Muscle/Tendon changing: Tense or no tense

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Muscle/Tendon changing: Tense or no tense

Postby Lionel Buffman » Tue Oct 01, 2013 8:04 pm

Howdy-hi!

For the past two-ish weeks or so, I've been practicing a set of the Muscle/Tendon changing, shown in this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=310bN783YIE

It goes through 22 different postures which bare a striking similarity to the Da Mo Fist and Palm set postures as outlined in Yang's Muscle/Tendon changing book; but which honestly don't seem to have much similarity to the traditional Yi Jin Jing set seen here
Image

So, the postures in the video are slightly different to the ones in the book, but also so are the instructions. The video, claiming the postures to be "essentially isometrics", instructs the viewer to tense on exhalation the entire physical body (feet, knees, hips, buttocks, abs, back, chest, shoulders, arms, neck, head - the works, man!) while keeping the mind focused on a particular qi spot.

Whereas in Yang's instruction for the postures in the book, he instructs to instead "mentally tighten/push" just the fists or palms during each exhalation.


So - my question is, considering these two slightly differing sets and instructions: what parts of my body should I be tensing during the exhalations, how should I be tensing (what does he mean by "mentally tighten" as opposed to say, physically tighten...?) and where should my Yi be focusing?


Cheers!
Lionel Buffman
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Re: Muscle/Tendon changing: Tense or no tense

Postby joeblast » Thu Oct 03, 2013 8:35 am

Don't tense the neck and head ;) Everything else is good to tense. How the tensing is done will change the practice slightly, i.e.:
-tense 0-100% inhaling, relax exhale
-tense 100-0 inhaling, 0-100 exhaling
-relax inhaling, tense 100-0 exhaling

Not that the overall practice changes *that* much, it just flows the yinyang dynamics slightly differently making these minor adjustments.

Physically tightening vs "qi-tightening" or mentally tightening is simply a different depth of the practice. Begin by doing the physical, then as you make gains, add in reps where you are focusing on the qi or mental aspect of it. It is also just cultivating different aspects of the form. This idea also works well in doing things like the healing sounds, work from doing them vocally, to subvocally, to silently using only the intent. As you make gains with they physical method, other subtleties will reveal themselves in doing the subtle method. Intent can be very powerful, but it helps doing the physical method to "help separate the signal from the noise."
Even in mildly complex systems, any outcome is the wrong thing to target, with the process being where the focus should be.
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Re: Muscle/Tendon changing: Tense or no tense

Postby Lionel Buffman » Fri Oct 04, 2013 9:24 am

Hmm! Thanks for the tips duder! I'll keep you posted as I travel!
Lionel Buffman
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