Section XI: Box 11-28
Tensegrity Block Training and "Athletic Connection"
From the section covering:
- Conscious Control Over Normally Unconscious Muscle Groups
- Block Training as a therapy for “widows hump”
- “Athletic Connection”
- Studying the Body’s Subtle Cues While on the Raised Platform
- Five Steps to Developing a New Tensegrity Body Support Habit
- Block Training and the “Flow” state
Block training has been helping a lot with my bio-mechanics and structure. It's been strengthening my feet, legs and hips. I also feel stronger connections through my waist and lower spine. At the same time, I’ve also added deep breathing, which really increases the perception of the targeted area. At times, it seems to bring up emotions, at other times, heat. Sometimes, if I go very soft on breathing, it seems to open perception to something like another dimension –– a kind of internal spacious dimension. Any comments on that? Or, suggestions on the duration of breathing?
As a martial artist of over 20 years’ experience and a career scientist, the platform test that Shrfu Bracy introduced to me during one of our sessions was quite extraordinary. By merely standing on a place of “perceived danger” (i.e. platform), the body automatically achieves an advanced level of connection. The body’s posture changes from a tense and forceful stance to a more relaxed but powerful posture that is able to neutralize and repel attackers with the ease of motion and light effort reminiscent of the old internal masters. Step off the platform for a few moments, and those same attackers whom earlier were being thrown with mere touches now requires additional strength, effort, and struggle to repel. Apparently, when the body senses danger (the instability of the platform, possibility of falling off) it acts by recruiting accessory muscles throughout the body to increase its stability and power. This entire process occurs on a subconscious level because there is only the subtlest sensation of physical change when stepping onto a platform; often it is the dramatic improvement in effortless power and connection, which reveals the change. Be it a natural physiologic response, a primitive survival reflex, or the proper flow of “chi,” I remain perplexed as to the exact mechanism of this phenomenon. The goal, nevertheless, for the internal martial artist is to be able to sustain this level of power and connection without the benefit of the platform.
Tony C. Ho, MD
