|
 The
hand movements and breathing during this exercise are all
circular in motion. As you push the hands outwards in the circle, you
breathe out - yang. As the hands reach the bottom of the circle and
return to the body, you
breathe in -
yin.
The visualization of the circle should include the hare, spine, shoulders and head as it journeys, and the breathing should be deep - 'suck, your breath in, and 'throw' your breath out.
Your
hands are always held with the 'ruler' keeping them apart at all
times.
 Start off in
a relaxed stance with your arms at your
side. Bring your right leg into a cat stance, and sweep your hands up
the centre of your body, with the palms facing each other about 6-8
inches apart as if you were holding a ruler between them. Suck your
breath in as you do this.
Try to envisage this idea of 'throwing' both your hands and your breath away from you.
You can carry on going backwards and forwards for as long as you want. It's a wonderful breathing and relaxing exercise, with a little bit of tai chi moving thrown in. When you are ready to stop, come back into a relaxed pose, and 'close down' with the hands (bring them down to your sides) and relax for a couple of moments. A variation on this exercise might be that when you finish going forward, don't pivot so that you are facing in the opposite direction, but instead do the exercise by moving backwards. You may also want to try it with your eyes closed - its quite a bit different!. |
Begin
to step from the cat stance diagonally to the right, into a
right forward stance, breathing in and 'scooping up' your hands to
shoulder height as you do so.
As you
transfer your weight into the right leg, breathe deeply out
and 'throw' your hands outwards (still holding the ruler!) in an arc. 
As you
finish the breath, arc the hands down to waist height,
stepping forward into a left cat stance, and then pivoting so that you
are now facing diagonally left.
Now
repeat in the new diagonal left direction, pivoting
diagonally right as you finish, ready to repeat again on the right (then
left, then right, etc.). You can do this as many times as you like,
moving diagonally forward first in one direction, and then the other.
However
many times you go forward, end your run facing
diagonally right, with your left leg in a cat stance. To turn round and
go back, this time do not pivot to the left, but step with the left leg
diagonally back behind you, and turn and pivot first the right leg and
then the left, so that you are now facing in the diagonally opposite
