jibengong practice and observations

I don't keep much track of time, but ive been working at the loosening exercises for about two months now, on a relatively daily basis. Ive skipped a day here and there from either laziness or soreness, or some combination of the two.

I want to make some observations about the training so far, in no particular order...

as a broad stroke, i am usually always a little sore in the pelvic area, especially the sacrum, as i do LOTS of spinal twist. my spine has never felt better...if it has, i dont remember when.

using the exercises to mechanically encourage relaxation and stretching in the core, in concert with feeling-awareness images (PEARLS, MARSHMALLOW FEET, etc.) has most certainly helped me to relax and re-align my posture. this has led to an increase in my ability to 'sink', and 'ground'....samesame imo. the more aligned to gravity you are, the less contraction you need to stay upright. this, in turn, lets you get a greater sense of your balance(alignment), and lets you access a whole new level, or round of relaxation. and so it goes.

i find there to be lots of muscle memory that produces areas of tension, even when you think your relaxed. relax your shoulders, and then check again, and see how seamlessly they slip back into their historical position/tonus. and likely you wont even notice. the lower torso is also a place where you can find some subtle tension of rather large areas of muscle.

once you start to line up and relax, then your muscles will be given the opportunity to change their tonus, as they are no longer under the same demand. you have to give them the space to relax, literally.

spinal elongation allows the back to relax. the dropping of the tailbone( keeping the waist level) lets the ribs drop, and then the scapula can descend. this is the basic sequence of things when training the CASCADE image.

it is now uncomfortable for me to sit in a slouched postition. if i drive for a while or sit and watch something, when i get up, i do a few spinal twists and my whole lower adjusts. my back was never ever this loose. it gets out of position very easily if i postion it incorrectly. a few rotations, and everything goes back where it belongs.

it occurs to me that some might read this as a problem, or an inconvenience of some kind. Not. Even. Close.

my spine feels great, and i am highly aware of its condition, and thus the general condition of my entire body, as it relates to relaxed alignment. my lower back and pelvic area is so loose that if I bend over and touch my palms to the floor, I feel it in between my shoulder blades. I felt really nothing in the way of a stretch in my lower back or legs when I do this. the only reason I feel the focus between my shoulder blades is because I need more work up top.

my cervicals move all the time now. if I look down at my phone, when I straighten my neck, a bone or two always slips back into place. all these adjustments are very audible, at least internally, to me. again, none of this hurts, and in fact feels really good. actually, ill consider it real progress when I stop putting myself out of alignment...