Recently I understood how to continue a stretch by switching to different body parts.
- For a while I had experienced tightness in the shoulder while performing Yilu. This is also apparent when practicing Basic Foundations, specifically in a three count Positive Circle right between Step 2 and Step 3.
- In a recent online lesson on 18th August 2020, an Master Chen gave an instruction on second count of the Positive Circle. Excerpt from Kelvin Ho’s notes http://practicalmethod.com/2020/08/64906/ In the 3-count positive circle: In with elbow, turn with kua, out with hand. When we do turn with (front) kua, the rear kua does not move. This action itself has already started to drive the hand out. When the front kua can’t go anymore, we open the armpit, and the rear knee while the rea kua is still not moving.
- After practicing according to this instruction by sequentially focusing on (1) opening the front kua, then (2) the rear knee and armpit. This completely changed my Basic Foundations and Yilu.
- When splitting in step (1), there is a clear ‘hit’ point where continuing the action beyond this will cause the front shoulder to get stuck, the chest will pop, and the torso will toss sideways.
- By locking in position at the ‘hit’ point and switching to open the rear knee and armpit without moving the rear kua, the split in step (1) is continued while the body itself remains stable.
Practising this throughout Yilu and all of the Basic Foundations it suddenly became clear to me today that there is a three way split occurring. Implementing this concept every move in Yilu took forty two minutes.
Example – Six Sealing Four Closing
The result is as follows:
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Front Kua splits to
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Rear Kua / Front Shoulder / Front Knee
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Rear Knee / Front Elbow / Front Heel
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Rear Heel / Front Finger / Front Toes
Keep in mind it was only necessary to follow the simple instruction to create the result.
Considerations:
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These moves are sequential.
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What is done must be maintained. Nothing can be undone.
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Overall there is only one outcome of splitting on the 45 degree line.
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In each segmented step, the action is on a specific body part. In order not to break this action, the other body parts adjust in position without themselves moving.
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Different body parts are used to complete the one action in a sequential order.
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In the final step, the end result is that the power is on the front finger and rear heel.
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