I have started to be more conscious of remaining totally upright during Yilu. At the fulltime session we do far more Yilu per day than I would normally do at home and I get quite tired. I’ve noticed that as I become more tired I find my self looking at the ground as a result of slouching. When I am bent over like this my mass leans in the direction of movement and stepping begins to have a lunging quality to it.
I have begun to fix this by taking a moment before beginning each Yilu to ensure that my posture is correct (buttocks tucked, head upright, lower back pushed outward, weight sunk into heels). I believe that when these details are taken care of I feel almost as if I am leaning backwards a little, which is probably because I am so used to leaning forward.
The next thing I do is to try to maintain this sensation while stepping, which requires that my stepping foot is completely empty until it has landed and I am in position to intentionally put weight on it as opposed to immediately putting my weight to regain balance after lunging. Once the foot has landed I can transfer the weight and sink into that foot which requires an opening of the crotch area, in a way which I cannot yet explain, until the front foot is solid and I can step forward freely without my body lunging forward.
