Today, I learned a bit about the power of Foundation level movement. What I learned was truly amazing, and one of the more exciting experiences I have had to date at Oom Yung Doe.
I recently signed up for a course specifically designed to address my mid-body strength and flexibility. As part of this course, I have the opportunity to learn a Foundation level movement passed down from the Master Level Teaching Team. This movement is supposed to target my ability to move my hips and midbody.
I was definitely curious about what to expect from a Foundation movement. To be honest,, the movement itself does not seem particularly remarkable to me. It is challenging, yes. But so are many of the movements I practice. Nothingaboutthemovementwasparticularlystriking.
But when I went into practice today, I noticed a few things that really shocked me.
First, unlike usual, I did not need a 10-15 minute warm up before I felt like I could begin to move correctly. Despite the fact that it had been 4 days since my last practice, my first few kicks snapped from my hip so strong and high that I thought I was going to fall over backwards.
ThenextshockwaswhenIreacheddowntodosomestretching. Despitemyyearsofpractice,Ihaveaproblem with my mid body flexibility, and normally, when I get to school, I can stretch down somewhere halfway between mykneesandmytoes. OnceI’mwarmedup,Icanusuallyreachmytoes.
But today, still not warmed up at all, I reached right down, past my toes, until my fingers were entirely under my foot! Without the slightest trace of a bend in my knee! And it actually felt good! Never in my life have I done that before today.
By now, I’m looking around the room to see if anybody else is seeing what I’m seeing. (Of course they’re not… I’m just stretching.) I start moving around, trying to see what else is going on with my body today, and I realized one more remarkable improvement.
Forthepast3months,Ihavebeennursingahipinjury. Itwasa bad sprain at first, but I was able to practice on it, and within a few weeks it settled into mostly a tightness and an ache. But it had hung around for the past few months, requiring that 10-15 minutes of slowly working into my practice to really get warmed up.
Buttoday,forthefirsttime,therewasreallynosignofit. No signthat it waseverthere.
There were a few other moments during the practice, along the same lines. But it’s basically summed up in those stories. The fact is, my flexibility had changedpretty significantly, and in a very short time.
But the most remarkable part of my experience is exactly how short a time it was. The benefits I’m describing will beexperiencedbyanyonewhopracticestraditional MooDoemovementsconsistently. ButIsawthesebenefitsas the result of a singlepractice. One 30 minute sessionpracticing this Foundation movement, and the next time I go into school I can wrap my fingers under my foot, and I can move in and out of T position in a way that has never quite felt comfortable before.
To m e , t h a t i s a b i t d i f fi c u l t t o b e l i e v e , a n d h a r d t o e x p l a i n . I w a n t e d t o s h a r e t h e e x p e r i e n c e t o s h o w h o w p o w e r – ful the right movement can be. This movement, for me, at this point in my training, with all the work I have done to allow me to practice it more correctly, seemsto be just what I need. I’m very thankful for the opportunity to learn, and all I can say is, keep practicing hard; you never know which movement will be the key to unlock the next step on your path.
Brendon Bobzin