Module 2

[Anonymous]

Sorry, I think I originally posted this question in the wrong forum:

In the 7th video of the Live Mastery classes of Module 2, Bruce is demonstrating moving the leg, with only the muscles moving, not the bone….am I understanding this right? This is the video where he has the girl clamping down on his foot and leg to show what’s happening. I seem to be missing something, as it looks to me like his leg bones do move. Anyone have a good way of explaining this as to what I’m missing? thanks.

[Anonymous]

Egads! The question I just posted regarding moving muslces, not bones is actually in the 8th video, not the 7th!

[Anonymous]

It’s something that you have to feel in person. The muscles really do move around the bones without the bones rotating

[Anonymous]

Hi, Rosie!

I think this is the 8th video of the Live Mastery section you’re referring to. There is going to be some change in the angle of the bone due to the move – Bruce is using a fairly large stance, and the shifting from side to side will change the position of the leg a bit. What you are looking for is the way the muscle TWISTS around the bone as the hips turn.

I was trying to think of a good example. If you have a stick, and you wrap a towel around the stick (like the stripes of a candy cane), you could turn the stick so that the stick and the towel both move, or you could twist the towel around the stick (like you were ringing the towel out). The latter is like the muscle twisting around the bone in this exercise.

Also good to keep in mind that when Bruce is demonstrating anything he is really trying to make it visible so we can see it, so he may exaggerate the movement. Especially for beginners, you should keep well within your 70% rule, and this may mean you have a much tinier twisting in the muscle. I hope this helps!

[Anonymous]

Catherine’s last pt (how Making something visible, let alone noticable for someone that isn’t familiar with it… ie even if one knows what they are looking for- such movement is hard to see, espec on video)… Also there is the difference (as mentioned by above comments) of twisting “along with movement of the frame”, vs twising “without the frame moving (as I mention below), vs moving the frame “without twisting happening” (the usual manner).

there is the example on those videos where Bruce holds the “holding ball” (tree hug” position and twists. He just does it a moment, and each time a person is learning/see NeiGung new and a demo like that happens, it is usually glossed/ignored, as it doesn’t really make sense.. but if you digest that.
[What Bruce has referred to in the past as the technical term for Teachers that do a Strong NeiGung and Keep it Hidden is “Stinkers”… ie if the coiilng moves the frame strongly and obviously- like Chen TaiChi rolling.. that can be seen, but that isn’t the twisting… Obvious Twisting is when you look (up close) as an arm or leg and see (or tactile-feel) the flesh under the skin ripple. – so a teacher could amp up that to be visible, vs if theymove the weichi, and balance the twisting both ways at once, such that the wrist-arm-elbow etc isn’t obviously moved by that. [A good ex I’m trying to ref is the Threading shown in TaiChiClassics “if” you have TaiChi Mastery… if you don’t have that; then some of the YouTube vids on Energyartsvideos channel that showed int’l components might hint.]

The Ex that comes to mind is if slight electric shocks were stimulated to a muscle (~TENS), as an ex- would have the muscle jump- unrelated to the bone moving.. and thus could jump simul to the Frame (skeleton) moving (just go together, VS those “jumps” could drive-push the frame movement (usually it is partial- developmentally most of the powering of the movement is from “std muscle” but a slight bit is from the twst- and a slight bit is the ching flow: as a wave flowing-driving… VS in a stationary position where the soft-tissue twsts unrelated to bone (or the bone-frame may move contrary… ie Turn palm down- to palm facing in-at other palm, to palm up.. and while that “turning” is occuring twist multiple times one-way the reverse then the original way. etc. such that the twist is both with and against…
like lengthening outward, and “lengthening inward” and then releasing that stretch.. alterating between all three of those modes while say reaching outward..

Above may seem changing the subject, but to give the example of independence and yet potential “interdependence” (but that is First Separate and then combine)– at first just getting a twist move-feeling.. and then have it stable and not cut on and off..

Ex (to ref Catherine’s towel wringing ex) grab one of your thighs with both your hands (as if you were gripping a bar) and turn one hand one-way the other the reverse, so you are stretching the tissue between your two hands… that feeling in your thigh of movement (but not of stretch)… and I find when the twist happens the soft-tissue feels almost tingley and full, like there is a quality to it (which in a film these days might be represented by a CGI overlay coloring or such).

I hope any of that might help- the key is that ex I mention above where Bruce shows it in non-movement (and you might think, that isn’t very visible, but there is the play button-repeat)..

and the section on Swing- that feeling from the hip (don’t think from the legs- as usually that is interpreted at beginning as ft-ankle-knee in jts or muscular tension- instead feel inside your hip- just feel/encourage/allow that stretch and movement in by your Hip Jt… so a while of just grab/grip that corner of the pelvic bone and slowly-slightly rotate a bit- to isolate-feel that.. and see if you can allow it to flow up into your arms (doing nothing, but it activates by resonance- as he mentions. <The feeling is rather unique- I think a bit electrical- but that can imply a jolt- but rather it is a steady and sort-of quiet feeling of charge, which I feel in arms (and/or legs) which results in something on the back of my hands..

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I hope any of this might help- good luck

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