Archive for November, 2009
Earth Palms in Baguazhang
Published Monday, November 16th, 2009 by Steven Smith
Earth Palms
Hold on…before we get to Earth Palms…let’s feel Earthy Soles. As always, it’s better if you can go barefoot and find some good, grip-worthy soil. Sand will do; maybe you can find a garden or a good lawn. If that’s not the case, because your ground is frozen and your feet are fragile, then push your imagination through your carpeting, through your house foundations, and then: into the Earth.
Coil your feet. Grip the ground, like you’re clawing at it, but gently. Grip just a little more. Grasp the ground with your feet enough so that you must sink into your heels, a little on the outside edges of your feet, and onto the tips of your toes. Center your weight in your heel.
Sink into the Earth.
Feel with your Earth Palms
- Hover your hands, palms down, about shoulder width and cheek bone height.
- Spread your hands, and just a little, grip with your fingertips (like holding two small basketballs).
- Soften your focus and feel: feel the Earth pushing up. It’s radiant. It presses upward (see below).
- Resist the Earth’s pressure. Press down on it.
- Let your whole body sink into your hands, as if you were pushing on a high wall, about to pull yourself up and over it.
- Warm yourself with Earth.
It’s true that the Earth presses up. You can feel it.
There’s some technical science, strange science, and weird ideas about why and how. But you can feel it.
When you feel the Earth, then you know.
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