STRUCTURAL BUILDING BLOCKS

STRUCTURAL BUILDING BLOCKS
When training in I Chuan with BP Chan , when i would ask where to put my hands he would answer ” you don’t put the hands any where” or “That’s a good question, you should ask your teacher” . The teacher that BP Chan was referring to was in fact my own body. He wanted me to explore and explore i did. i began to seek comfort in the standing meditations and eventually found that my postures gradually corrected themselves . My back would kill me if i leaned back or my chest and shoulders would collapse if i didn’t hold my crown point upward. So in seeking comfort in my arms i found that if my elbows were out too far, my shoulders would strain. Eventually i found positions where i wasn’t collapsed and i wasn’t tight . i eventually saw these as building blocks in making postures . When i am in the posture that Mr. Chan called ” Standing Like a Four Footed Animal “, i found that this same arm shape comprises a multitude of postures. Changing the position of one palm TRANSFORMS into the next posture without collapsing or over tightening . You can also mix palms to make a posture . Ward Off is comprised of an Embracing Palm and a Standing Palm for example . This is a different way of thinking , but it allows me to find optimal positioning very quickly by feel …