SiDaiJoey
03-02-2004, 06:23 PM
On the BF tape, Coach talks about the time he met Pavel, and emphasized the difference between his approach (relax and melt around hits) to Pavel's (armor yourself with dense wiry muscle and hard abs). He said both have a place and a use. This started me thinking:
Pavel always emphasizes development of great tension for strength. However, both him and Coach state that excess residual tension (from stress, fear-reactivity, bad posture, overtraining, not stretching, etc) are counterproductive.
I have extreme chronic tension in my upper back, shoulders and neck. My chiropractor has been helping me. However, this past weekend I came up with an approach that seems to help unlock things a bit more and helps this process along. The beauty is that it can be done anywhere.
Ever think about the expression "anal"? It means someone uptight and stressed. I beleive it originally derives from Freudian psychology, but there's a reason why we have that association. Well. I started thinking about this. Coupling Pavel's always mentioning clenching your anus and forearms for maximum tension, bracing and strength, along with the idea of increasing looseness and flowing movement (a la BF, Super Joints, Relax into Stretch, etc), I came up with this: Do the opposite. To relax, UNclench the anus. Consciously.
Don't just do deep breathing to relax, but actually unclench your anus, forearms, and other tense areas (on me notably the hamstrings and other areas), especially while breathing from the diaphragm, and even while walking. It has helped release knots and tense areas in my body. Over the weekend I had slept funny on Friday night, and had missed my adjustment appointment on Friday morning, so I was bit tight. I practiced this idea throughout the day and things started to gradually pop and release more.
On Sunday I happened to meet a fellow KB enthusiast, and was showing him some moves with his 1.5 pood (I actually don't own one that heavy myself but have played with one before) with my left arm, which is my stronger side. The next day I was a bit charley horsed and had knots all over the place. I went to my adjustment which helped somewhat, but this morning I woke up in knots again. After trying this idea of unclenching your anus thoughout the day, with a short BME session at night using the first few exercises from tape #1, things gradually loosened up from being painful to mildly tight.
Here's some ideas for practice:
As you walk, unclench your anus (just sort of let your groin and anus relax and "fall".) I feel a loosening in hamstrings as well. With practice, if you do a similar technique with your grip and your shoulders, you will find that your tension begins to reduce over the day if you are wound up. You can do this while walking, and if you couple this with some deep breathing (again while walking or sitting) it seems to work even better.
I plan to develop this method and practice it so that it helps with all my other physical endeavors. I try to use it as an immediate response to stress - rather than tighten up, loosen up. I think this will help with anything from combative stress (if you have time to do it while you're preparing) to releasing office stress about that meeting your dreading, or that distasteful trip to the in-laws. ;)
Pavel always emphasizes development of great tension for strength. However, both him and Coach state that excess residual tension (from stress, fear-reactivity, bad posture, overtraining, not stretching, etc) are counterproductive.
I have extreme chronic tension in my upper back, shoulders and neck. My chiropractor has been helping me. However, this past weekend I came up with an approach that seems to help unlock things a bit more and helps this process along. The beauty is that it can be done anywhere.
Ever think about the expression "anal"? It means someone uptight and stressed. I beleive it originally derives from Freudian psychology, but there's a reason why we have that association. Well. I started thinking about this. Coupling Pavel's always mentioning clenching your anus and forearms for maximum tension, bracing and strength, along with the idea of increasing looseness and flowing movement (a la BF, Super Joints, Relax into Stretch, etc), I came up with this: Do the opposite. To relax, UNclench the anus. Consciously.
Don't just do deep breathing to relax, but actually unclench your anus, forearms, and other tense areas (on me notably the hamstrings and other areas), especially while breathing from the diaphragm, and even while walking. It has helped release knots and tense areas in my body. Over the weekend I had slept funny on Friday night, and had missed my adjustment appointment on Friday morning, so I was bit tight. I practiced this idea throughout the day and things started to gradually pop and release more.
On Sunday I happened to meet a fellow KB enthusiast, and was showing him some moves with his 1.5 pood (I actually don't own one that heavy myself but have played with one before) with my left arm, which is my stronger side. The next day I was a bit charley horsed and had knots all over the place. I went to my adjustment which helped somewhat, but this morning I woke up in knots again. After trying this idea of unclenching your anus thoughout the day, with a short BME session at night using the first few exercises from tape #1, things gradually loosened up from being painful to mildly tight.
Here's some ideas for practice:
As you walk, unclench your anus (just sort of let your groin and anus relax and "fall".) I feel a loosening in hamstrings as well. With practice, if you do a similar technique with your grip and your shoulders, you will find that your tension begins to reduce over the day if you are wound up. You can do this while walking, and if you couple this with some deep breathing (again while walking or sitting) it seems to work even better.
I plan to develop this method and practice it so that it helps with all my other physical endeavors. I try to use it as an immediate response to stress - rather than tighten up, loosen up. I think this will help with anything from combative stress (if you have time to do it while you're preparing) to releasing office stress about that meeting your dreading, or that distasteful trip to the in-laws. ;)