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dear experienced i-liq chuan practicioners,
since i am quite some distance from vienna (where i participated in the workshop with sifu in june) i have to train alone at home.
it seems to me that the most important thing at my stage is to become proficient in absorb and project , i.e. be able to feel the energy flow associated with that. would you agree?
secondly, sifu in his basic exercises dvd talks about pulling the mingmen, which from my limited understanding should be pushing (out) during project.
in my taiji&zhangzuang practice i work a lot on relaxation and straigthening the lower spine, as the mingmen is more in due to my pelvis being tilted forward ("guts spilling out"), which prevents a good connection between upper and lower body. this "problem", which has improved due to regular practice, affects also my learning of i-liq chuan.
any practical experience or hints you can share which would be helpful to move forward? as indicated i am intererested in getting some proficiency in the basics before dealing with the other stuff, because i believe that progress should be based on inner experience/results coming from good training in the grounding exercise/s).
looking forward to your response(s),
edgar
Hi Edgar,
As you recognized correctly, to learn to absorb and to project is essential for every ones progress in martial arts. As you train without a partner, you will not get any external feedback whether you train correctly. You have either to rely on your inner feel which might good enough if you are sensitive already or you will have to find a partner. Your partner doesn't need to be an I Liq Chuan practicioner. All you need is to explain him how to feed you with the energy you need for the particular exercise.
I feel pulling the mingmen rather like pulling it from inside of the body on the surface by stretching out the lower back in all directions on the frontal plane, i.e. up and down, left and right (like a flat fountain). A suggestion for an exercise how to absorb to project: You stand with your back leaning on a wall. Push up the crown. You can hold the arms in a position "hold a ball horizontally". Feel someone pushing you towards your upper centre of mass (or ask a partner to do it). Meet the force, keep the point of contact on the same place where the initial contact started. Don't collapse, don't push against it. Just hold the arms like a ring in front of you. Feel the opponent's pressure first on the point of contact and at the same time on your soles. Feel "nine solid one empty". Keep the crown pushing up. Tuck in the rips to connect the upper and lower body. Feel the lower back being pushed against the wall behind you. Feel as large surface of your lower back touching the wall as possible. This is how you can absorb oponent's energy. Or this is how I feel "to pull the mingmen". To keep the mingmen open while absorbing is a necessary condition for the later (or even isonchronic) projecting force. Only if you feel that you have absorbed enough energy already, you can start with the projection. Without having absorbed enough energy you can only use an isolated force of the arms which is usually not good enough.
If you want me to talk more understandable, please put up a post in the german speaking forum:-)
sounds like you're already on the right track.
without seeing you move it's hard to say much more...
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