Quiz 1 Flashcards
What are the four basic components of Chi Running that you teach leading up to the Begin Running lesson?
Posture, Ankle lift & ChiWalking, Leaning from the ankles, arm swing
Define the two types of alignment
Postural and Directional Alignment
What Tai Chi principle is represented by alignment and relaxation?
Needle in Cotton
What is Newton’s first law?
A body at rest tends to stay at rest unless acted upon by an external force
If your center of mass is located directly over your feet, your posture is in alignment with the downward pull of gravity. Your body is at rest in this position and won’t move unless you move.
What are the three points of the tripods under your feet?
The first metatarsal head, the 5th metatarsal head, and under the calcaneous (Heel) bone.
Picture a tripod under each foot with one point under the first metatarsal head, one point under the 5th metatarsal head, and the third point under the calcaneous (heel bone). These are the contact points during a full-foot landing.
Explain the difference between Chi Running and conventional running?
Anytime you run with your body upright, as in conventional running, your forward propulsion has to come completely from the push of your legs. When you stop pushing, you stop moving. With Chi Running, instead of holding your posture upright, you allow yourself to cooperate with the pull of gravity by letting your body lean forward into that pull. Your body then becomes a forward-falling object, like a tree that’s just been chopped down. Because your center of mass (your dantien) is ahead of your point of contact with the ground (your feet), your body falls forward…and all you have to do is pick up your feet to keep up with your fall. When you learn to balance yourself in this slight forward lean, you’ll be running more efficiently and your leg muscles can work less because they are no longer needed for pushing.
Chi Running teaches us to cooperate with two forces. What are the two forces?
Gravity, Force of the Road
List in chronological order the four (4) steps to aligning your posture.
1.) Align feet and legs, 2.) Lengthen the spine, 3.) Engage your Dantien, 4.) Column Check
What are the details of the first step in aligning your posture?
Align your feet and legs so they are pointed in the direction you’re headed, parallel and hip width apart (middle of hip, not outside edge.) Turn your whole leg, not just the feet. Now balance your feet. To keep your feet pointing forward while you’re running, pretend you have a stripe painted on the ground and your feet are pointing forward and landing on either side of the stripe. If pointing your feet forward is uncomfortable for your knees, relax the rotation a bit until the discomfort goes away.
What are the details of the second step in aligning your posture?
By holding your hand ½ inch above the crown of your head and try to touch the crown of your head to your hand. Feel your spine lengthening from your tailbone to the crown of your head. Relax into your normal posture again and feel the difference. Repeat. As you lift at the crown of your head, notice that your chin stays down. Your head position will insure your posture line stays long and straight and that your head is balanced on top of your shoulders, not forward or back.
What are the details of the third step in aligning your posture?
Your dantien is your body’s center of mass and the storage center for chi or life force. It is located three finger widths below the navel and two inches in toward the spine. Imagine a pyramid formed by the two tripods of the feet at the base and the dantien at the apex. Place your mental energy at your dantien, relax your legs, soften your knees and feel your weight over the tripods of your feet. Feel this strong pyramid supporting y our body and notice how this increases the feeling of being grounded. (Sit up in your chair exercise)
What are the details of the fourth step in aligning your posture?
- What you’re shooting for with good posture is to have your shoulders, hip bones and ankles aligned every time your leg is supporting your body weight while running. This is called “connecting the dots.” Once you have created balance in your Column, look down to see if you can see the bows on your shoelaces or look sideways into a full-length mirror to see if there is a straight line running vertically through your shoulders, hip bones and ankles. If possible, have a friend check to see if your dots are connected.
What are two possible tests to see if someone has their three points aligned that can be used as a self-check?
To check if you are in alignment, you can either look down to see your shoelaces or look sideways into a mirror to see if there is a straight line running through your shoulders, hip bones and ankles
Give a description of the Mae West excercise
This demonstrates how engaging your core prevents lateral hip swing. Relax your pelvis and shift your weight from one foot to the other. Notice the side to side movement. Now engage your dantien and repeat. Notice the side to side motion is less.
Give a description of the Flop Over excercise
Relax your pelvis and flop over at the waist and notice how easy it is to do this when you’re relaxed. Now move into your column and focus on your needle that runs from the crown of your head to your dantien. Try to flop over without bending your needle and you’ll see that you can’t flop over at the waist. You should feel some resistance from your lower abdominal muscles. The proper engagement of your lower abdominal muscles will help keep your Column straight when you lean.
