Shifting weight sequence - Newsletter #8

This month I am sharing with you a short basic flow and the progressions that build up to it.

Not many know this, but I have recently gone through an operation in my wrist. On late February I learned that I have a Kienbock's disease level 3b, a rare condition without enough medical scientific literature to support its causes. It basically means that my lunate bone (the central bottom bone of the carpal bones) started to develop necrosis and it was in the risk of collapsing. 

After a thorough research I have learned about the possibility of a revascularization operation which was done by the trusted hands of Dr. Sergi Ochoa Barrera in Barcelona.

The operation succeeded and I have gone through a challenging and fascinating period of re-learning to use my re-vascularized wrist. It wasn't easy, at the beginning I couldn't even hold a fork properly and the first achievement of opening again a jar of pickles happend only about 2 months after the surgery. But on the way I got back to painting, sculpturing, relearning properly all the anatomy and kinesiology of the hand and arm and basically practicing my beginner's mind.

I am happy to say that I stopped being challenged by pickles, pencils, clay and push ups and I am ready to take back again the task of dancing on my hands. The thing is that in the long physio process I did I didn't really get a chance to work the strange rotations and weight shifts I have been so used to do in order to express myself since my childhood. 

An interesting point was that many of those coordinations have been so natural for me over the years that I never actually needed to break them down into simple mechanisms and directions. I would simply 'flow' into and out of them. 

So the lemons turn to lemonade I guess, at least for those who are interested how those maneuvers can be broken down into more simple and clear progressions.

- I recommend to practice each pattern 5 times to each side, moving constantly between right to left to complete 10 continuous repetitions. Take a few breaths and a couple of steps so the oxygen in your body will circulate again and then go on for another set or for the next variation. I usually recommend to my students 3 sets of 10 as a minimum before the change. 

- Try to focus on your breath and notice how the air and the fluidity of motion carry each other, from your inner rythme into the space

- Pay attention to how you position your hands and your feet. Rather than grounding only down try to imagine how as soon as you place a point of contact you already shift the waters of your body towards the next point.

- Make sure you can see the space around you when you move, one of the biggest joys in this angle is to see the room from upside down and around - I missed this trip! 

Let me know how it goes! If the experience works for you I will make sure to do more of those little drills throughout my recovery. Let's see how quickly we will get to handspins ;)

Feel free to film your self with the hashtags #movementarchery and #fromthemindofanarcher so I can see and give you a short feedback

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Music: Kiyoto - Edge
Warmest Wishes from the upcoming European cold,

Tom