Eight Inner Palms

Last saturday we delved into the shapes of the eight inner palms. We began walking the circle for the 1st time assuming the eight shapes. Matt spoke about the upper chest functioning as a joint. It opens and closes. Note that in circle walking that the weight is held in the back leg for stability. Matt clarified this by having me push his palm when he was weighted in the front and then the back. The push energy just feeds into the feet when back weighted and doesn't break structure.

The pic above is Cheng You Xin's son, Cheng De Liang, holding the
"Embracing Moon At Chest" posture

We also went thru a score of warms ups. The one that focuses on loosening the sacrum was neat. Legs shoulder width apart and by driving throught the legs and hips relaxed, you articulate the sacrum and the surrounding area in a spiral 8. It gets motion through the area and exercises the space not usually paid much attention to. All the warm ups serve to prepare the body for the circle walking and work on increasing range of motion interiorly. It softens the edges by rounding.