Craig

What Emmet said! It's from the coffee shop conversation you filmed with Dave where you were talking about ballistic stretching for some amount of days in a row. Good times

Hi everyone! So this post is pretty old and if you've found it, the answer is "no the programs aren't available anymore". I don't at all practice any of the things I used to and I'm not at all keen on teaching things I don't practice myself. Those programs are now super old and lots has happened in the world of flexibility training since then, which means they are also pretty dated. The good news is that there is tons of free stuff available that's basically just as good if not better than what I had. I'm sure if you youtube "ballistic stretching program" you'll get about a million hits these days. @Emmet Louisbasically made it all available for free too. I'd recommend starting there: https://www.youtube.com/user/EmmetLouis/videos . And of course the mighty Sea Dog @Kit_L can likely hook you up with some good training principles regarding ballistic stretching (see attached). If you're interested in what I'm up to these days, I've basically gone 'full dao', all of my training is in the Daoist tradition of Da Xuan - you can read more at my website if you're interested (www.craigmallett.com).

Side splits evening with the splits wizard @Emmet Louis ... Much progress made. Cueing in this movement is essential. It's amazing what difference a few degrees of pelvic tilt and specific tissue chain contraction does. I think I was as deep as I've ever been, calves closing in on the floor!

@Francesco excellent! The gua sha is definitely a very good tool for removing fascial adhesions. I'm going to keep doing reasonably regular work with @Emmet Louis while I can hopefully. Physical training continues to be light, a bit of stretching here and there. On the tutorials front, I just filmed a 9 week qigong course that will be available to all and will take them step by step through a form from my first teacher Dapeng. Looking forward to editing this one and getting it released!

Good! Progress is always good. Keep practicing until it is somewhat the default method of lifting the arms. Once this is in place your can shift your intention to attempting to drop excessive tension and have the arm sit heavily on the armpit connection instead of forcing it there. Also if you have some time get a partner to do the ST shoulder push down partner stretch and then see how much easier it is to keep this connection after - try to do 15 minutes of practice on something that uses the connection immediately after doing the stretch. Shi Da Pan #6 is a good example of an appropriate exercise!

Hanging out with @Emmet Louis today. - piriformis stretch - tailor's pose - bent leg Pike with deep hip and abdominal activation as priority - side splits with Emmet's wizard assistance - some kicks - some random handstandsing - got the previously mentioned guasha treatment on my quads. Not so bad, but then Emmet discovered a secret way of finding trigger points that need attention, that was gnarly!

Many thanks Mr S! Glad to have played such a part in your practice. Looking forward to the coming years to see where it goes!!! #unreasonablypumped

Taught a workshop in Cologne. Two days of basics, stances, kicks and partner work. I'm super excited to get back into doing my old training methods with knew knowledge and awareness. Also got to learn some incredibly important details from my friend and co host Carsten, if you're ever in Cologne I can highly recommend his classes. We did: - joint circles type prep - leg awakening -spinal waves - lifting with the armpits -how to use all of this to make a good structure -partner drills to test the structure -learning the weak points of the structure and how to manipulate it -grounding with heaven and earth -qigong basics and how the structure is integral to a good qigong practice - shi da pan -basic kicks - 5 step boxing form (a basic method of training the 5 stances) - more partner games - movement leading with the head - how the head can be used to break structure - more qigong basics and a little form A great weekend overall. Next stop, Iceland. Physical practice will be reasonably sparse between now and then for many reasons.

Hi B, Sorry to hear about your injury. It's really hard to offer any kind of accurate advice because I don't know you and your situation and your history and so on. The context is absolutely important for this kind of thing so please take the following with a grain of salt - it's very general advice and I can't say that if it is the right direction or not but hopefully it gives you some inspiration to explore in a way that will helpful for you. The immediate "don't go further" response should be listened to in my opinion. Don't go further With rehab I basically treat it the same as any progression, although the damaged tissue has to be treated much like a "before the beginning" beginner to restore it. In other words we want to be really gentle with it, the same as if we were working with elderly or some such. I also advise people to not take risks and push into things they aren't 100% certain of. This way may take a little longer, but if you re-injure the troubled spot it's going to be worse than the first time and take even longer then to restore. On to the restoration. Progressions I use (with anything) are static holds > slow gentle movements > faster less gentle movements > pulsing > explosive ballistics. The idea being if you can't safely hold it, you're probably going to have trouble moving through and around it safely, if you can't move slowly you're going to have trouble moving quickly and so on. You can also train these in a somewhat overlapping fashion, for example doing static holds one day and slow movements the next, or even both in the same session but slow movements dialed back away from the injury. An example of an approach like this would be to do a standing straddle, and hinge at the hips so you start doing a standing pancake, stopping the hinge just a little before the nope feeling comes into the body. It will be pretty easy for you as this range will probably be strong. Do 30s holds here, inching your way session by session closer to the area giving the nope signal but never going into it. We could then also do a seated pancake sitting upright like you said and do pelvic circles, making the circle only big enough so that when it passes the affected area it comes near it but does not go into it. Again this will be super easy for the rest of the circle made with the pelvis but should come close to the affected area without crossing the line so to speak. The idea with both exercises is to kind of massage the threshold line further and further away, reminding the body of the strength that it once had. The key (I think) to successful quick massage is to come as close to this threshold as possible without crossing it. The more you can do holds as close to the edges of it and have circles basically brushing this threshold, the faster it will heal. The problem here is that it takes keen awareness and control to do this, and therefore a large measure of skill because passing the threshold and messing it up will basically result in re-injury. The other problem is that most people don't have the patience and the dedication to keep up the volume necessary for long enough time to complete the restoration. We want reasonably high volume of these super easy gentle circles and holds, and we also want to respect the threshold - it will move, some days you can go deeper without passing it and others not so deep. Variation is also key to any kind of "life building" methods in my opinion. So basically we need to explore in a way that lets us find as many movements as we can that have these thresholds that give us the "nope nope nope" response. These movements are the gold, because they are where the faults are, they are the part that need to be restored. We find the movement that makes us go nope, then we back it way off to a much easier variation and start massaging with gentle movements and holds, keeping the distance from the threshold you feel is safe enough to massage in without crossing. Sometimes we also might not know that a threshold is in a particular movement, so we must only explore with movements that we can completely control and move gently enough that we can spot the threshold before crossing it. We must keep up this variety of gentle movements and holds until we have massaged the thresholds away. Once the thresholds are gone, we are not done. The tissue will still be somewhat weak, so we must also begin to strengthen the area by slowly loading the holds and the movements, and beginning to reintroduce pulses and eventually explosive ballistics. As for other movements, we must test many things. Sometimes a movement feels OK at the time but then after you realise something has gone wrong. This makes the whole process very difficult to give "yes you should do this and no you shouldn't do this" answers to. In my opinion the best thing you can do is take the responsibility into your own hands, it is after all your body and only you know what it's feeling. By all means seek out therapists and experts but the issue is more than half of the professionals don't know what they are doing, so you need to know how to find the good ones. To do this you need to have a good idea of your own system and the responses to see if they are aware of them and dealing with them or just absent mindedly prodding things and giving you random exercises. Finally, the restoration process will teach you so much about yourself, it's really quite an opportunity to have an injury like this that is not so serious that you can test things out and see what's effective for you and what isn't. After all, everything I just said I say because it works for me and the people I train, but it may not work for you or I might just be talking garbage. It's the internet after all and I'm really just a stranger. I hope this helps a little and that you restore your pancake smoothly! Cheers, Craig

continuing exploration of kicks, piriformis and activating the deep anterior hip/abdominal junction. All is going well, surprisingly little DOMS from the kicks. Side kick needs lots of work, as does the round kick which I've added. My current piriformis variation is doing magical things for both me and Cherie, I'll film a new video with the new explorations and movements soon. filming of new tutorials to begin soon. On the menu: - stances - kicks - waking the wrists (the wrist prep video remastered plus loads more things added) - deep hip and shoulder awakening - an exploration of rotating in the socket using straight limbs - qi gong basics speaking of tutorials, the quickening is upon us, and there shall be only one. Physical Alchemy has removed the head of ARC and now has all my tutorials. Same is happening with the website. You can now find the tutorials here: https://physical-alchemy.uscreen.io/

Last night: kicks! I've got space to do swing kicks (traditional cma style) in my living room. Alright! going to bang out sets of these throughout the day, focusing on qualities rather than height. This is hitting all of the tissue in the inhibited internal and external rotators that I am working on with the piriformis, tailor's pose and active pike explorations. To the simmering pot with thee! Variations I'm focusing on: - straight swing kick - inside crescent - outside crescent - knee up side kick I think I should also add the traditional side kick which is more like pure abduction than flexion + external rotation like the knee up variation.

Rendered and uploaded. Enjoy: https://awarerelaxedconnected.uscreen.io/programs/leg-awakening

side note: leg awakening tutorial is rendering now. Also have loads of time for work in the new berlin apartment so there will be many more video tutorials coming in Q1 and 2 this year. Ossssuuuuu!

A couple of sessions recently included: - more exploration of alchemical pushup methods - more piriformis exploration. This one is coming along reaaallllyy nicely, and integrating the changes with the da xuan family neigong is working wonders - deep hip flexor/lower abdominal activation in pike. working on the end range closing (to use emmet's term) but in a double elephant walk kind of way. This one has been wonderful and is producing dramatic results with just a few sessions. - deep aductor activation in active tailors pose. only one session of this so far, but i feel the results will be much like the pike. Looking forward to exploring this further. - straight limb rotations

Me too! Off to Berlin now where I should have access to some equipment and an @Emmet Louis for"help" (probably torture). I'll report in regularly. Yesterday: 2.5 hour bouldering session. Really miss the days of having a cave at my home to be able to climb regularly. Alas there isn't so much time available for me to do everything and there are daoist skills to be gained, so bouldering will likely live in the random attendance for funsies category from now on.

In Munich, not sure what the place was called, my friend took me there. It was in the East somewhere!

Yes, I will begin this as soon as I have access to the proper equipment/facilities - hopefully when I arrive in Berlin tomorrow! There is some tinkering I want to do in this field. Open parkour class last night. Worked on: - broad/precision jumping. I actually improved a lot in this despite no training of it over the last year. I suspect it's a result of all the hiking in steep hills and stairs that contributed, as well as continued repairing glute activation. -depth jumps. Need to be even more quiet! - rolling. Need to work on hard surfaces now to tidy up small things. - vaults. Need to work on dash/Kash vaults in a big way, and work on linking multiple vaults cleanly. - tumbling. Back tuck is still in there somewhere, probably needs an evening of dedicated work to come back to the height and cleanness of yesteryear. Front cartwheels and macaco have both improved, a tricker in the class showed me how to link multiple front cartwheels which is fun! Front tuck needs a LOT of work. That was fun!

Yep, I'm turning the knee on the left as far up and to the back as I can (straight leg), then pointing the knee as far forward as I can, then repeat in the right, then both at once. Movements are very slow, deliberate and gentle. Really gets in the deep hip!

Today, stretching session - more piriformis exploration - side split joint rotations...Guuhhh need to work on these. - couch stretch with upgrades... Definitely a fascial restriction here. - kneeling, w-sit exploration - standing pike deep hip exploration/extended activation... Much more awareness of deep hip appearing!! - some experimentation of an old concept that I will video at some later point - 3x7 alchemical planche lean push-ups

Thanks Liv! The pinning of the knee, especially with a straight arm, does something very interesting in my body, changes it totally. Agree with the knee torque, if you see in the Instagram vid I've got a note there for people to elevate the knee if they are getting inauspicious knee sensations. I actually prefer the floor variant with the bolster and a good partner too, unfortunately Cherie is too busy smashing handstands to partner me most of the time, nor do we have many good bolsters!! For solo stretch, I personally much prefer this version. Some of the variables I've been tinkering with: - leg bent or straight. I've really been enjoying dropping the knee all the way to the floor, then slowly straightening it until locked all the while keeping the pelvis in position. 10 slow pulses like this have been doing wonders. - gliding the pelvis side to side.... This one is great, not possible on the floor version. - presses with the hands... Pressing up with both hands until both elbows lock, then dropping the chest onto the leg. Also single arm presses, keeping one armpit on the leg and pressing the other arm straight puts a great rotational element, and each arm hits a very different line! -variations on height... Close to the floor has the hf element and interesting things to explore with the back foot as you mentioned. Medium height is the most gentle for me. Super high is great because you hang the body from the piriformis and can get some really cool tractioning in the front leg. -knee angle... Opening and closing the front knee angle. For this floating variant I prefer having the support only going as far as the knee, so you can hang the pelvis below the foot line. It's mostly nice because it's easy to do anywhere, which is a major boon for me right now!!

Hi Alex, My good friend and senior instructor from the da xuan school is in Copenhagen. He regularly has workshops on meditation, if you add me on Facebook I can put you in touch with him. Cheers Craig

Some stretching has been happening. Been tinkering with a "Hammeresque" mode of alchemical stretching, and it helped me hone in on the 'one line' [to rule them all] of habitual tension. I managed to get an alchemical calf cramp, and a virtuous lat stretch, both while "doing" the piriformis stretch below. The line in question extends through the calf, up the outer hamstring, across the external rotators, into the left side of the sacrum, up the lat, into the shoulder joint and acj, then up the neck behind the ear into the head. Today I brought into awareness the 'gap' that I knew was there but couldn't feel in the lat, and the new awareness lit up the entire line in a non-painful way. the shoulder and ac joint have both had chiropractic-esque clicking coming from them, 2/9 intensity but the relief that followed was tangible. The release sensation was quite interesting, because it felt exactly like a chiropractic adjustment, although without any pressure at all, in fact it came from deep relaxation. Today I felt specifically the click, followed by the feeling of the shoulder returning 'home' to it's correct position, and then felt the tension creep back in until another click returned it to it's position. There was also a crack that shot up the lev scap into the head that was one of the most glorious feelings ever! Both incidents happened during qigong practice. Stretching that got done: - 3 rounds of alchammerical piriformis stretching - 3 rounds of couch quad stretch with ball behind knee (inhibiting the calf and hamstring with the ball during this stretch was interesting!) - 3 rounds of standing bent leg pike press to straight leg, focusing on activation and awareness building of deep hip flexors - some misc handstand fun

Been experimenting with assisted one arm push ups, and some straight variations of downward dog pushups while I don't have access to gear. Typically doing single sets of 5 randomly throughout the day. This feels like a great little thing to have going until I have some more gear! Also continuing work on the piriformis and release work on calves and lev scap - this is making for auspicious results combined with the dx qigong. In other news, I posted an announcement on facebook (below)...I'm being absorbed by @Dave and Physical Alchemy!! nomnomnom.

This year is shaping up nicely already! Firstly, my travels are reducing - I have secured an apartment in Berlin from January until June so will be a little more stationary than last year. In this time, I am teaching a whole bunch of workshops, and trialing a new type of workshop on physical cultivation exercises from my history of Chinese Martial Arts practice. All except one of my workshops can be found here: http://www.motionimpulse.com/event-bookings/?category=Craig+Mallett , the missing one is one I am sharing with my friend Carsten, and that can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1950777341816092/ Workshops aside, I am also gearing up to return to Sydney, which will happen early July. Upon return I will be working to create some steady classes, and eventually open permanent space for @Dave and I to use as our HQ and practice laboratory. As part of this, I will be making many changes to the way I operate, all changes will be announced probably here and on facebook. Really looking forward to re-joining the Sydney crew and getting some great classes running! On the practice front, da xuan practice continues to be the central focus, and will take up ~3 hours of my practice time each day. This year is already shaping up to be super wonderful on the da xuan front, another initiation in February should really shake things up a bit, and another intensive in april. As the topics of this practice is getting pretty far removed from the Stretch Therapy world, I will keep this practice mostly out of this log, but you can pm me here or on facebook if you're interested. From a physical perspective, my project in Berlin is going to be physical preparation for my return to sydney. This will include my first serious look at weight training, which I will attempt to do with my own flavour. I will also reignite my other physical practices, GST, stretching and basic parkour. The trick to this will be finding time to fit it in among all of the dx practice, so I will need to train smart and compact. Some physical goals for 2017 [subject to change when i feel like it]: continue exploring and resolving the inauspicious relationship between my internal and external hip rotators. the above should go a long way to helping achieve a higher level of competency in the following postures, which will be my priority for this year: tailor's pose, pancake, pike, and a minor focus on side splits although they aren't as urgent. Get a solid side lever strengthen overhead pressing pattern Build endurance in the muscle up, will build to 5x5 Deadlifts! Never done these before, so will be nice to see how they go Benchpress - attempt to get somewhat strong in these, also never done before. Project to gain strength in this plane without inauspiciously over tensioning shoulders and chest Squats - These are already reasonably strong, but will continue experimenting Bicep curls - gotta find out what this skin splitting pump is all about! Movement - get a smooth wall climb, try to do some play once per week. Going to aim for 2 sessions per week, one with weights, one with GST and movement, or something like this. Let's see if it ends up being possible! Finally, will be filming more tutorials while in Berlin, as always happy to take some suggestions but I already have a pretty good idea of what will be next. Feel free to make suggestions here at any rate! All of the current tutorials can be found here: https://awarerelaxedconnected.uscreen.io/catalog Bring it on, 2017.

The guys who are like 15 year veterans still practice their basic hands , so yes it's a good idea to keep going with them. Ask Serge if he thinks you're ready for the next ones, but even if you get them you should practice them in parallel! Same with the other 12 from the first set!