Songtsan

wow....this/you is my idol this moment and for some time and will repeat here and there and become me forever

Now, if the body is a miniature universe as they say in Taoism-style, what does this mean for us? I haven't thought nearly a single thought on the subject yet!

Sometimes it seems like emotions are the bedrock that the thoughts swim in. If a person is angry, the thoughts that appear in the mind are more likely to be negative, atavistic ones. Of course thoughts can influence emotions too - but the effect seems slower. When in an angry mood (say you are angry at someone), if you tell yourself something like, "This person is on the whole good, and I should not judge them as all bad just because of this one thing," or something like that, it can certainly dull the emotional intensity. Not all the way though. This is because emotions, while electrical, are also chemical. Negative emotions often involve the amygdala and the fight or flight system, as well as adrenaline/sympathetic nervous system responses. If you go into witness state and just stand there watching what you are feeling as if separate from the feeling (which is more true than associating with the feeling as if its your real 'self'), you will often find that emotions have a physiological 'taste' as well as a feeling taste. For example, anger usually has increased sensitivity to the environment, arousal of sense abilities, maybe extra energy running causing you to feel 'sped up,' and so on. These are physiological effects, as well as pure perception effects on an energetic level. Then there is the more pure flavor of the emotion, that which is beyond the physiological effects, the true taste of that emotion. This is the heart of it, and in fact could be said to come from the 'heart' - i.e. the emotional center. A person in witness consciousness could of course simply be in a state of detachment, not allowing the emotions to affect reasoning whatsoever. Watching them fly by like clouds in a storm, they decide based on their wisdom-knowledge what to think, based on their own teachings and experience. Then they choose correct actions based on wisdom vs. acting from instinctive emotional response. Then the flip side is when the person who is calm and centered has allowed themselves to express from certain emotions. They see what arises, know that it is good from a wisdom point of view, and decide to 'let it ride' - they immerse themselves in the flow and enjoy it while it is. Not being attached to it, when it ends, they let it go. Still centered, they remain the same witness, just a witness that allowed the feelings to flow through the body vs. not. It is a matter of choice, once one had attained this level of awareness. Once one has perfected oneself, of course, one can enter a state of 'choiceless awareness,' whereby they continuously allow the feelings that arise to express, because they have attained a state of grace where the right feelings will always arise, no matter what the occasion, so they can just let go. This is a highly sought after state of course. Most of us, if we allowed ourselves to do whatever we felt - if we allowed ourselves to dwell in that state, would end up hurting those around us, losing their jobs, ending up in prison, and who knows what else. The level of purity you have attained will become indicated by the person you are when you truly let go and become one with this life energy. Then, there is this: allowing oneself to be in the flow-state regardless of outcome. If one is in a supportive environment, and others are understanding, one can be this way, allow all the emotions to flourish, no matter how negative they may seem, and burn through a lot of karma quite quickly. This is in a way like emotional cathartic release, but in a more permanent fashion. This is the path of the brave and the also foolish. When the foolishness naturally ends due to realization, one becomes a wheel turning king.

Silence, Shh! Shush, shush. Hurry! Back and forth! Rush Rush! Have you tried frog legs?

Did you know? The myofascial system is the foundation of the meridians. It is where the meridian channels lie. Chiropractors, massage therapists, acupuncturists, etc. have known this forever. Trigger point charts and acupressure charts are pretty close to being identical. Myofascial adhesions (where the myofascia bunches up and adheres to bones, muscles, etc.) can interfere with meridian channels. Failing to stretch every day could easily lead to adhesions. Adhesions are almost synonymous with energy blockages. The myofascia becomes twisted and warped and pulls on the webbing of itself and creates all kinds of problems. Make sure you stay limber. Make sure that your legs especially are well taken care of. Also, the myofascia that runs between internal organs is important. Learn self-massage techniques, etc. to take care of this. See a Chi Nei Tsang practitioner every once and a while to assess your condition (Chinese internal organ massage). Keep your myofascia happy and unwound. If certain spots on your body hurt good (i.e. 'exquisite pain') when you press the muscles/connective tissue, this is often a sign of trigger point formation. Your body wants something to be done about this. EDIT NOTE: This post is just as much about taking care of the myofascial system as it is about taking care of ligaments, tendons and the muscle belly of the associated tendon...so I should change the title to 'The importance of maintaining elastic and pliable connective tissue' or some such thing

Here is an example of CRAC stretching for the hamstrings with a partner: The person getting stretched lies on their back, legs straight. For true hamstring ROM, use a rolled up towel under the lumbar spine to prevent the flexion of the lumbar spine from contributing to the stretch. Or not - you will still benefit - this is just to show you the true ROM for the hamstrings. Stretcher lifts one leg, knee unbent into the air as far as they can go using their own muscle force. When they get to the limit of their AROM, the helper moves in and stabilizes their heel for them. Client relaxes their leg, and waits about 10 seconds. Now, client tries to push his heel to the floor, against the resistance provided by the helper. Use maybe 30% of maximum force, or a little more if you want. Helper provides enough resistance that client cannot move his leg at all - client is simply using hamstrings to try his hardest to push helper's hands down. Do this for 6 seconds. Client now reverses direction, and moves leg towards their face again, using their own muscle power (quads mainly) and will notice that they have gained AROM. They go to the new AROM end, where the helper then moves in and they relax their muscles and helper simply stabilizes for about 10-15 seconds. Repeat attempt tp push helper's hands down for 6 seconds. Repeat switching muscle groups to go further towards face. Keep this up for maybe 6 times, until no discernible gain in AROM is seen. Do other side next. So you see, the helper does not push at all, just stabilizes. The client does all the work using their own muscle power, switching between agonist and antagonist contraction (opposing muscle groups) This is one way - there area other ways in which the helper actively stretches the client, to move them further into PROM. Try the first way to start with though. So what happens is this: When the client is trying to push the helper's hands down, the agonist is firing, which means that the golgi tendon organs in the hamstring send signals to the hamstring to release tone - it's all neuromuscular. When the client then switches to antagonist contraction (quads), the amount of stretch resistance in the hamstrings has been reduced some, and so AROM has increased. This is all from memory...I didn't verify it lol (as far as the explanation why it works that is...I now for sure that the method is true).

I third Spring, Summer, Winter, Fall...etc. also, as far as awesome kung fu - recently saw 'The Four' and loved it...

When I sit, I try to relax my stomach wall, and diaphragm. This results in me having Buddha belly. Also what it does is cause my breathing to become rather shallow, and unforced. I know that since I am not moving and I am becoming very relaxed, I don't need as much oxygen, so this is fine by me. What I also notice though is that if I try to do Vipassana style breath meditation there isn't much to focus on, as there eventually exists little movement. Air circulation becomes soft and hard to sense..I can sit there for a long time apparently not breathing. Yet if I use breath as an object, what then? I have left the breath for a while because of this. I now focus on dantien/MCO..but I would still like to incorporate breath, yet I don't like to maintain a fabricated breathing system. I experience some cognitive dissonance because of this, and my focus falters. Any advice?

Your level of detail is refreshing. Thank you. I am all about specificity.

I think most animals have an easier time of it than us since they are on 4 legs. The spine was originally designed as a 'suspension bridge,' whereas we bipedalists are still encountering a relatively recent development, and so must deal with a lot of new issues.

I like the seated spinal twist pose, without necessarily adding the spinal twist, but just focusing on keeping the heel that is crossing the leg back near the glutes and pulling the knee back. Also the one where you cross one leg over the other and sit against a wall and slide down the wall, or the similar one where you lie on your back and cross one leg over another and reach behind the thigh of your other leg and pull the knee towards the chest. As far as grabbing the IT-band and alternative frictioning, perhaps it was easier for me to do as a therapist when working with someone on the table, I could flex the knee or rotate the hip while they were prone on my table. I will see what I can figure out on my own. At least though, one can grab it and try to mobilize it away from the lateral quads and abductors...make sure its free. Also, applying pressure using a tool or the bone of the forearm and slowly stripping along it, maybe with a tiny amount of lotion is good to help release stuff. Ideally you want to strip it from bottom to top - towards the heart, but its hard to do by yourself.

I am not personally into full lotus, due to its effects on my body...It's a nice seat, but I don't think that it will confer some great advantage over other positions besides its stability for meditation. It's like saying that someone that is an amputee is unfortunately less able to achieve meridian channel clearing or enlightenment or somesuch just because they don't have the legs to get into that pose.

I think that there must be a physical correlate for everything- that matter, energy and awareness are all interdependent on some level. I never was saying it was just physical however! Even the physical isn't just physical - matter is 99% space, and all energy.

The Emperor and the Assassin Baraka II: Samasara

Yes...runner's get these...The IT-band is intertwined with the glutes and external hip-rotators...doing various hip-openers is a great way to open these up....Also, myofascial rubbing/rolling using a sort of frictiony object like that metal bar in one of the above links will help to release adhesions. The IT-band often gets adhered to other muscles underneath and should be slowly separated over a period of time to maintain its elasticity. I usually would go in and grab it with my hands and flex the leg to release adhesions...look up 'alternative friction' - its basically like this: grab your forearm with your hand, thumb pressed into the muscle belly, now rotate your forearm that you are holding back and forth. See how you are massaging by moving the part that is getting massaged? That's alternative friction. There are techniques one can use all over the body this way. The IT-band is basically a contractile tendon...think of it almost like a big piece of plastic/rubber...very dense, very 'tacky' - It takes time to remove adhesions in it. Work on it all the time. By massaging the surface myofascia, you get deeper and deeper into the strands and you will eventually have a nice un-stuck IT-band. This will affect the glutes too and make them freer. Less likely to get nerve compression from the muscles tightening up.

There has to be some basement structure that the meridians lie within...I can't imagine that they just float in emptiness. They must lie in a matrix. The myofascial theory of meridians makes a lot of sense simply due to the fact that the trigger point/acupuncture charts are so alike. The trigger points are directly related to myofascia. Even Wickipedia has stuff on the relationship...if you read through the whole wickipedia page below, you will see some of the development that has occurred in recent years. I will find better stuff than this soon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myofascial_meridians

I'll look around tomorrow. Just real quickly - Here is an older study that looked at the similarities between trigger points and acupuncture points: https://www.edsers.com/uploads/TRIGGERPOINTS_MELZACK.pdf Since then they have discovered even more juxtaposition between the two. Here is another good page: http://tymsin.blogspot.com/2012/09/Thaimeridians.html Quick example - There is a certain line that many people often have adhesions on - the line that runs up the medial (towards the middle/inside) side of shin bone (tibia). If you thumb right along the medial edge of the tibia into the muscle tissue, you will often find that there are painful spots. If you are completely non-adhesioned, you will not. These adhesions are often formed between the tibia and the gastrocnemius or soleus muscles. In Thai massage this line is called something (Sahatsarangsi I think), in Chinese medicine it is something else (stomach maybe? I'll have to look all this up to be sure). So these myofascial adhesions occurring along a meridian channel/sen line is no coincidence. I had the book Anatomy Trains that was mentioned in that one link...it really explained the relationship between myofascial planes and organ disorders. Since myofascia wraps around everything, the more external myofascia, i.e. directly under (and attached to!) the skin or muscles can cause a 'pull' on the whole web in a certain type of pattern. Let's just say that a myofascial plane or line in the leg was indirectly connected to the myofascia that wrapped around an organ; if you pull on a loose piece of yarn in a sweater, you will notice how pulling really hard deforms the whole sweater in a certain pattern. It is the same thing here. I'll get more into it tomorrow or the next day. I'll try to be more detailed than I normally am in my posts, as this is important stuff to know if you are into meridian work.

Another great way to stretch is PNF technique - Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation. An example of this category would be CRAC stretching (Contract Relax Antagonist Contract). May sound complex, but its very simple. Basically the muscles have specific ways to avoid injury. If a muscle is quickly/strongly fired, there is an automatic antagonist (opposite muscle) action to control and limit its contraction so that injury doesn't occur. Similarly, if a muscle is stretched too fast/hard there is an automatic reaction to limit the stretching by firing the muscle that is being stretched, thus protecting it. PNF stretching takes advantage of these behaviors to extend the ROM in a superior way beyond normal stretching. It is important to know what you are doing before you use these techniques however. It is possible to do them on your own, but using a partner is more advantageous. The 'bounce back' tendency that occurs in stretching, which Rainbowvein was referring to, is in fact the actions of the muscle spindles in the belly of a muscle. They are what are primarily responsible for activating a muscle groups defense against overstretching. PNF stretching can be used to selectively bypass this tendency, resulting in great gains in AROM/PROM. If anyone is interested in these techniques I will explain further.

Another related tool/technique are those things designed to release adhesions in the surface layer of the myofascia - such as this tool here: https://sites.google.com/site/fluidmotionchiropractic/health-articles/chiropractic-articles/graston-technique-myofascial-release-technique-and-active-release-technique Obviously this can be done by hand as well, using various myofascial massage techniques. The foam rollers work on a similar basis. As all the myofascial webbing is interconnected, we can make a difference in our bodies by working on the surface myofascia. Its easy and feels good. A foam roller costs like $10 or less. There is also Yamuna body rolling, which uses various types of balls - these are also great. These types of tools and techniques make a great addition to any cultivation practice.

Yes, thank you for reminding me. I had to correct my post. I often post from memory only and do not take time to make sure I haven't mixed up my info, which I do here and there.

OK: Active Range of Motion (AROM) is the degrees you can stretch in any direction using just your own muscle power, typically the antagonist (opposite muscles) of the muscle being stretched. People generally cannot ever hurt themselves by stretching within their AROM range. Passive Range of Motion (PROM) is the number of degrees beyond AROM that you can stretch a muscle safely without injuring yourself, generally using props, having someone else stretch, doing specific stretches in Yoga, etc. When stretching in this range, the most benefit is accrued obviously. Beyond PROM lies 'tear your tendons and ligaments rang of motion,' which I will call TYTALROM. Typically, when people enter TYTALROM zone, they are trying to show off. They aren't focused on feeling what is going on at all, and instead are trying to compete with everyone else. This is the standard. I am not saying your friend did it on purpose, but generally speaking, PROM always has a feeling of good stretch intertwined with it, lessening towards the end of its range (i.e. the 'red zone'). It is possible that someone simply isn't connecting right, but its not very ordinary. I myself injured myself my going into TYTALROM trying to show off my ability to do a split when I was younger and not warmed up. There is a reason why Yoga sessions start with Sun salutes. These warm you up, so that the deeper stretches can be attained. Warm-up should always be at least 5 minutes, and 10 is better, of cardiovascular exercise. Stretching itself is NOT a warm-up, unless it is done super slowly and carefully, which most people are not willing to do, so I consider it basically NOT a warm-up. Ballistic stretching is not recommended (things like bouncing into a forward bend trying to touch the floor, etc.). Ballistic stretching is using your own muscle momentum to go way beyond AROM. Only do ballistic stretching when warmed up, but its better not avoid these types of movements altogether, because of the lack of control inherent in using momentum to this degree, etc. Dynamic stretching is preferred to ballistic stretching. Dynamic stretching is similar, but doesn't use bouncing motions. Dynamic stretching uses muscular momentum to a lesser degree, and does not rely on bouncing movements at all. Warm-up means exactly what it says - warming up the body tissues so that the blood is flowing faster, the atoms are moving faster, the tissue is actually warmer and more pliable. As far as people hurting themselves while feeling the exquisiteness of the stretch pain and not trying to show off, I cannot really see it happening if they are properly warmed up. The body doesn't work that way. I will have to bow out and say that I do not understand how this could occur, except to say that perhaps there was already an issue, such as a tear or rip, etc. involved with that joint, and that he simply fell prey to that. Yoga injures many people by the way. I myself have placed undue stress on some ligaments in my knees doing triangle poses, before I decided to stay way up in the safe zone, even though I could go way farther. I would say that, regardless of the intensity of the feel good stretch, if the pain ever passes a 7, don't go there. It's important to pay respect to the 'weak links in the chain.' I think sometimes people confuse the pain scale with meaning a general thing. It's site-specific! If there is a tiny point of pain in a joint that is passing a 7, or just feels really weird or odd, then even though the rest of the muscles/ligaments involved in the stretch may be at a 3, you have to respect that weak link. Leave the ego out of it. Don't be afraid to stay at a beginner level in your form.

Its true that some may go too far - generally type-A competitive people who are so in their head that they can't feel their body well...generally in most massage modalities, they use a 10 point scale, where 1 is you dont feel anything, and 10 is it hurts so bad you feel like you are going to freak out and jump off the table. Massage therapists instruct their clients to never pass a 6 or 7. Once a client/therapist know eachother better they may adjust, but in regards to your question... The feeling of exquisite pain, i.e. hurts so good is usually a perfect indicator of what the body wants. Not always though, such as in the case of mosquito bites, feels great to scratch, but that is what the mosquitoes want! You damage your tissues, and bring blood to the surface for more mosquitoes to suck on. When it comes to the perception of hurts so good, there is a definite level of going into the bad zone. A therapist can note what this level is by the amount of resistance they feel as they are stretching the client. A self-stretcher can also note this same thing. You can almost basically use the same 10 point system to know when enough is enough. If resistance to stretch is beyond a 7, stop there. Wait for it to relax. Don't try to gain a bunch of degrees in your Range of Motion in that joint in one day. Also, you can make use of Active Range of Motion and Passive Range of Motion. I will get back to you on this, as I have to run to the store and do some shopping.

Muscles move bones...muscle memory holds bones in positions. Myofascia intertwines with muscles/bones/organs/etc. Any imbalance in one part effects the rest. Mis-alignments, poor posture, chronic muscle tension, etc. are caused by these imbalances. I am going to include a wealth of information on stretching/self-massage in my book, but that is so long away... you should start studying this stuff if you don't know it, because it will improve your experience of life and your chi flow swiftly. Study: -Frictioning -Myofascial release -Trigger point work/acupressure -using a theracane -using a foam roller -using the variety of self massage tools they sell, or everyday objects such as pool balls, rolling pins, etc. -partner massage If you have a significant other or roommate who is down...don't underestimate the benefit of buying a massage table (cheap ones for like $159 or so) and trading massages. You learn as you go. Anyone interesting can get a list of dos/don'ts from me if nothing else. Very good use of time and fun! Do it to music, its a workout for the giver, you can practice your martial arts stances! It is work, yet it is also 'not-work'

If stretch pain hurts good, its OK, if stretch pain hurts bad, back off!

Indeed - keep them pliable and springy - don't overstretch! Envision a rubber band in a freezer. What happens when you try to stretch it out? It breaks! Never stretch cold! Also - see myofascial massage technique - they focus almost exclusively on the myofascia. Rolfing is designed around this. If you have money - get a ten-piece series of Rolfing sessions (about $1000) and you will know the value of this. When stretching myofascia, or any connective tissue, never force it - allow it to expand naturally, when it is ready. Use just enough pressure to encourage it, rather than try to make it do what you want.