A Short Practice of Three

Between this, that and the other, a day will slip away without finding time to do a full 45-minute practice. But what about a practice of 15 or 20 minutes? Or a practice with only three repetitions for each movement. Just three? Yep, but what a three!

Daniel Pienciak laid the groundwork when we were running out of time before lunch at his Intensive event. Daniel asked us to make each movement the best we could, since we only had time for three or four of each.

Then there’s what Jim Hecker wrote recently in the Vital Force. When he asked Justin why nine repetitions, Justin responded, “If you do nine, you may get one right.” 

Then there was a workshop with Bill Moore. During a break, he had me gently hold onto a pine needle on one of the nearby pine trees. “What did you feel?”, he asked. Interesting. 

Putting it all together: I can’t do what many can; I don’t have the Carmen Brocklehurst gift of feeling when I’ve completed nine repetitions. I keep a running count in my head to reach nine. But three I can do without counting. So now I’m out of my head and more into my weight shifts.

With Rocking Motion, I always do more repetitions to loosen up my tight shoulders and knees and feel the “playground swing.”

After that, my sets of three are slow and soft, and they allow me to let go of the upper body, and slowly feel the weight shift in the feet, and softly feel what’s “right.” With three, we can take the time to feel every nuance, and then interesting things happen. I feel what I felt flowing through that tiny pine needle.

I used to think that the hands just replicated the weight shift, just went along for the ride. But now I feel the hands interact with and express the Chi. They sometimes move through Chi. Sometimes they gather and form Chi, and sometimes they let go of Chi. While your feet and lower body also do this, and your hands are moving along with your lower body, what your hands are doing and feeling is somehow different.

Sometimes there are other interesting insights. In Pulling in the Energy, you’re gathering energy from the farthest star. But in Around the Platter I feel I am also gathering energy, energy directly below me. Maybe weird? Maybe not. In any case, that’s where I am now. In another year or so, who knows?