How Do You Feel About the Hip Swivel?

Dear Justin,

Although you are no longer with us in body, I believe you are available to us in a different way. I cherish the letters we exchanged in 1999 shortly after I was accredited and I still ask you questions now, mentally, about my practice. A recent issue discussed among teachers is the hip swivel in our movements.

Whenever I questioned this while practicing, your words kept coming into my head “There is nothing to do.” Are we just supposed to notice or be aware of this happening or is it something we “do”? My experience is that the more I relax the hip area, doing full weight shifts, the more this rotation sort of happens on its own without deliberately making it happen. I couldn’t find any mention of this issue in the textbook or your writings. I sure do miss you.

Dear TCC colleagues,

My observation with playing with the hip swivel in Carry the Ball: A slight shifting of weight in the feet from the heel (as ball comes down) to the front of foot (as ball circles up) creates more of a hip swivel/circle. It still feels like I’m “doing” something extra which I’m not sure about. I would love to know how others feel about this.

In response to the previous question (from the February issue of The Vital Force, page 3) about maintaining hand position when closing: After much experimenting with this, my preference is for maintaining the palms facing down with a slight straightening of the legs after grounding. I just feel more connected to the Chi by going into the next movement without pointing the fingers down. I don’t like the feeling of disconnection from the grounding and energy felt in the palms of the hands. Even if I need to stand a few seconds to give knees a break, I still keep my palms facing down.