Wednesday, August 11, 2010

My New Big Toe

In ninth grade, I took typing class.
with Mrs. Corp. On the first day,
she taught us to keep our wrists up
so that our fingers hung down onto
the keys. When we got lazy and let
our wrists drop, she would remind us.

In college, I enrolled in the first
volleyball class and learned the
proper way to pass the ball, set
and spike. I also took swimming
and learned the proper form for
all the major strokes. Then I took
kinesiology and learned the
mechanics of the human body.

All developed forms of physical
activity have proper form. Running
form; climbing form; swimming form--
even throwing a frisbee has form.

But what do they all have in common ?
Breathing is an obvious answer; and
using the bones and joints for leverage.
And how about the fact that skill comes
from practicing proper form and developing
good habits ?

There are also many commonalities between
sport-specific forms, like the way running
and boxing both keep the chin down; and
the way skiing and swimming both elongate
the arms; the way a baseball pitch and
a golf swing both create rotational speed
from the trunk; and the way bowling and
surfing require whole-body coordination.
And almost every high-level athlete uses
relaxation and skeletal stacking for balance,
speed, stability and power issuance.

But little is it known which form supersedes
all individual athletic forms. You might be
surprised to learn how all of the form
commonalities I just mentioned are proper
to Fu Tai Chi practice. However, Fu Tai Chi is
far more developed than any of those forms.

Check out this photo:

This is what a chiropractor will tell you is "normal,
healthy posture."

But when I practice my Fu Tai Chi posture, my back
looks like this:
See how straight and flat it is ?

After seven years of practicing Fu Tai Chi posture,
and Tai Chi principles, my whole body has
changed.

The most surprising and recent change is that
of my big toe on my right foot. As of April 2010,
my right big toe had gotten so much stronger
that it started developing new calluses. By
May, it started wearing holes through socks and
slippers. By June, I had to start taping it with
athletic tape because it was wearing the skin
off itself. This toe has literally reorganized itself
to be reborn as a much, much stronger asset to
my balance, speed and coordination.

Since I began Fu Tai Chi, I have found it to boost
and accelerate all of my other athletics. I have
better balance, more efficiency, I can run faster--
I'm even better at putting the dishes away.

I challenge you to practice Fu Tai Chi for six
weeks and see how you feel. I bet you'll
feel the changes too.

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