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vova on habits and ma bu

In a chat with Vova about Ma Bu, our conditioning through habits, and changing this through our practice:

 

Vova: I got a very clear understanding now that (and why they insist on it) correct mabu comes from couple of years practice

[1:17:37 PM] Martin says: yes, they say at least 2 years

[1:17:50 PM] Vovinho says: Somehow we have a habit developed for years, maybe starting from 5-6y.o. when we stop being natural and copy other people who are around us, like parents and friends, a habit of using outer muscles of legs, not tendons and not inner muscles.

[1:18:14 PM] Vovinho says: So overcome this habit, to get the right habit you need a considerable time of doing things right

[1:18:37 PM] Martin says: yes...hardest is unlearning bad habits

[1:18:49 PM] Vovinho says: so I am pretty sure that my 10 minutes of mabu (cumulative per day) even if done every day is not enough to overcome this habit

[1:19:05 PM] Martin says: so what to do

[1:19:22 PM] Vovinho says: so when not doing mabu for couple of days and then try again I do not have a slightest feeling of using the right tendons

[1:19:42 PM] Vovinho says: So now I feel that it should be lots of mabu practice, every day, for a few years

[1:19:46 PM] Vovinho says: this is why

[1:19:52 PM] Vovinho says: Before I did not know why 2 years

[1:20:00 PM] Vovinho says: Maybe there are different reasons as well

[1:20:05 PM] Vovinho says: but for sure this one too

Static tension

Here's one of the exercises He Laoshi commented to do "with the principles in mind" and "if you can maintain this in your bagua postures" i.e. to use tendon strength, adhere to the structural principles, and perhaps transfer this feeling to the bagua postures. I think they are an excellent tool. It is quite difficult to do this exercise with muscles alone, but becomes harder when starting to focus on such principles. Here, I had to take several pictures before the feeling and posture were right. In fact, the feeling between what looks right and wrong on the picture is minimal. But for anyone doing this exercise, I think important is turning in the shoulder blades and keeping them close to the spine, while rotating the elbows upwards. In my feeling and understanding, I am pushing with my structure and from the core as in the engarde position. However, it's easy to over-stress the lower back quickly, so be careful. As can be seen here: one picture is with arched back, one with hollow back. One of them is more or less straight. If anyone has any comments as to the correctness/incorrectness of my posture or understanding, PLEASE correct me! Martin

Vova's ma bu contribution

Thanks to Vova for this one:
"Martin, hello!

Here is the pictures I promised to make. Not so good performance, I have not been doing them lately, but you can get the idea.

You put yourself in posture with lower legs vertical in all planes, back vertical, hips parallel to ground and then try to find the position when upper and outside muscles of hips are relaxed but the inner part is pulled in. You can tell if they were pulled in fine buy the extended tendons under your knee caps.

This excersize is to feel and develop the inner muscles and tendons. It is a good idea to do for longer time and grasp very clear feeling. Besides in this posture you can move torso a little up and down by using the perrinium muscles and tendons in order to grasp the feeling of using them, and then developing them.

Regards,
Vova"

Lower Piercing Palm

ok this is a test to see how well video integrates into blogger.

Q & A with He Laoshi: Time of day and practice

Q: I have a question: in a kungfu magazine article you said that beginners should not practice between 11am and 1pm. In Taiwan during our private lesson you told me I shouldn’t worry so much about the time of day. Does it depend on the type of training?

A: Dear Martin:
It is a very good idea on your web, you can post this information to public, let more people and students join this plane.
About the time 11~13 noon, if your blood and Qi can not calm down when you practice, it is better to avoid that period of time, but sometimes I choose that time to practice in the past to calm myself down, it depends on whether you know what you are doing.
HJH

** Thank you, He Laoshi, for your answer! So we need to be aware of ourselves, our mindsets, our mood, and bodily condition...and then adjust our training and purpose accordingly? If I'm overly energized, I should practice with the intention of calming down? And the opposite, if I feel a lack of energy, I want to energize myself through my training?

A: Sometimes we can (should) follow our body condition or mood to practice, so, yes, we need to be very aware of ourselves.
HJH

Small steps...

Noticed a difference in my circle walking today…having focused on ma bu the past few days is starting to show. When I step down, I notice I can pull up more with the rooting leg from the groin. The pulling is what gives me balance, and also what propels me forward into the next step. If I focus on every step, I don’t bend my knee and my leg is stable. My upper body is a little bit worse than before, but overall I see this as a step forward. Baby steps lead to bigger steps…in that case, I guess I’m a baby learning how to walk the circle  ;)

...and more Ma Bu

The assisted squatting and the dang principle are helping a lot. If I exert force downward through the floor and outward through both my legs equally, as if I want to strangle a bull with my legs while at the same time pressing out against resistance, I’m managing lower back and knees better than before. Still not good of course: my balance, straightening of the upper body while relaxing the  back and general posture still need lots and lots of work. I found several attempts several times per hour, not even long, help a lot. I stopped using a chair, so I stand at my desk. When I feel I need a seat, I do Ma Bu. That will keep me from wanting a chair, just happy standing thank you…;)

Morning Ma Bu

This morning I followed the initial advice more closely, to squat while holding onto something. Saturday and yesterday I tried, but I wasn’t doing them properly. I used a rope attached to a high bar, but it changes the gravitational pull somewhat. What I mean is that instead of getting only assistance for balance (falling backwards) it also releases pressure on the lower structure, so the feeling in the hips and legs isn’t there. However, today I felt a difference. I just held on to the doorpost, similar to how we would use a tree to hold on to. Thank you Vova, for reminding me about He Laoshi’s lesson about using ‘dang’ or arch between legs, the connection, or lack thereof, makes or breaks the stance. Now, how to transfer this to unassisted Ma Bu practice…I am more conscious of when my knees start to move forward a bit, since right away the feeling is different. Normally I wouldn’t notice unless my knee starts to ache. Just looking is one thing, but to be aware is another. Usually, the structure collapses due to letting go of tension in the right places. This happens before you can actually ‘see’ that something is wrong. So feeling for proper tension and relaxation in other areas such as the lower back, is what I’m looking for now.  

 

E-mail exchange with He Laoshi

My letter exchange with He Laoshi on 24/06/06 was the following:

 

Feel what you are doing is most important, you can correct yourself if you can feel, good progress.

            HJH

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From: Martin Landsburg [mailto:cosmartin@gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, June 25, 2006 12:04 AM
To: '何馬'
Subject: RE: Practice

 

Dear He Laoshi,

 

Thank you for your prompt reply! Yes, as soon as I sent this letter this afternoon, I started to practice Ma Bu in a different way: not as long, but several times each hour to feel differences. I felt that as long as I can focus more on the hips, I can minimize the tension elsewhere in the body. Also, you told me to learn from example.  I’ve been looking at pictures of Yin Fu’s son, and some other pictures in the book, and looking at the videos. I feel an improvement already over this morning.

I’m now testing between slightly wider Ma bu stance and more narrow: in a wider stance, I notice I can control the qua more. However, I also notice that I can control the qua (pulling in tight) more if I go slightly lower than parallel to the floor…

Also, I notice that my balance is not so good on the front of the foot: I might fall backwards when trying to straighten my back. But if I lean forward, I am afraid my posture of the upper body is too far forward and my knees will point over my ankles.

More to work on!

Thank you He Laoshi,

Sincerely

Martin

 

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From: 何馬 [mailto:baguaquan@giga.net.tw]
Sent: Saturday, June 24, 2006 10:47 PM
To: 'Cos Martin'
Subject: RE: Practice

 

Dear Martin:

You said:[ I am having knee problems and lower back pain now]

Try not let your knee further then ankle, not toe.

We will use too much strength on lower back if we sit low in the beginning, practice the squat exercise holding something, try to check which muscles you use and reduce them, try to feel the qua movement only, relax where you feel pain on squat position, tell me what happens.

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From: Cos Martin [mailto:cosmartin@gmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, June 24, 2006 5:18 PM
To: Master He Jing Han
Subject: Practice

 

Dear He Laoshi,

 

I'm sorry I haven't been in touch the past weeks. I'm not sure what kind of questions to ask you. I feel I have nothing to base them on yet, because I need much more practice before I am able to ask intelligent questions.

But I want to share some of my experience. I noticed one of my bad habits was always to shrug my shoulders in low circle walking. One thing Alex had told me was that I should lean and let gravity twist my body, and thus the walking. So I asked Vova, who also told me that you said to lean as if looking around a tree. This is starting to help my posture, I think.

Also, I think I'm starting to feel more connection in the arm swings: when my shoulderblades are closer to my body, I feel they drop with the twisting of my hips, as two weights attached to ropes. At least in my idea, I think I should try to find this feeling?

Today I also felt that the basic gong-bu stepping on a line, which we did together in the park, needed some change. I noticed i step into a more stable gong bu if I pull the knee closer to my body. Is this correct? I watched the videos on youtube again and again, but I see I cannot keep my body upright enough.

Ok, back to practice...I'm sure all of this can be helped with more practice!

Oh, one problem: I am having knee problems and lower back pain now...I don't know what I'm doing wrong...I pay attention to keeping my knees not further than my toes, to pull in the tendons on the inside of the groin in ma bu, to lower my sacrum...But I keep having pains in my lower back and knees...I took some pictures, and yes they show my lower back is very tense. I try to relax by lowering the sacrum, but the muscles of the lower back pull me back again...Should I start my stance a bit higher? Now i keep my thighs parallel to the floor.

 

Sorry if I ask so many things at one time, He Laoshi. I'm working on getting to Taiwan soon. Now some visa issues, but of course not as bad as England!

 

With utmost respect,

Martin