RabBoar Studio - Thoughts

Well, I guess I was right about the systemic enzymes. 

The co-incidence of discovering the bang, the kali sticks and starting to use systemic enzymes seems to be doing the trick as far as re-positioning my left shoulder and extending jin into my left arm and hand. 

My current understanding is that rectification of long standing deformation of the body takes a large catabolic (digestive) process so as to remove those tissue portions that shaped themselves for support and function of the deformation. If the process has to happen late in life, then the lack of proteolytic enzymes will slow or block the process. 

So, systemic enzymes, lots of vitamin C, and good basic are a good working combination. 

I have been using this one for new students for over a year, and it’s proven very successful.

1. Start with narrow stance (fist apart at the instep, 15′ toe-out)

2. Sit vertically.

3. Shift weight 100% to one hip (A).

4. Rotate out the other qua (B) to 45′

5. Slide (B) leg out to full extension w/o stepping, release from qua down until toes are on floor, no bobbing.

6. Slide (B) knee out, start a weight shift onto (B), facing the diredction of (B) toes, until leaning (nutated) and (A) heel is just about to lift off ground.

7. Sit up straight (counter nutate), all weight still on (B) hip, belly button -45′.

8. (== mod. 2) Open both loaded (B) and empty (A) qua, so that (B) toes are -45′ belly button is front, and (A) toes are +45′

9. (== mi 5) Slide (A) leg out to full extension w/o stepping, release from qua down until toes are on floor, no bobbing.

10. == mi 6

11. == mi 7

repeat as needed, it’s amazing what it does for leg, qua & yao development.

mi == mirror image

Enjoy

Oh .. 102 implies that there are further ‘levels’ and there are.

David L.

I have been using this one for new students for over a year, and it’s proven very successful.

1. Start with narrow stance (fist apart at the instep, 15′ toe-out)

2. Sit vertically.

3. Shift weight 100% to one hip (A).

4. Rotate out the other qua (B) to 45′

5. Slide (B) leg out to full extension w/o stepping, release from qua down until toes are on floor, no bobbing.

6. Slide (B) knee out, start a weight shift onto (B), with full open of the (B) qua, (B) shoulder towards (B) knee, until in full open, leaning (nutated) and (A) heel is just about to lift off ground.

7. Sit up straight (counter nutate), and rotate to close (B) qua, all weight still on (B) hip, belly button -45′.

8. (== mod. 2) Open both loaded (B) and empty (A) qua, so that (B) toes are -45′ belly button is front, and (A) toes are +45′

9. (== mi 5) Slide (A) leg out to full extension w/o stepping, release from qua down until toes are on floor, no bobbing.

10. == mi 6

11. == mi 7

repeat as needed, it’s amazing what it does for leg, qua & yao development.

mi == mirror image

Enjoy

Oh .. 101 implies that there are further ‘levels’ and there are.

David L.

This particular method comes from Rock, it’s (as far as I know) traditional Wu training.

Forward Linear Walk

1. Start with narrow stance (fist apart at the instep, 15′ toe-out)

2. Sit vertically.

3. Shift weight 100% to one hip (A).

4. Pick up the knee of (B) {in a manner similar to ‘raise hands’ where the ‘lifting point’ is the knee, the lower leg ‘hangs’ from the knee, ankle flexed (w/o tension) foot hanging down, big toe barely touching ground.

5. Slide (B) the heel out to full extension w/o stepping (almost like a short kick), bring the toes in (towards the knee) as far as possible w/o tensing knee or foot, when the (B) leg is fully extended the heel will be about ½ inch above the ground, drop the heel down. Weight is still 100% on one hip (A)

6. Release (B) from qua down, through knee and lower leg until toes are on floor, no bobbing, weight is still 100% on one hip (A).

7. Slide (B) knee out, start a weight shift onto (B), this is a translation forward, keep going until the start feeling ‘binding’ in (b) qua, start straightening (A) nutating {on (B) qua}, until (B) carries 100% of the weight, and (A) is straight. You’ll find yourself in the infamous ;-} Wu lean forward.

8. While keeping the lean, drop (A) knee until it ‘hangs’ from it’s qua almost touching (B) knee, (A) big toe barely touching ground, (B) still carries 100% of the weight, you’re still in lean forward.

9. Counter nutate so as to ‘sit on the pelvis’, (A) big toe barely touching ground, (B) carries 100% of the weight. This places you in a mirror image of 4.

10. == mi 5

11. == mi 6

12. == mi 7

13. == mi 8

14. == mi 9

repeat as needed, it’s amazing what it does for leg, qua & yao development.

mi == mirror image

Enjoy.

David L.

This post orginally appeard on the bodysmith list

In an earlier post I referred to the small of the back (yao) as a catch 22 area, another common handle to the self-same area is ‘bad back’ like in ‘I have a bad back’.

Well … I used to have a ‘bad back’ and now I have a good one, all the credit for this and other refurbishing of my body go to TCC as taught by Rock.

O.K. what’s the catch, what is causing this very common dysfunction ?

The cause is hidden in structure of the of the spine, and the load bearing function that it has.

If you’ll look through Gray’s Anatomy - or your descriptive anatomy book of choice, you’ll see the structure of the vertebrae, the load bearing part of it is the body which is connected to vertebra above and below through the disks. The load that the spine carries is the thorax, and the balancing force are the gravity muscles passing though the 2 grooves at the sides of the vertebral spines.

As long as the structure is such that the weight is passing through the disk bodies, the structure is stable. An analog will be:

+++ddd+++++++++++++++++++++wwwww

ssssssbbblllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
mmm ddd
mmm…./\
mmm…/..\

In this configuration, as the weight (ww) increases, the muscle (mm) will contract more, and the resultant force will be still passing through the disks (dd). This structure is inherently stable.

When the lower back curvature gets more pronounced, the balance point will move off the disks, towards the pedicles impairing their function, and then when the arch increases more it’ll pass beyond the vertebral structures, into the muscle mass creating a bow.

When this happens, any muscular contraction, instead of balancing the structure will unbalance it further (catch 22), at this juncture the structure is inherently unstable. More so, the splinting reflex will kick in increasing the dysfunction. This is a positive feedback circuit, and the only way to stop the runaway process is full bed rest, muscle relaxants etc.

Some MD’s and others will recommend at this juncture to increase the strength of the abdominal, reasoning that pulling the far side of the lever (ll) will decrease the curvature, true as it goes, however, this will increase the pressure in the body cavity, impair abdominal breathing and in essence create a ‘double weight’ area.

When attempting to use TCC incorrectly at this juncture (using the muscle at the top {front} of the thigh) the knees, qua and yao are blocked (the qua directly since the quads will pull the pelvic rim forward, the knees from lots of pressure on the patella, and the yao indirectly from rotation of the pelvis that translated to additional lower back curvature) , and little headway can be had.

The TCC ‘trick’ is to flatten the yao by bypassing the quads, counter rotating the pelvis to flatten the yao, and releasing the abdominals so that belly breathing can be had.

Peter G. has posted a very detailed description of the recovery process to the TCC list a few months back.

The key to this is reasonably simple even if not commonly spoken about, one has to transfer the load bearing from the quads to the fascia lata by tightening the tensor fascia lata.

This practice is commonly referred to as ‘u shaped crotch’ (see CPL’s book) and is accompanied by an outwards rotation of the thighs, and inwards rotation of the lower legs.

This method has to taught hands on, and practiced under supervision.

Once the key is given, one needs to invest in daily horse stance practice. Starting with a few (5-10) * seconds * at a time, (if you can do much more to start with you’re doing it wrong). The feedback is simple, the sides of the thigh feel a very hard burn.

One practices 3-5 times a day, a total of a minute of so at a time. As endurance builds up, one increases the depth of the sit, until one can have ‘knee over toes’.

When this stage is reached, one narrows the stance, and starts high again.

When one can maintain a *correct* sit for 5-10 minutes, one can starts doing the form, correctly.

David L.

You know, if you’re a karateka then most of your practice is in Japanese, for taikuando one speaks Korean, so, since we’re using a Chinese system, so, we have to learn Chinese so as to speak to the Muscle Tendon Breath and Bone ;-}

Not really, seems that one has to learn some specialized dialects of physical activity, but not Chinese ;-}

1. Muscle
   
   1. Most people know how to tell a muscle to grow, go into any Gold’s Gym (or your garden variety of choice) and you’ll see bunches of sweating people busy talking to this or that muscle. Some are fluent, and know how to address and speak clearly to an individual muscle, some need dictionaries or guides. The main underlying characteristic of muscles (and that holds true for all body components) is that they’re a demand driven system, with built in ability to respond to new demands placed on it. The second most important characteristic of muscles is that they are the major consumer of vitality (namely nutrients and oxygen) and since bodies evolved in an environment where these are always at a premium(+1), they have a way of going away when not needed.
   2. What’s less obvious is how to tell a muscle to ‘relax’. Relax is a word for what does not exist. A muscle can *only* contract, any other action must come from outside of the muscle. Muscles either contract(+2) or ‘do not contract’, so ‘relax’ is a request to ‘not tense the muscles’. Muscles contract when stimulated by nerve impulses, when these nerve impulses are not there, the muscles ‘relax’. So, relax is a yin type of process, the lack of contraction. So, how does one ‘relax’? (a trick question), by not being tense. Which is another tautology, seems to be a few of these around.
   3. So, what keeps one tense? Carrying Tensions; Such patterns of muscle stimulation that do not correspond to the current needs of carriage or action. These are known as Body Armor (Wilhelm Reich), and the process of getting rid of these is going under the name of Muscle Tendon Change when addressed by CIMA, and, starting with Ida Rolf’s ‘Rolfing’ a whole area of Western Body Work methods is available, also, the process of ‘Dissolving’ as described by BKF  in ‘Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body’, and a whole slew of other methods approaching the process from a mental or emotional directions is available as well.
   4. Once the CNS patterns have been changed, so that muscles are not habitually tense, one still has to go through the process of ‘tenderizing’ the muscles, that of modifying the fascia part of the muscle. A good resource for understanding this very complex issue can be found in ‘Anatomy Trains’.
2. Tendon
   
   1. Tendons, ligaments and fascia in general do respond to use by way of self modification. In other words, they exhibit the same ‘skill’ adapting to use as muscles do.
   2. However, changes to fascia take longer to manifest, and are harder to perceive.
   3. Not all fascia are created equal ;-}, their structures and characteristics have to fit the role they play in living organisms. It’s impossible to summarize this very important and mostly overlooked component of living bodies. Luckily there is a book that does just that; I very strongly recommend reading Anatomy Trains.
   4. Now, not all changes are beneficial, depending on use, misuse or abuse beneficial or detrimental changes to fascia can happen. In general the types of practice that fit within muscle tendon change (surprise ;-}) will have beneficial results.
3. Breath
   
   1. I’d like to ‘lump’ breath and circulation under this heading, pretty much like the Chinese do. Changes beneficial to breathing will prove to be beneficial to circulation as well.
   2. Breathing efficiency has to do with structure and carriage. 60% of lung capacity is available by diaphragmatic breathing, 30% from movement of the ribs, and 10% from expansion of the lower back.
   3. Most people use only a small part of the rib breathing because of holding tensions in the thorax and almost no diaphragm breathing.
   4. Re-establishing deep belly breathing, releasing the abdominals from postural maintenance load and rectifying the carriage so as to be able to have freely floating ribs will improve significantly the efficiency of both breathing and circulation.
   5. A seldom mentioned fact is that the circulatory system does respond to use with increasing carrying capacity as well; Stressing the circulatory system will make it respond in a similar manner to that of the other systems of the body, increasing capacity.
4. Bone
   
   1. At this point I’m sure that you expect bones to respond actively to stress, and .. you’re right.
   2. Stressing bones makes them stronger and heavier, a fact that’s mentioned in the classics.
   3. So, using 0/100% weight shifts, and single legged stances as required in advanced forms practice will be very beneficial. As will coiling and storing.
   4. Given the odd body use pattern of TCC, using very relaxed upper body, it’s my opinion that weapons work has to be included in regular practice regimen so as to stress upper body bones.
   5. Regular movement such as in forms practice and enhanced circulation will improve the health of the joints, since they depend fully on a-vascular, pressure and osmosis based nutrient absorption and waste product removal.

David L. 

(+1)The current “fat disease” prevalent in the USA is an aberration, most of the world’s population is still living in partial hunger as a matter of course.
(+2)The actual length of the muscle fibers may get shorter (contraction) stay the same (isometric c.) or lengthen (eccentric c.) while the actine ‘works’.

Here is an alternative look at threading, seen from my current perspective.

1. There are 2 major components of body movements, translations and rotations.
2. There are 3 axis of translation right-left, forward-back, up-down
3. There are 2 axis of rotation (spine) CW & CCW and ‘hip bar’ (2 qua) nutation & counter nutation.

All the above are created through the actions of the legs and qua & yao, singly and in pairs, abdominals are to be kept loose and ‘open’ at all times.

1. Arms are very complex, one can generalize as to ‘incoming’ and ‘outgoing’.
2. Both will have movements that are generated in the back (scapulae), shoulder (raise and sink, rotations), upper arm (elbow), lower arm (torque), wrist and finally hands.
3. Arms are activated by the body through the interface of the scapulae (jiaji).
4. Hands are complex as well in that they mediate the stages of contact, seizing & controlling, legs will provide the main impetus for incoming or outgoing jin.

All the above are at the muscle level, tendon uses and whole body uses are layered on top of these fundamental components.

Of special interest are all the specialized uses whose function is to ‘avoid double weighting’ (as defined by WKC).

David L.

A few years ago I made some presentations at the local Barnes & Noble, attempting to reach a audience and create an interest in TCC. The title I used for these events was … Muscle, Tendon, Breath & Bone.

What’s with these 4?

Well, for one, it’s a convenient way of categorizing major body subsystems that have to be affected so as to ‘rectify the structures’.

Given that the body is a unity, and functions as a unity, it’s still helpful to view the requirements of change from a subsystem perspective.

The underlying requirements of TCC are those of optimal use of the body, but, underlying these one finds a more fundamental set of requirements, that of ‘happy cells’ ;-}. If the tissues do not have optimal operating environment then they can not operate optimally, now, why would I use a tautology? Isn’t it self evident?

Not really.

1. What cellular requirements boil down to is sufficient supply of nutrients and oxygen in the surrounding serum and efficient removal of waste products from the surrounding serum. That in turn translates into good ‘return circulation’ of serum and venal blood, good supply of oxygenated & nutrient laden blood, and good outgoing flow of said blood.
2. That in turn translates into a requirement for loose muscles that have a low resistance to serum flow, and low constriction of contained arteries, much large muscle activity to pump the serum and venal blood, low holding pressure in the thoracic cavity so as to allow free diaphragmatic breathing, and low resistance to the expansion of the major arteries as they expand.
3. That in turn translates into a requirement for good structural alignment that allows free abdominals, low holding tensions in the skeletal muscles with the exception of the postural muscles. And that directly translates to the requirements of TCC as stated in the classics or Chen Xin’s or YCF’s 10 (13?) points or …

So, Jing (1) asks for Sung (2) that asks for Structure (3) and that will produce both chi (2) and jin (3). And the body is ‘happy’ all the way down to the cellular and molecular structure. Small wonder that doing the form feel so good ;-}

Now, what I leave for you to do is translate these abstractions into explicit requirements for use and change in: Muscle, Tendon, Breath & Bone from your favorite source of TCC instruction.

David L.

Basics (as defined by David L.)

What’s a ‘basic’ training tool?

A relatively simple body use method that optimally modifies one or more body attributes 

What’s ‘relatively simple’

Challanging enough so that the player must exceed their current ability to perform, but, if they ‘give it their all’ they can do it, at least sometimes.

Why ‘the player must exceed their current ability to perform’

So that they could learn, new ability is created only when one exceeds current ability.

What’s ‘optimally modifies’

A built in of a good basic, there are always many ways of accomplishing goals, good basics have been passed down through the generations, best of breed

What are ‘body attributes’

Those characteritics that are sought after by the system being taught, in case of TCC these will be goods structure, sung, axial rotations …