Speaking of knees—which I was in last week’s post—here’s another little experiment you can try in the privacy of your computer room.
Stand up and, without bending forward, place your palms on your back below your waist.
Now, if your knees are locked, let them go. If they’re not locked, lock them. Play with this a little and see what you can feel your back doing.
My taiji teacher Joe Pau regularly lectures us about locking our knees. He has us put our palms on our backs to feel what happens when we lock our knees, which is that we lock our backs, too—the muscles tighten.
What’s more, says Joe, when your knees are locked, you’re vulnerable. Whether you’re being rushed by a too-friendly dog or a taiji assassin, you can’t do anything to save yourself so long as your knees remain locked. Continue reading