Perceptual Leverage

[Walk the Torque]

We all know this thing about being suspended from the crown, but has anyone given a go to trying to feel suspended from a place inside the skull?

I have and I find a much stronger connection and strength from doing so. If we use our intent to project force outward, then it would seem to make sense to use the same ability to enhance postural requirements.

There are plenty of opportunities to use this principle; like operating the legs from the center, or doing rise ,drill, fall, overturn from deep inside the torso.

Does anyone else work on this principle of 'reaching' deeper inside to expedite the process of internalization?

[I-mon]

yes

[Walk the Torque]

yes

Ha Ha, yes of course they do

[shawnsegler]

Programing yourself to be sensitive to efficient shapes and patterns and learning how to hardwire them into your nervous system is one of the most "internal" aspects of the internal arts IMO. Having a brain that's nimble enough and efficient enough to switch back and forth between different different concepts and models that you've set up for yourself is the result of deep gongfu.

Right now I've been working with a bunch of different things like that.

The majority of what I look for are ways to use the ubiquitous yinyang shape. When you turn that on it's side and use the middle of the yinyang at baihui for your suspension point you get the teardrop concept that Peter Ralston is so fond of. I've been using that as a starting point and always trying to feel a though there's a triangle from my baihui going straight down and one forming the triangle going down and behind me as a counterbalance anchoring me to the ground (we start with our energy going up the front and down the back so that's an easy one).

I've been trying to ingrain always being able to take a horizontal cross section of my body wherever my intention rests and being able to try and feel flat of the cross section resting flat on the ground. Just as though you were in the pool and your arms were resting over the side. You want the same feeling as though you were just resting there from that point(where your arms are over the side of the pool.

The above leads into all kinds of fun things. I've been using that resting quality of balance to try and "ride" the different yinyang shapes (bows of the body, trying to use gravity and momentum all the time in everything I do. It's kind of like you're always ice skating or something like that.

I've actually been looking at lots of hsing i vids and books as the shapes and patterns are far and away the easiest to understand and get a handle on using them effectively. Although I've only learned a little hsing i over the years (about a year..year and a half all told over 20 years) one thing I've always practiced is Beng chuan as it's easy to do when you're say walking to work or whatever, and it was there I got my first taste of that ubiquitious yinyang shape that's everywhere and how you use that.

It's a very complex and fascinating area of discussion.

Best,

S

[Walk the Torque]

Yeah, there's no end to the fun. I have been working on something that, even though it doesn't make me strike any harder, it does produce a completely different feel when working with others. Instead of projecting my power outwards to produce more omph, I've been cultivating the feeling that my strikes/jin is connected to the target and is being pulled toward it. This produces a really clear feeling strike.

Anyone tried this?

[Bao]

I've been cultivating the feeling that my strikes/jin is connected to the target and is being pulled toward it. This produces a really clear feeling strike.
Anyone tried this?

Interesting....
Sometimes its best to focus on the target and forget about yourself. After practicing mechanics and body methods, striking should just happenby itself without to much thinking. Its like riding a bike, you learn it and then forget about how you learnt it and how you actually do to ride the bike. It just happen by itself.

If you focus on how you should do something while you are doing it, you connect to the wrong part of the nervous system. Its like thinking to much about what you want to say while you are speaking. Your words will not come out in a fluid manner. You will speak slow, have a hard time to formulate yourself when you speak, and maybe even have hard to make yourself understood.

The same thing with striking. If you think and try to "strike hard", you will block yourself. Movement needs freedom and spontanity. So maybe your method will make you focus more on the target and make you move more spontaneus, thus connecting your body to the 'correct' nervous system?

Just my thought that is...

(edit: this is also why I think it is better to focus on a string keeping your heap up from outside and above. This will make your head connect itself without you actually need to physically adjust it. It's like a magic trick, you fool yourself so your body will correct itself. It's a wondrous thing this nervous system we have and we can do a lot with it if we use it right)

[Walk the Torque]

I've been cultivating the feeling that my strikes/jin is connected to the target and is being pulled toward it. This produces a really clear feeling strike.
Anyone tried this?

Sometimes its best to focus on the target and forget about yourself.

Agreed.

So maybe your method will make you focus more on the target and make you move more spontaneous, thus connecting your body to the 'correct' nervous system?

Not only spontaneous, but also continuous, provided of course that I stay focused. It is a nice feeling though as it has a sense of inevitability about the strike. Fun to play with.

It's like a magic trick, you fool yourself so your body will correct itself. It's a wondrous thing this nervous system we have and we can do a lot with it if we use it right)

I like your point here.