aiasthewall wrote:As an aside, I did some damage to my shoulders by doing long standing periods with my shoulders forward in the sockets. The combination of splitting action + intent forward causes a strong impulse, ime, to pull the shoulders forward out of there sockets. Keeping the intention "back" as well as forward helps keep the shoulders set in their sockets. This is splitting, anyhow.
This sounds like a case of shoulder dislocation, and most cause of it is contracting concentrically and ballistic stretching at the same time that developed a contrasted action of contracting the muscles inward and pulling the muscles outward. Some Taiji teachers will tell you that is this double heavies. It is a known problem with boxing practitioners. My suggestion is to utilize the muscles under your armpits to left your arms instead of contracting your shoulders.