that the base is set and rooted. When you open upwards draw up with the legs and Crotch Arch leading up and aiding the opening movement. When you sink relax your force down through the legs into the earth.
• If you start to get any sensations in the head, upper chest or neck, such as dizziness or nausea then bring the palms to the level of the lower abdomen and focus on relaxing the body and feel the weight and dense areas drop down to the lower dantien. Then when you feel centred again continue practice with careful attention not to raise up your energy.
• Feel the initial rise come up the front of the body, the front of the chest and side line through the intercostals muscles. The fall should move down from the scapular closing towards the spine and then down through the lats to the base.

2. Slapping down

• This works on each side of the chest one after the other. Try to isolate the individual sides as you open and close rather than opening the whole chest.
• When raising up feel that a slight twist force develops in the body opening one lunch/side on all angles.
• When slapping down try to lead the movement with the chest. The chest motivates the drop and not the arm or hand. This exercise, slightly modified, is also used to develop gravity power(discussed in another thread) But here we are specifically trying to isolate the chest .
• When raising the arm ensure that the shoulder joint remains seated and the traps remain relaxed. If the traps become tense then the shoulder will raise out of its socking disconnecting the arm and side / ribs, halting your ability to lead the chest to open.
• Tilt the shoulder and body forward slightly as you slap down, this helps to fully close the chest without collapsing it.
• Feel that you force goes down through the earth but is powered by the ribs and chest.
• When you initiate the slap down by closing the chest, feel that it stretches the line into the arm, like elastic being stretched the released. This will help the body develop the lines needed to create the downward force

Summary

Give these exercises a try and let me know the results. I have found them to be very useful and they have helped me gain a high volume of power up and down as well as giving me a good degree of lung health. If you have any questions post below and I will be happy to answer as best I can.