Hi Tim
I got a copy of the True Dynamic Balance - video a couple of days ago and when I looked at the video, exercise two and three, you´re saying that when you breathe in you should bring up/in your stomach. Is that reverse/daoist breathing you´re talking about or is it just that you´re keeping the air in the upper parts of your lungs? Reason for asking is that on the board you´re talking about breathing naturally and to me that is that one´s belly moves out in front of you when breathing in. What I heard is that people doing pilates are not breathing with the lower parts of the belly ´couse they´re tensing the transversal muscle. Is that what you mean?

Best Regards
Tobias

Tobias,

Not really "reverse breathing," the idea is to maintain the length of the spine and the lift in the chest. If you allow your lower stomach to collapse on the in breath, and the chest to depress inward, the correct alignment of the torso is compromised. You shouldn't be pulling up the lower stomach with force.

Ok will try that
It´s kinda weird ´cause I´ve just done the exercises a couple of times and my back, which has the annoying habit of "freezing" several times per day when I rotate it and lifts something at the same time or just rotate when getting up from chairs ´nstuff, feels like, well brandnew and the "freezin" is gone, maybe it´s too soon to celebrate but I´m hoping that it won´t bug me again. The thing you say about letting the mind do the work and not to strain one´s muscles - could´nt you transfer that thinking to forms, Taiji forms or for that matter to all sorts of training? I´m thinking that the benefits would be that one´s muscles would be as relaxed as possible regarding the exercise chosen

Thanks for taking the time to answer

Best Regards
Tobias

Tobias,

I'm glad my exercises helped your back.

"The thing you say about letting the mind do the work and not to strain one´s muscles - could´nt you transfer that thinking to forms, Taiji forms or for that matter to all sorts of training?"

Yes you can.

Hi Tim

Another question about the movements from the video. This time it´s the first exercise. When you push away from the ground, do you push away from the heels or is it from the middle of the foot. Reason for asking is that I´ve did a course in basic body awareness. It was originally developed by a french guy named Jacques Dropsy to prepare his students for Taijiclasses. Nowadays it´s mainly used in rehabilitation. Thing is that among the exercises I learned was this one that was similar to the first one in your video. The difference was that the rotating/movement was generated from the waist and not from pushing away from the ground with the feet. They say that you should have the center of gravity between your feet in the line of the bubbling well - points. Is that your opinion as well? What I found was that it was more of the challenge to push away from the heels because it´s harder to keep the centerline/pole in the mittle, It´s easier to wobble from side to side but when you do it right it feels that you have more power in your body than doing it the Dropsy - way, anyway sorry about the digression. The question was how you are suppose to push away from the ground - heel or bubbling well?

Best Regards
Tobias

The weight should be kept a little toward the balls of the feet.

Thanks for the info Tim



Best Regards
Tobias