Stand And Deliver

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Stand And Deliver

“	<div class="flexinode-body flexinode-1"> Author: Jane Hallander <div class="flexinode-textarea-5"><div class="form-item"> Article: [IMG]images/articles/stand/jensenlead.gif[/IMG] Scott Jensen demonstrates “Snake Creeps Down.” Notice his back and upper body stay straight. The most important component of comfortable taiji is the position of the spine during your workout. Yang Cheng Fu, grandson of the founder of Yang family taiji and perhaps the best known taiji teacher in current history, once said, “Good taiji is comfortable to do and comfortable to watch.” Simply put, this means your taiji practice should feel relaxed and flowing and should be a pleasure for someone to watch. Unfortunately, that's easier said than done. Perhaps the most important component of comfortable taiji is the position of your spine during your taiji workout. Traditional Chinese medicine theories revolve around balance and how a well-balanced body is necessary for good health. The center of physical balance is the spine since it divides the body into equal halves. Therefore, if your spine is positioned in a manner that unbalances the muscles on one side of our body, the balance is off and no amount of movement will make it right. Correct taiji practice actually aligns the spine in a natural position, which helps balance the body. This is one reason taiji is famous as a healthy exercise. Taiji sifu Scott Jensen, a teacher in Richmond, Calif., knows all too well the value of martial arts training for good health. When he was a child, Jensen had very bad grass and pollen allergies, which kept him indoors and required constant medication. Therefore, he wasn't very athletic in high school and was picked on by his more-athletic classmates. A friend suggested martial arts. As Jensen worked his way up through the martial art ranks — starting with bok fu kenpo then northern Shaolin — he became interested in Chinese internal martial arts, such as hsing-I, paqua, and taiji. His first Chinese martial arts teacher was Peter Ralston. In Jensen's initial class he listened to a long lecture on using the footwork to adjust fighting position, rather than blocking an oncoming blow — a new concept to Jensen. Ralston demonstrated his lecture point by asking Jensen to block a punch. Five punches were thrown. Five hit nothing but air. After a year it started to make sense to Jensen and he reached a new appreciation of internal martial arts. Then Ralston referred Jensen to his own teacher, who taught him northern shaolin, hsing-I and the Yang family taiji he offers today. “One of the key elements of taiji practice is correct body posture and structure,” Jensen explains. “After you master that, you learn to move in many different directions while maintaining a body posture that is completely natural to the human body. All taiji movements are designed to be in harmony with your body, while maintaining natural blood and qi circulation. The position of your spine is a healing factor. Taiji practice helps stretch and align the spinal vertebrae as well as relax all of the muscles and tissues around the spine.” 3 Key Points [IMG]images/articles/stand/IKFnov66a.gif[/IMG] Single Whip: His arms are stretched, while his waist and hips turn forward, opening and releasing energy from his body. [IMG]images/articles/stand/IKFnov66b.gif[/IMG] Ward Off is an open posture, with energy coming out in all directions. [IMG]images/articles/stand/IKFnov66c.gif[/IMG] [IMG]images/articles/stand/IKFnov66d.gif[/IMG] [IMG]images/articles/stand/IKFnov66e.gif[/IMG][IMG]images/articles/stand/IKFnov66f.gif[/IMG][IMG]images/articles/stand/IKFnov66f.gif[/IMG]Application of “Ward Off.” Jensen deflects the opponent's punch (1 & 2). Then he steps forward and positions his Ward Off arm under the opponent's arm (3) and expands his energy to take the opponent off balance (4 & 5). Jensen describes three key points in terms of spinal positioning. First, tilt your pelvis slightly forward, allowing the lower vertebrae to stretch and release any tension. Most people have a tight lower back, partly from incorrect, unnatural posture and partly from a combination of too much sitting and not enough exercise. Also contributing to a tight, painful lower back is a psoas muscle that isn't stretched enough to give it good flexibility and suppleness. This is an important muscle for martial arts and any exercise. It extends from the front of the thigh bone through the pelvis, connecting to the lower three or four vertebrae. According to Jensen, the psoas is considered to be the second largest muscle in the body. It is used to rotate the hips and lift the legs when walking and kicking. When it gets tight it pulls the vertebrae forward, making the buttocks stick out in a swayed position. This results in a tight lower back. Tilting the pelvis forward causes the tailbone to point directly toward the ground, pushing the lower vertebrae away from the thighs and stretching the psoas muscle. Many with lower back pain experience immediate relief when they tilt their pelvis forward. On a martial arts level, tilting the pelvis forward also allows you to sink easily into a stronger stance. “One of the key elements of taiji practice is correct body posture and structure.” [IMG]images/articles/stand/IKFnov67a.gif[/IMG] Roll Back [IMG]images/articles/stand/IKFnov67b.gif[/IMG] [IMG]images/articles/stand/IKFnov67c.gif[/IMG] [IMG]images/articles/stand/IKFnov67d.gif[/IMG] [IMG]images/articles/stand/IKFnov67e.gif[/IMG] [IMG]images/articles/stand/IKFnov67f.gif[/IMG] [IMG]images/articles/stand/IKFnov67g.gif[/IMG] Application of “Roll Back and Push.” Jensen deflects the oncoming punch (1), then grabs the opponent's punching arm (2), steps forward to position his arm under the opponent's arm (3) and pushes him off balance (4-6). The second important area in the spine addressed by correct taiji practice is the mid-back area between the shoulder blades. This area is opened and relaxed by reaching toward a corner or 45-degree angle with the shoulders and allowing the chest to become slightly concave. Do not try to round the shoulders, because that only causes your chest to become too concave and collapsed. Stretching the shoulder joints also achieves the same purpose of aligning the mid-back vertebrae into a relaxed open position. This smoothes the scapula and shoulder blades and makes the area between the shoulder blades feel smooth and open. Pointing the elbows downward helps place the shoulders in their natural alignment to the spine, thereby relaxing the mid-back region. When the shoulder joints are relaxed into their natural position and the chest is slightly concave your breathing level drops lower in your body. This allows you to use your full lung capacity by breathing deeper and more evenly and giving your body more oxygen. “Many with lower back pain experience immediate relief when tilting their pelvis forward. Tilting the pelvis forward also allows you to sink easily into a stronger stance.” The final important area of the spine is the upper back from the neck down to the top of the shoulders. To help place this portion of your spine in its natural position, lift the back of your head. Some people advise lifting the crown of your head or imagine your head is suspended from above, however doing this often makes people assume the unnatural position of lifting their chin. Lifting the back of your head opens the vertebrae along the back of neck and provides better spinal fluid flow. “Sometimes when people have a tight lower back they lean forward and look at the ground,” Jensen relates. “Others who work sitting down at a desk all day may lift their chest and drop their heads forward. In both cases supporting muscles have to work harder to assist the spine to a correct alignment. One of the first things I do in my taiji classes are some stretching exercises to loosen the body for joints to move naturally. Then we do standing meditation that helps people relax and center themselves. I teach those three simple spinal alignment movements and how to maintain them while moving through the taiji form.” Beneficial Taiji Postures There are several Yang taiji positions designed specifically for spinal alignment. One of these is single whip in which the whip hand is formed by closing all the fingers to a point and then held with the thumb. This position opens and stretches the wrist joint, which leads to better circulation into the hand and fingertips. The other hand pushes forward and connects the chi between both hands. It also opens the shoulder joints as you stretch outward at the end of the single whip movement. Turning the waist toward the pushing hand opens and stretches the hip joints. Brush knee and push twists the waist toward the pushing hand, which then stretches the psoas muscle. The index finger of the pushing hand should be directly in front of your nose. This draws the shoulder joint into a stretched, open position. When correctly done, the brush knee technique lets you feel a body connection from your rear foot out into your pushing hand. An excellent way to massage all your joints, the technique features the front leg gripping and pushing into the ground as the front hand pushes. One side of your body is open, while the other side is closing. A common taiji form movemen is ward off, which translates to peng jing in Chinese. In this movement every part of your body is open. If you do ward off correctly you will have a feeling of expansion and power. In large ward off positions both arms are open, with the left arm in the ward off position and the right arm pressing down. Lifting the back of the head opens the upper spine, the back arm opens the back of the body and the front hand opens the front of the body. Another popular Yang taiji technique is push and roll back. This movement provides shoulder stretch and exercise. Initiate the action for the roll back part from the rear leg so it begins the retreat motion, which also forces the forward pushing action. Draw the elbows downward and compress your energy before allowing it to move outward with the push. The weight shift and arm movement of push and roll back sends plenty of blood and chi to the fingertips. For the lower spine and legs, snake creeps down provides a deep hip stretch that stretches the muscles that connect to the psoas muscle. With snake creeps down keep your lower back straight and your body upright in a vertical position as you move through the lateral snake motion. If you bend forward you are shifting your spinal alignment to the wrong muscle groups. Also, keep your head up and back straight to provide a much better stretch. The first part of snake creeps down involves turning out the rear foot to provide a good stretch. As you come forward and up, turn the front foot out, advance your hand and shift your weight forward. Each movement in the taiji form is designed to open the body and allow qi energy to build in an area called the dan tui, three finger's distance below the navel. As you complete each movement the body squeezes out qi energy in the form of jing (physical power). This is one reason why taiji was always considered one of China's finest martial arts. However, the ultimate goal in taiji is attainable if your spine is positioned in its natural alignment. Only then do you have the connection of body into a single unit that makes taiji unique as a martial art and health exercise. Jane Hallander is a former Inside Kung-Fu “Writer of the Year” and the author of numerous martial arts books.	”