Grand Circulation and Thinking Up the Spine

This article on grand circulation pretty much sums up the visualisation I do while doing standing practice at Wing Chun training. You can just 'think up the spine' but this method formalises it a little bit more.

I have heard other Wing Chun people describe the 'energy river' within the spine, especially in the context of the feeling they have when they are 'on'.

One thing my instructor mentioned the other day was to 'let the thinking up the spine just be a thought' as that is all it is supposed to be. There will be the inevitable first time you experience the relaxation effect of thinking up the spine. You may experience a more powerful punch, or the ability to move someone with your arm and literally feel no resistance or pressure on your limb.

What I have personally found is that, in trying to replicate these fantastic results, micro-tension may be introduced in your body. This is as a result of trying to replicate the alignment by using muscles. Even minute amounts of muscular tension will not achieve what you want. Hence - let the thinking up the spine be just that - a thought!

Relax, let your joints rotate freely in their sockets, and trust the strength of your physical structure.

Very grateful to my Instructor for telling me this, as it took me off a very unproductive path.