Finny wrote:Yes, Chris Davis has been a member here forever. I'm sure he'd love to hear about what you can contribute to his system, with all your experience and expertise in the area.
I've read most of his blog and all his youtube vids and he is one of the few that emphasize "tissue softening" as far of what literature i've encountered. Its a topic of interest for me. I'm sure he has much more knowledge on the subject then has been publicly written, but of what he's posted about on the blog related to tissue softening is very introductory. i should do some of his online on demand lessons.
to quote from another one of my posts:
I have studied my own tensions and can break it down to sensing, understanding, control, transfer, balance
most people "stretch" their muscles incorrectly. most people don't know that they are hyper extending joints by way of the common stretch methods. I have yet to develop an articulate way to describe my method. it involves:
-sense by pin pointing where discomfort is (by way of relaxing and being sensitive enough to feel at the very start of the pain sensation in a range of motion)
-understanding what is causing the discomfort (this takes knowledge and experience). I like following the tension from the area of pain along anatomy trains or smaller "orbits." most of the time, the cause of pain is on opposite side of point of pain on other part of the orbit!!!!!!!!
-control the tension by mastering the involved muscles of the orbit. you want to expand the orbit and find out where there is too much tensions and where it is slacked and where it might be impinged. usually multiple orbits involved in a point of pain. its like untying a knot, got to have a sort of order of operation to things or else, just tugging on tensions could lead to worst tension build ups or injuries or worse. very common that many imbalances are factors to specific pain or tension.
-transfer the tensions out of small systems into larger systems where you can spread the tension across whole body pathways (anatomy trains) achieving harmony in that orbit and effectively balancing the tension in your body (i think it maybe more accurate to say balance tensions, not release?)
my tensions are what guide my standing meditation. my main standing meditation posture is the pile stance (i imagine my body is a bile of rocks or balls i have to balance). I stand in this posture and try to find "neutral position" in all my major joints by way of paying attention muscles subtle "stretch" sensations as well as pins or pangs of discomfort or pain or by encountering of impingement through motion. peal the onion layers of distractions and ego then, I connect to breath (breath here means "control-ness" or "connectedness" of whole body). What i try to do is consciously relax as many muscles as possible while maintaining the balance i have in mind. when i reach a sort of hemostasis, i body scan for more muscles to relax. it is amazing how many muscles are flexed for "no reason". many times i will relax a unfamiliar muscles or joint and will start to feel tension or pain immediately. this is how i "hunt" my tensions. this tells me that my body created a "lock" to protect from painful sensations.(locked "body chambers") If i relax just enough, to the edge where the pain just begins, I can explore the dynamics of the system or "orbit" in question. (balanced orbit=unlocked body chamber)
when your body scanning skills develop, it is like your consciousness is a pin point that can travel anywhere inside your body. I use external palpation and body wiggles (this is what looks like tweeking or dancing to many of you) and taichi movements to activate these specific physical paths (tendon, fascia network connected to breath and movement). to me this is exploring the inner realm. once you understand the systems at play, alot of power and coordination force can be developed inside the body and then transferred out.
also the goal is to release as much inner tensions out of your body so your mind and body is free to sense more and express more efficiently. I believe that masters who develop kung fu forms do so in a manner that allows tensions to be balanced across the whole body and for inner body awareness to develop. that is the true purpose of all the "funny" forms in kung fu. of course each of the poses or forms can be made practical for some sort of situation as well.
I chose the wudang pai school for the foundation of knowledge it sits on. I very much want to practice a Dao based practice vs Buddhism based (i'm talking about the esoteric teachings here)