what recent progress have you made?

[Franklin]

been working on deep relaxation while doing my taichi
feeling the weight sink down through the bubbling spring point
and feeling the weight compress down into the legs
getting the waist and the compression in the legs to drive the hand movements

also working on opening and relaxing the hips and kua more and more

feel that i have been making some progress
after i finish practicing my body has a different feel
kua and hips are very relaxed- walking away from the area that i practice it feels like the legs are being slinged rather than me stepping- and my arms are much more relaxed

[CaliG]

contgrat Greg

Nice strech Omar
i still can do only elbow to toe,
to much sweets recently...
mayby in age of 60...

Dzieki Wiesiek.

It's funny coming from CMA I never thought much of the belt system but now I can understand how it can motivate people to train harder and also serves as a reward for those who have worked hard and dedicated years to an art.

I also see that it's not about ranking as much as acknowledging that someone has a certain degree of understanding.

Poz,

Gzregorz

[everything]

getting better at practicing something, at least some little thing, every day. doing more qigong and getting better feel for it and better feelings from it. doing more yoga. can't do chin or even elbow to toe yet, shooting for elbow within a year.

[wiesiek]

Today, with just "regular" stretching and warming up, I came pretty close but was still about 2 inches shy. The elbow though, I can now do totally cold.

TCMA has a lot quite different stretching exe. than "standard", topic for itself worth of the new post...
speaki`n of strech:
Jarek told me once that his teacher can touch shin by his toe...

[Jeice]

Latest development beyond how things "feel" is a truly punishing jab. Nothing else other than realising just how far off the cardio and flexibility bandwagons I've fallen.

[yusuf]

.. when you touch something with hand, foot, elbow whatever.. you can feel this touch anywhere in the body

interesting.....

[klonk]

Something I've been working on lately is to bring a more analytical approach to IMA movements. My inspiration here is Western fencing, which has every movement categorized, named and numbered. This is in contrast to the four word poetic name given to most taiji techniques. I'm working mainly on categorizing torso position in relation to the feet.

It's too soon to say whether this is progress or a fascinating waste of time.

Very interesting. I hope you share more of your method and the results. I am sure you will see some good results coming.

Thanks. Well, I finally got my ideas on this into some sort of order and posted them here: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=5029

Response to that topic has been light but favorable; many more views than responses. Thanks to all who have read it.

[shawnsegler]

So, the other day I was working out and something between my shoulder blade seperated...like opened up a lot. Now I can feel my body as one piece. Before I was mostly in the front of my body and could move my mind to the back if I tried...now I'm kind of all in it, and moving from front to back doesn't cause any sort of brain farts....it's sort of seamless.

So, today the real benefits of that started to show during my workout. I think I now have begun to understand both the concept of Sung Kwa and Twist Power. It's really requiring a yet higher level of relaxation, especially through sort of offbalanced movements since I have to conciously command my body not to tense when it starts to approach the perimeter of my normal balance range....but it's yielding very cool results.

Yay Bagua!!!! Endlessly coool!!!!

[H2O]

So, the other day I was working out and something between my shoulder blade seperated...like opened up a lot. Now I can feel my body as one piece. Before I was mostly in the front of my body and could move my mind to the back if I tried...now I'm kind of all in it, and moving from front to back doesn't cause any sort of brain farts....it's sort of seamless.

You just had gas. Sorry to be the one to break it to you

[shawnsegler]

Oh, I just make up everything I say on RSF anyway...so no worries.

[oldtyger]

I found out how to keep my meridians open doing bagua. Something I had not been able to figure out although my taijiquan teacher told me it was possible. He figured it out and was able to do his bagua like he does his taijiquan. I told everyone, including myself, I was going to focus on my taijiquan because of this, but I can't help enjoying my other arts.

I've also made some real progress in my qigong, can really analyze on a basic level and found a specific blocked channel on someone at work--opened it--and she told me her headache went away. Of course, being the skeptic that I am, I don't know for certain I did anything but it seems like I did.

I also made some progress in my understanding of yi methods in tuishou and my ability to communicate my interpretations in the setting of a push hands group yesterday. Questions from others are actually good because it forces me to think of good answers. I was able to explain how to initiate yi methods for attack, sense the response and immediately push(not necessarily with a lot of force) based on the response, as well as how to counter a yi method attack. I may have even made some progress on getting one of the guys to finally lighten his hands up.

[Jonny]

My ZZ has gotten stronger. my structure is improving and therefor am less distracted by stabilizer muscles shaking, so I can focus on the mental aspects.

Jon

[grzegorz]

Inspired by Omar's story I've been pushing my stiff ass to stretch more and finally touched my toes for the first time since my teens.

[fuga]

Greg, congrats on the blue belt!

[grzegorz]

Greg, congrats on the blue belt!

Thanks Pete, now the guys at the gym expect me to perform like one. So I've been doing a lot of research in my weak areas and it makes me train harder so it's all good.

Btw, I'll be at judo with the Russians on Tuesday. The class has been moved to 8 to 9:30. It should be fun watching me getting owned and thown...