what recent progress have you made?

[Areios]

well I got almost twice as strong as I was and my stamina is improving as it never did before.

[bailewen]

Finally repeated that stretch. Took a pic this time as I was starting to wonder if I had hallucinated doing it last time.

http://picasaweb.google.com/Bajibomber/ ... 0638242530

[ashe]

Damn, you'll be popular at the gym!

[kshurika]

Or in a mens' correctional facility.

[bailewen]

rofl.

Ashe...what sort of gym are you going to? I'm mean, it's not like you are out in West LA or anything.

Anyways, next step it to touch the toes with the nose. After that, with the chin. If I can do that then I might start working on a center split or something. Maybe not. It's hard to justify as there's not really any side or round kicks in my style. I do find that the flexibility does give a certain extra just plain old agility and liveliness to the footwork though.

[kshurika]

Hey! What's wrong with West L.A.? I was raised there. You aren't mixing it up with West Hollywood, are you? That's another matter altogether. Practicing this movement there would get you a bit of a reputation.

I think the next step is to get that standing leg straight. Also, raise the elbows, so that you can spread the scapulae. But, when you straighten that standing leg and flex the foot of the stretched leg, you have to pay close attention to protecting the stretched leg's knee. The best way to do it is imagine a block wedged into the calf (which, by the way, you can actually do). The block moves the calf into the lower leg bones and they stabilize, protecting the knee from hyperextending.

[ashe]

rofl.

Ashe...what sort of gym are you going to? I'm mean, it's not like you are out in West LA or anything.

just remember; it's not ghey if you don't make eye contact.

[Walk the Torque]

Omar, nice stretch.

I have a little something to report. One of my training partners and I have been doing pad work (amongst other things) and were playing with the most relaxed, effortless strikes the other day. It really came home to me how pathetic (in comparison) my strikes have been to date. By really letting go I was able to bring what seemed to be about twice as much power out.

It was a serious breakthrough for me to get back to that goal of shedding the hardness away to get to the core softness. A really sweet experience.

That's all

Conn

[shawnsegler]

Hey, Conn. Getting down to that core softness is heavy stuff. It really blew my mind when I really started to let go and really, really relax to the point where I can kind of use the ground and my full body along with stepping to generate some really sick power. Relaxing that deeply is difficult though. You have to break through some of your brain/bodies deeply ingrained hardwiring. Worth it to be able to though.

Best,

S

[Walk the Torque]

shawnsegler,

thanks for that Shawn. I am trying to keep this shit together under fire, but it is mucho difficulto! Its like that old joke about there being a thin line between fishing and standing on a river bank with a stick! If the slightest thing goes wonky its all lost. It's subtle but very tangible. As you say worth the effort.

[shawnsegler]

Yeah, finding the right frequency just takes hard work...nailing it down so it's second nature to do that....a whole nother ballgame of hard work.

[shawnsegler]

Made a great simplification yesterday. Another one of those things that changes the way you do everything. I've been spending a lot of time lately trying to slow down and generate all the techniques from the stepping and with the waist. I've got things down to the point where my balance is stable enough to be able to feel that and spend less energy on where my mind is in the body...trying to just keep my mind in the hands and the feet and to feel the central equilibrium.

The problem was I was still trying to feel my central equilibrium by following the position of my spine in relation to gravity but between keeping the mind in the hands and feet and trying to "just allow" for balance to take place by feeling the spacial relation of my spine to the rest of my body it was splitting my attention to much and allowing for gaps and stutters to take place where I'd have to reorient my balance.

So anyway, yesterday I realized that rather than putting my mind in my spine, I was relaxed enough now that I could simply concentrate on where up and down was gravity-wise I could just sort of feel where the center of the earth was through my feet and do the "as if suspended from above" thing from the top of the head and so have this constant imaginary gravity line that I don't need to concentrate on and can simply feel my spine moving around. Less places for the mind to be= much more efficient balance. It's awesome, so now I can relax yet even more and just conentrate on a gyroscopic sort of vertical yin yang of my spine moving around the central equilibrium line that I can sense, and a horizontal based on the extension of my limbs and the movement of the dantien.

Anyhoo, I think it's pretty cool.

Best,

S