inspired modulations: general 664

“Distortions” in our bodymind do not suddenly disappear at night. Quite on the contrary, areas where you have made slight progress during your daytime practice, also have plenty of opportunities to snap back at night. Attributions, prescriptions, and hypotheses about reality turn into physical realities, some way or another, and are communicated and active independent of the time of day. We focus far too much on our bipedal consciousness. We are many things. We are also (lying) dwellers of unconsciousness.

If you consider the amount of time we spend asleep, it is not difficult to imagine that our sleep positions/movements also have quite some impact on our lives in all directions. This is why it makes sense also to focus on sleep positions/movements in your practice. Such an approach is simply a logical continuation of the fundamental Taoist methodology of combining the conscious with the unconscious, strengthening the intuitive and instinctive processes and patterns inside of us, and widening our communication spectrum and abilities on our learning paths.

Integrating my work with pulses and waves into my movements within sleep positions, therefore has become an integral part of my daily practice of Wing Chun and the other traditional Chinese bodymind methods that I study. If you succeed in releasing and reducing deep-seated tension inside of you during your sleep phases, you have extraordinary partners and collaborators on the way. Exploring a simple Taoist exercise to improve sleep I found a very instructive way to accelerate the relaxation of some long-term tense areas deep inside different parts of my body (eyes, neck, shoulder, diaphragm, feet, …). For me, this unpretentious Taoist sleep exercise brought back this focus on practicing while (lying) on the ground.

In Taiwan I also learned and practiced many Yoga exercises that I studied with 潘柏世 P’an, Po-shih, one of my teachers there in the eighties, though I never systematically studied Yoga. The Yoga I did was all to support my martial arts studies which were central to me at the time. But doing minimal movements in a resting position lying on the back lead me to see that growing roots in a lying position can be easier and very effective, because the feet are not the only touch points to grow roots, and waves and pulses do not only travel from the feet to the rest of the body. Lying on the ground, roots can grow, waves and pulses can be generated at and sent into the body from multiple locations simultaneously. In support of this process we can find additional inspiration in the movements of water, of leaves, in the elegant movements of rays, and whatever natural movements are more in your sphere of experience.

My Wing Chun and the other methods that I practice have been gaining valuable input from this. Particularly in coordination with my experiences of the last few decades I can clearly feel the impact. My movements feel lighter and younger, and I feel the relief from the reduction of pressure inside of me. It is amazing how much superfluous tension there can be in the body. 

Rooting actually happens on many levels. What is important, is the journey of multidimensionally intertwining these experiences and the opportunities emerging from this learning path.

I am enormously grateful for the teachings of and the inspiration from this inconspicuous little Taoist exercise to improve sleep—and so much more!