MCO, Sternum, Flexing the Rib-Cage, Pumping the Marrow

[Ian]

I just had a go with two tennis balls in a sock. (finally found two tennis balls!)

 

It was intense. Worked the twisted bit behind my liver in a strong but, I believe, not counterproductive way.

I'm impressed.

 

Must admit, it took me a minute to work out what the hell to do. Maybe I was expecting it to leap on my back and start rolling up and down. Then I worked out that floor might be needed.

 

Can you athletic types move all the way up and down the spine in one go? I found myself doing little tiny sections and starting over.

Cheers,

I

[Trunk]

So I'm wondering how you (all) view the role of these gates in your exercise.

I'm pretty lost when it comes to acupoint names; I've worked more on pathways, and places, without knowing the Chinese medical names. Some various moving qi gong exercises (that I learned locally, in person) have helped me articulate the spine and connect some areas. (Also, of course, the things we're discussing here, and archived at AlchemicalTaoism.)

 

I just had a go with two tennis balls in a sock. .. It was intense.

 

Can you athletic types move all the way up and down the spine in one go? I found myself doing little tiny sections and starting over.

I use two old tennis balls in a sock; they're softer. (My pop is a tennis buff, and he happened to have some old ones in a cupboard.) Also, four socked balls sometimes when I want less pressure.

 

Directions diagram here, down some on the page.

 

I definately go sections at a time. Sometimes bracing myself with my elbows on the ground. I don't see any point in doing it in one sweep; not enough time to be sensitive to the process and massage.

[Spectrum]

... move all the way up and down the spine in one go? I found myself doing little tiny sections and starting over.

 

Single Points: start on the point that's tender, light circular motion, back and forth, up and down then connect to next points on the line.

 

Lines: A general mixture of circular, back and forth, up and down until the line feels smooth. Most of the time I find myself working on sections; ALTHOUGH, i got two st. bernard sized tennis balls from the pet store: Think about 3-4inches in dia. tennis balls! Trunk you need to try this: BIG ones, excellent for doing the whole back at once...

 

Again thanks to Sifu Fong (YiQuan/PDX) for cluing in ANYONE off the street on this simple massage technique.

Edited March 9, 2007 by Spectrum

[Ian]

-- later edit --

In response to an offline question, and to clarify: the air-filled balls for the bouncy front massage must be soft and resilient. (Otherwise, you'd hurt yourself when you bounce. For instance, a basketball would be way way too hard.)

 

Trunk,

 

In this picture, is the squished ball shown with you pressing as hard as you can? i.e. is that as flat as you can get it? The only foam ball I could get is pretty hopeless as it flattens completely under any of my weight at all.

 

These balls don't seem to exist in the UK. Would anyone be prepared to post me one if I paypal them the necessary? I got a quote from the site which Trunk linked to, and it was like $93 dollars postage for a couple of $5 - $8 balls. It can't actually cost that much to send foam to England, can it?

 

Cheers,

I

[Trunk]

In this picture, is the squished ball shown with you pressing as hard as you can?

..

These balls don't seem to exist in the UK.

I wasn't pressing with full weight, just a decent shove. These are inflated rubber balls, not foam (not sure if you're using the word "foam" to mean "rubber").

 

I can send you some, PM me your address.

[Ian]

I wasn't pressing with full weight, just a decent shove. These are inflated rubber balls, not foam (not sure if you're using the word "foam" to mean "rubber").

 

I can send you some, PM me your address.

 

You're right I was confusing foam and rubber. But hey, we don't have the rubber ones either. I wonder what UK kids do for spherical entertainment.

 

I have in the interim found a way to use the soft foam football - up against the wall!! Especially good just on the abdomen, breathing in and out. Like a simplified CNT.

 

Many thanks, anyway. PM to follow.

I

[Trunk]

I wonder what UK kids do for spherical entertainment.

Maybe worth going to a large sporting goods store, and a large kids toy store to see what's available.

I have in the interim found a way to use the soft foam football - up against the wall!! Especially good just on the abdomen, breathing in and out. Like a simplified CNT.

Yup, I think the variations are virtually endless.

 

-- later edit --

In any case, I can send you the others no problem.

[lino]

I found out that two of the chi mai to the heart are usually open and that there are an additional six chi mai that are opened thru practices, which practices I don't know. It sucks I think because I would have to be with a master or some sort of supervision during practices just in case the opening prompts a medical emergency.

[Spectrum]

I found out that two of the chi mai to the heart are usually open and that there are an additional six chi mai that are opened thru practices, which practices I don't know. It sucks I think because I would have to be with a master or some sort of supervision during practices just in case the opening prompts a medical emergency.

 

Can you point your finger on a map for us? Sounds like your looking for something very specific, do share!

[lino]

Can you point your finger on a map for us? Sounds like your looking for something very specific, do share!

 

Nevermind, I'm not advanced enough in my practice so that I can open the rest of the heart but Trunk is at that point. In Huai-Chin Nan's and William Bodri's book "How to Measure and Deepen your Spiritual Realization" he states that opening the heart is necessary in order to absorb the moon essence. The ebook is well worth the price.

[Trunk]

Nevermind, I'm not advanced enough in my practice..

Don't get discouraged. What I started experimenting with here, "bouncing the front line" - and some of the work with the smaller rubber balls - is very aggressive (one of the most aggressive methods I've shared on this board, ever, btw), and I didn't quite realize it at the time. I think there's softer ways to approach this stuff, gradually.

[lino]

Don't get discouraged. What I started experimenting with here, "bouncing the front line" - and some of the work with the smaller rubber balls - is very aggressive (one of the most aggressive methods I've shared on this board, ever, btw), and I didn't quite realize it at the time. I think there's softer ways to approach this stuff, gradually.

 

I'm not discouraged

 

In the beginning, I could only feel jing in between the hands with a space of 8 inches. I can now feel jing with a space of three feet.

[gendao]

What I'm finding is that it's wonderful for blood circulation, and is thorough (for the region of the torso at which you're breathin' & bouncin'). For me, sexual energy easily sticks places, causes stagnation, and so I've been using whatever techniques to loosen up this spot or that spot. Massaging, 50 kinds of breathing, sticking stuff up my ass, squating, etc. (go reference the 10,000 pages of my website). There always seems to be some place I am not getting, because jing can stick anywhere and everywhere, and nothing ever seemed to get all of it - on a really physical layer - for me. Breathing while bouncing, on these f'ing little $4 balls, seems to circulate blood better, and more thoroughly for that region of the torso, than anything I've tried up to this point.

Very interesting. Sounds similar to Yamuna Body Rolling.

 

Some local practitioner brought these "foot wakers" to the Kunlun class in L.A.:

And then gave me a sample treatment on my feet and lower legs using them. It was REALLY cool! Sort of like a combo between chiropractice/biomechanics & reflexology. She massaged my bones using traction to realign them in place, while my feet were pressing on the knobbed domes and I felt energy shoot through my meridians all the way up to my head.

 

But the technique also uses balls and rolling along the rest of the body, another key area in particular being along the spine.

Lying over the ball, you literally roll your body out almost like dough, stretching and elongating your muscles. The YBR routines follow specific sequences that match the body's own logic and order. Starting where each muscle begins, at its origin, you roll toward where it attaches to the point called its insertion.

Personally, I've intuitively done something like this on my own before with a basketball...

 

However, those domed foot wakers...man, I may have to get some of those! Considering how our feet affect our posture from the ground up and are our energy connection to the Earth...anything to properly align them is GREAT.

Edited November 13, 2007 by vortex

[Spectrum]

Essentially once you start "chasing the dragon" in the phenomenological sense of fixating on specific points, you will forever sense some type of cycle afoot. Forget about it. Take care of it that day everyday by the end of the day. Sleep well. Think about it like learning the maps, and learning how the frame is attached to the struts. Motion is how you drive. In water or on land. There are routes and paths that spiral. We found those in grappling practice and you feel them in all the techniques that seem to "work" in an effortless encounter w/ li (physical force).

 

Any whole body workout should clear it. Especially if its moving the organism that which you are suspended tyhrough it's own little ecological cycle. It's own sun / moon orbit if you will. In my experience the speeding up or slowing down of natural body mind cycles is true material, not myth. Knowing hoto read internal sensations and appropriately adjust breath food & movement to compliment, nothing at all. All of it.

 

Swimming(Dolphin, Shark, Fish, Jelly Fish, Walking on Bottom w/ Rock, Surfing, Rock Climbing (Geico?), Jogging? Good for the Heart. Rolling. Yes. You will naturally rebalance and start again the next day. upward & downward spirals intersetx in /\ time intervals and harmonies. It doesn't matter what we make of them, the journey from mountain to vally from valley to summetr produces a beautiful chorus of stories to share. Words will never express the subconscious transformation that direct extraordinary experience of the particle wave of tao is. You can try to put it into words, but I agree, motion and energy is the medium of the tao, not these puny words we speak. We would be better to sing and share our music with one another.

 

Humbly and Regretfully & Still Rolling,

 

Spectrum

[joeblast]

I like the idea of the tennis balls I've been using a single lacrosse ball more as a deep tissue massage for my back, doing one side of the spine at a time - my rolling isnt up and down per se, its been more in ellipses just to get the ball rolling where I want it to; i.e. I'll roll one way and curve down along the shoulderblade, and another where I will continue straight down the side of the spine on the UB meridian lines (although I'm mostly going by muscle feel.) I think I also dig that spine roller, I'm gonna have to pick one of those up.

I've done a lot of back work...my injuries I've sustained over the years require that I do so in order for me to feel normal. At some points I get 'the shakes' when holding or going really slow...I kinda just interpret those as areas where I need a little more attention, i.e. the right in this pic I'll work on having my legs extended with appropriate emphasis on my lower back: (l5/s1 disc is the one I'm missing pieces of)

Edited November 15, 2007 by joeblast

[rain]

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Edited April 17, 2008 by rain

[Spectrum]

big ball bounce core build

bed bandy ball trigger-aid

flatball footmassage balance yin-tease

 

love balls - best friends

 

Whumph Whum Whua Whoa

 

WhoWhaHaHeHhoooooooooe

 

Up Down Up Down Up Down

 

Follow th4 do nut into the hole

[rain]

......................

Edited April 17, 2008 by rain

[Spectrum]

Triangles Angle Ankles

 

Combing the Peacocks Tail

 

As Snake Creeps Down

 

The Golden Boy Strings

 

Seven Stars into Alignment

[rain]

....................

Edited April 17, 2008 by rain

[Spectrum]

the mysteries of the dance remain concealed through poetic tri-Ummpphh.

 

 

seeing secret cycles

 

seems a sickly circus

 

stress undresses the serpent

 

 

the sacred and profane

 

dance today to nights domain

 

the knights bring us the day

 

 

follow the star to the manger

 

for there are stranger dangers

 

for mystic re-arrangers

 

 

following high step low

 

swallowing shy missteps plateau

 

If I cry and let it go

 

innimeeneminnimo

 

 

Spectrum

Edited November 18, 2007 by Spectrum