Spinal Elongation

Ok, so I thought that maybe I could contribute a little to the forum… this practice (I am sure many of you are quite familiar with) is called spinal elongation. It is a paramount practice in both chi kung and tai chi, as is it with any internal style I assume. There are many exercises to accomplish this goal of elongating the spine. Just for those that may not know the benefits of spinal elongation here is a very quick and limited list of benefits… promotes better circulation of chi throughout the entire body, opens the sacral pump… again to aid (more accurately allow) for circulation of chi, counter acts the compression of the spine caused by the stress of constant pounding of walking or running, and just from age and gravity… thus greatly reducing back problems… provides a foundation to work on more advanced practices like rooting.

This is a very simple yet very effective practice to elongate the spine… take a square horse (standard horse stance) feet about shoulder width apart… put your back to a vertical wall… you will be pressing against the wall, but never during this exercise should you be leaning against it so hard that if the wall disappeared you would fall over backwards… it is just for feeling, not to push through! With feet shoulder width apart, place one palm over your naval… cover that hand with the other…roll your buttocks underneath of you… roll your hips up, this causes the tail bone which is normally pointed more out than down to point strait down to the ground…now with hips rolled up under you, press the small of your back against the wall… now gently press the rest of your back flat against the wall from bottom up. Once you have as much of your back flat to the wall as you can (don’t worry if your not that flat… this is not the main focus anyway) just don’t push against the wall so hard you would fall over if it were not there!

Now we are ready to begin the age old practice… feet still shoulder width, palms over naval, hips rolled up, back flat against the wall… now you want to picture that you but is being pulled down the wall, strait down the wall to the ground… it is so heavy you can barely hold it up… at the same time you want to picture that your head is being suspended by a string and being pulled strait up… it will take a little bit to be able to feel both the pull up and down (down being much easier to feel) at the same time! Just keep focusing down form the hips up form the crown of the head… like your spine is being stretched out… in fact it is! All the while maintaining this up and down pulling pressure, continue to press your spine flat against the wall… you should practice this for an extended period of time… 30 seconds is of no value, plan to spend several minutes here… although it will take time to build to, I personally like to spend about 10 minutes in this posture… and hey, while your just standing around you have time to practice some of that breathing stuff

Warning… if you have a bad back (as I do) this may cause some very strange sensations and twinging at first… do not do more than is comfortable… if performed correctly one can put a tremendous amount of pull on the spine… upon coming out of the exercise come out slowly.. you should not do any high impact work for at least one hour after this practice the spine will be tired from the pulling and pressing.

anyway, happy training!

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You just can't see my point can you??? strange, I can see yours so clearly that I can just reach out and touch it...

Hey thanks that's a great idea using the wall.

And your recommendation of feeling that your butt is pulling you down is spot on. That's what I usually try to visualize.

What about feet? Our Sifu usually says that when we breathe out visualize that there are roots coming out of your feet going down into the earth. That helps me to try to keep equal amounts of weight on the ball and the heel of my foot while gripping and holding my qua.

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can you post a pic - astandard square stance and shoulders width apart?

are the knees at 90 degrees.

I wann see how you cannot put weight on the wall.

Thanks

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May the force be with y'all.

I don't believe they have to be 90 degrees. Standard horse stance with knees bent while still being able to keep your spine straight is what I think he means.

Something like this start off with feet together. Point your toes out once with heels touching. Then make your heals parallel to your toes. Then toes out once more, and heels parallel or a little over the distance of your toes. You can do this on a count of four.

Then bend your knees down until you start to feel strain on your thighs.

Against the wall you would hold yourself up with your thigh muscles and legs only using the wall as a way to measure how straight your spine actually is.

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Allan..... this is what Martial76 means. No 90 degree stuff.

“	Originally Posted By: JABB_KYD Against the wall you would hold yourself up with your thigh muscles and legs only using the wall as a way to measure how straight your spine actually is.	”

Basically, if the wall aids me in this position.... then I'm not doing it like he described type of thing.

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It's all about the nitty gritty.......

all IMA-chi gung does that already - but i guess that excercise does help.

Thanks for sharing.

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May the force be with y'all.

“	Originally Posted By: jawsman Allan..... this is what Martial76 means. No 90 degree stuff. Basically, if the wall aids me in this position.... then I'm not doing it like he described type of thing.	”

Exactly, well atleast that's what I think he means.

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“	Originally Posted By: Allan_Tsang all IMA-chi gung does that already - but i guess that excercise does help. Thanks for sharing.	”

Agreed.

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It's all about the nitty gritty.......

just out of curiosity, what kind of back problems do you suffer from?

“	Originally Posted By: JABB_KYD I don't believe they have to be 90 degrees. Standard horse stance with knees bent while still being able to keep your spine straight is what I think he means. Something like this start off with feet together. Point your toes out once with heels touching. Then make your heals parallel to your toes. Then toes out once more, and heels parallel or a little over the distance of your toes. You can do this on a count of four. Then bend your knees down until you start to feel strain on your thighs. Against the wall you would hold yourself up with your thigh muscles and legs only using the wall as a way to measure how straight your spine actually is.	”

Exactly... the wall is there only for feeling... to press your spine against to see just how much your spine is straitening, if you do this regularly you will be amazed at how much more "aligned" you will become!

“	Originally Posted By: Allan_Tsang all IMA-chi gung does that already - but i guess that excercise does help. Thanks for sharing.	”

Agreed, ever IMA that I have ever heard of stresses the importance of spinal elongation... I find this little exersise is excellent to help out new people! Many of my students, struggled with alignment at the beginning of training... you can tell some one to straiten their back all day... this wall shows them, rather allows them to feel exactly how unaligned they actually are! I actually began implementing this exersise after a student told me his back was strait!
lol, even though looking at him from the side, he looked like a ? more so than a !

“	Originally Posted By: JABB_KYD Exactly, well atleast that's what I think he means.	”

you nailed it bro... even the turning out of the feet for propper distance... I should of included that, so thanks for picking up the slack

“	Originally Posted By: ace6foot8 just out of curiosity, what kind of back problems do you suffer from?	”

I was an iron worker for 7 years... lower back is pretty jacked up from lifting way more than my own body weight and walking with it on my shoulders up and down flights of stairs all day.... that and I got hit by a car at the age of 13... had extensive damage to my right leg and hip... I was told that I would never be able to walk without a limp and absolutely no physical sports of any kind! pretty funn seeing as how, I do ma and rock climbing on a regular basis!

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You just can't see my point can you??? strange, I can see yours so clearly that I can just reach out and touch it...

“	Originally Posted By: Martial76 Exactly... the wall is there only for feeling... to press your spine against to see just how much your spine is straitening, if you do this regularly you will be amazed at how much more "aligned" you will become!	”

Can't wait to start it, I am going to try it tonight.

“	Originally Posted By: Martial76 you nailed it bro... even the turning out of the feet for propper distance... I should of included that, so thanks for picking up the slack	”

No problem, I figured that's what you meant. But different people from different styles and different abilities don't always have the same ideas.

“	Originally Posted By: Martial76 I was told that I would never be able to walk without a limp and absolutely no physical sports of any kind! pretty funn seeing as how, I do ma and rock climbing on a regular basis!	”

Wow! Really? Isn't that you in that video that Jawsmanput on Youtube? The one at the Karate tournament? That was nice!

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yeah that was me... and thank you! not too shabby for a guy that was basically written off at age 13!

if it weren't far matial arts... who knows the doctors may have been correct... but my will to live, to recover... to continue my jouney into the arts was not about to be brought to a screaching hault by some dude wearing a white coat and tossing around a bunch of lattin phrases! shows what they know anyway!

it is a great exersise! of course for more advanced training and application... you can't rely on the wall... you can't even think about having your back strait.... it just simply must be! or else your focus won't be on what it should be! but as I said... it does show you exactly where you stand alignment wise! (pun intended)!
J

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You just can't see my point can you??? strange, I can see yours so clearly that I can just reach out and touch it...

“	Originally Posted By: JABB_KYD What about feet? Our Sifu usually says that when we breathe out visualize that there are roots coming out of your feet going down into the earth. That helps me to try to keep equal amounts of weight on the ball and the heel of my foot while gripping and holding my qua.	”

Just wanted to comment on this one real quick! yes, this is a very common visualization in many different schools of thought! I see nothing wrong with practicing it... if you are more advanced then doing both visualizations (elongation and rooting) at the same time is fine! however... for people just starting out in this kind of thinking or training.... I try to limit the amount of stuff one is suposed to focus on! at first with the cultivation of internal energy... you will not be able to feel the sublte flow at all... so all you will have is your imagination or visualization! I try to not over complicate things... if you are thinking about several things at once... more than likely your mind and body will be going north and south! In my opinion it would be better to practice with the visualization of elongation by it self... you will have enough to think about to begin with... the sinking the raising... the pressing flat of the spine to the wall... the BREATHING! I would say, once one can do this exersise correctly without a consious thought... then add in the rooting... or ciculation of the microcosmic orbit so on and so on...

just from experiemce.... the less you are trying to think about.... the easier it is to feel the flow of energy!

happy training... and I would be interested to know what you think after you have tried it for a little while!
J

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You just can't see my point can you??? strange, I can see yours so clearly that I can just reach out and touch it...

How much do you flatten your lumbar curve in this one?

I'm beginning to find a common base to all my practice and if I want to be able to breath into the kidneys and feel the breath rolling up and down the spine I need to leave something of the natural curve in the lumbar even while extending the spine.

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Martial76
Nice thread. I would also add that one should be advised that when placing palm over naval,"With feet shoulder width apart, place one palm over your naval… cover that hand with the other...",it depends on the sex of the participant as to what hand touches the naval and the cover hand. Maybe also mention tongue placement.

With Respect
Jeff (fuzzy30)

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