Maintaining the Kwa-Shoulder’s Nest Box

[Anonymous]

Hi
BKF often emphasises the need to keep the structure of this box, in many (if not all) disciplines he is teaching.
But I would like to know more about this.

Are we meant to keep this structure at all times inside and outside our practice ?
In martial disciplines isn’t common that fighters bend and twist in order to get more oomph in their attacks ?
The spine is a 3 dimensional flexible structure with 3 main curves and 20 vertebrae, isn’t keeping the box structure intact contrary to the structure of the body ?
Is it not the case that the “end of the road” is experiencing yourself as energy and moving through the direct induction of your energy body rather than physical body … and that energy body is 3 dimensional ?
Is it not part of our natural creativity to flex twist and bend and so on ?

So I am not quite sure what is intended.

Is it a beginners learning tool that you discard later ?
Is it an effort to mould your energy body in a particular and beneficial way ? To which I would ask – if the energy body cannot maintain the structure without this constant reminding then what is the point. How can it become permanent?

If boxers and other pros routinely break this structure, then what are we doing ?

I suppose one of my underlying feelings is that one should enter into a natural harmony with the “tao”, meaning you feel it and breathe it rather than working within a frame ?

And also that I do not really understand the effect that tai chi has one you ? My assumption is that through these practices your energy body is moulded a certain way through your repetitions. But that in the end we have to simply surrender to the tao because how long can we resist it and tell it what we want to do ?

[Anonymous]

Most of my students don’t see this either.

It’s embarrassing and futile trying to explain it.

However, IMO it is a useful general rule:
1. It squares up your body to apply a direct line of force at your opponent.
2. It prevents twisting the spine.
3. It keeps the energy gates open and aligned with the left and right channels (it is critical to keep a flow of energy to the earth for grounding and rooting, as well as rebound power)
4. Facilitates relaxation as shoulder (and elbow) melts straight down through the hip.

Of course, there are exceptions to every rule.

Nevertheless, one of my instructors differentiates between the kwa and the yao.
Kwa: groin, bikini line, hip, inguinal crease
Yao: upper waist, bottom of the rib cage

For example, in left Brush Knee Twist
To shift your weight forward to the left leg,
Your 4 corners slide along the piano bench on a diagonal line,
then your hips (kwa) square to the opponent,
separately your yao rotates counter-clockwise around the waist circle to power the Qi from the source of force between the shoulder blades to the shoulder, to the elbow, to the wrist, the Lao Gong, the base of the middle finger.
The rotation of the Yao around the spine (spine still not twisting–soft tissue twists around the spine) provides additional spiral/screwing power to the strike.

There are many more protocols for this movement.
We are trying to explain the unexplainable.

[Anonymous]

It is good to have someone recognize something in what I say.

I think I have arrived at the time of my life when only direct experience counts. I still do frame based practices, but they share the time I have with reaching into the unknown.

Time is short for all of us, and all these things have value but many seem not to really leave frame based practices, and for me the alarm clock is ringing and I have changed course.

When Laozi sits, he sits like a log on the Earth.
Gravity has taken him and he has let go of the surface.
What comes next is unknown, and that is hope.
The time comes to leave this land,
and take what you have learnt with you.

[Author]

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