Feb 05 Opening the Body..

Men are born soft and supple;

Dead they are stiff and hard.

Plants are born tender and pliant;

Dead they are brittle and dry.

Thus whoever is stiff and inflexible

Is a disciple of death.

Whoever is soft and yielding

Is a disciple of life. 

The hard and stiff will be broken.

The soft and supple will prevail….

- Tao Te Ching

When your body is pressed it will want to close and contract – making it weak and unstable.  We have to train our mind, breath and body to encourage the ‘myofascial bodysuit’ and joints to soften and open enabling the spine, arms and legs to ‘bow’ properly for power transmission.

My previous blogs of ‘Continuous Neigong’, ‘The Language of the Body’, ‘The Art of Listening’ and ‘Connecting Hands and Feet’ deal with the training of these skills.

I noticed that most Martial Artists are unable to access their legs and feet properly to gain any root or stability, on many seminars I have shown long term practitioners how unstable they are and how when they think they have most of their weight in their front leg, they actually have it in the back.  This is because as they start to put their weight into the front leg and the foot presses to the floor, the muscles contract and throw the body backwards.

The skill starts in the neigong and standing exercises teaching the myofascia to soften, lengthen and open to accept the bodyweight expanding and ballooning as a result.  The joints are then disengaged and open to function effectively. Posture training starts with ‘suspending the crown of the head’ to gently open the body and joints from head to feet to allow a free flow of energy through the myofascial tissue and in and around the skeleton.

As you then put your bodyweight into the front leg and gently spiral into both feet, you engage all the myofascial chains up the legs allowing the hips to open and the spine to drop, lengthen and open enabling it to bow.  The thigh muscles should be elongated, spiralled and feel that they are ‘lifting’ off the bone as they ‘balloon’ to take the bodyweight.

When hitting or pressing against a partner or opponent the arms should extend, spiral and the joints open, this allows for a free travel of energy and as the arms connect through the chest and back, connect to hips through the bowed spine and core muscles and fascia and then down through the bowed legs to the spiralling feet against the floor.  The entire connected body is then utilised to transmit energy and power.

Opening the myofascia and joints will considerably improve your health and increase your power, flexibility, energy flow and animation so it’s important to take the time on a daily basis to allow this to happen. 

Steve Rowe

Steve Rowe is a highly successful Martial Arts instructor - an International Neigong, Qigong and Tai Chi Teacher and an 8th Dan Karate with many other senior dan grades in other martial disciplines.

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