IGX

Ideokinesis: "What has come to be known as ideokinesis is a discipline that employs the use of images as a means of improving muscle patterns." - Andre Bernard

I was getting frustrated with my Yiquan insistence on visual imagery during practice. I couldn't figure out why it would be helpful to imagine a fake scenario to help your current posture or movement.

Somehow I stumbled across the field of ideokinesis which was developed for dance but has been written about extensively and is consistent with Qiqong and IMA.

This book is by a most likely gay dancer named Eric Franklin but is a fantastic, eye-opening reference for the use of imagery to help posture during movement and non-movement.

"Imagery" here is not "imagine the ball going through the hoop...." - although that can be used.

The images here are things like, "imagine a water spout from your center up through the ribcage axes supporting your head and lifting the shoulder girdle"

This shit rocks and there are at least a hundred different images in this book covering all body sections and holistic images. As well, the emphasis on two or more senses, including your mind's eye, was excellent.

For anyone new to IMA, or interested in posture and/or structural alignment, this is a great read.

The only downside I can think of are the several references to dance moves. Had to ask my wife or google plie, arabesque, etc.. No real impact to learning, though.

This is an interesting book. It would probably be even better with an audio companion to verbalize the instructions as you try the exercises so you don't have to keep looking back and forth at the book to make sure you understood the imagery. You could probably record something yourself though.

Bux, it's very potent stuff. I am noted to for my perfect posture, for example, and I do it through one simple (and traditional) CMA visualization that makes everything fall in to place with one mental image. Chinese Martial Arts are one particularly rich field for this subject.

Fat Cat wrote:Bux, it's very potent stuff. I am noted to for my perfect posture, for example, and I do it through one simple (and traditional) CMA visualization that makes everything fall in to place with one mental image. Chinese Martial Arts are one particularly rich field for this subject.

Is this the "suspended by a thread" image, or something else? Please elaborate; 20+ years of depression took their toll on my posture, and it's a long road back.

Kallisto: Audio would be cool, but this author does use an illustrator, and once you see the picture, it is easy to remember.

Fattie: Do tell. Giant...water drop...balloons, what?

GDG: I think you'd like this. After just a couple weeks, on top of a few months of Standing, I was able to key in precisely on my mid-thoracic region and my right hip as my problem areas. I found and created a few images to help. No release yet but the author emphasizes that this is not a quick-fix book.

GoDogGo! wrote:

Fat Cat wrote:Bux, it's very potent stuff. I am noted to for my perfect posture, for example, and I do it through one simple (and traditional) CMA visualization that makes everything fall in to place with one mental image. Chinese Martial Arts are one particularly rich field for this subject.

Is this the "suspended by a thread" image, or something else? Please elaborate; 20+ years of depression took their toll on my posture, and it's a long road back.

GDG and Bux, that's it exactly. It so simple and it works because that one point of recall makes everything fall into place: relaxed shoulders, straight spine, open hips, etc. etc. It makes every movement stronger.

Holy Crap!
I finally got this book and your positive comments don't really do it justice. It's outstanding and should be required reading for any PT, athlete, MA,person with chronic pain, etc, etc

The anatomic descriptions are accurate and detailed, and the explanations of movement and posture are fantastic.

Wish I'd seen this book 25 years ago

Sackett wrote:Ideokinesis: "What has come to be known as ideokinesis is a discipline that employs the use of images as a means of improving muscle patterns." - Andre Bernard

I was getting frustrated with my Yiquan insistence on visual imagery during practice. I couldn't figure out why it would be helpful to imagine a fake scenario to help your current posture or movement.

Somehow I stumbled across the field of ideokinesis which was developed for dance but has been written about extensively and is consistent with Qiqong and IMA.

This book is by a most likely gay dancer named Eric Franklin but is a fantastic, eye-opening reference for the use of imagery to help posture during movement and non-movement.

"Imagery" here is not "imagine the ball going through the hoop...." - although that can be used.

The images here are things like, "imagine a water spout from your center up through the ribcage axes supporting your head and lifting the shoulder girdle"

This shit rocks and there are at least a hundred different images in this book covering all body sections and holistic images. As well, the emphasis on two or more senses, including your mind's eye, was excellent.

For anyone new to IMA, or interested in posture and/or structural alignment, this is a great read.

The only downside I can think of are the several references to dance moves. Had to ask my wife or google plie, arabesque, etc.. No real impact to learning, though.

Franklin also wrote "Conditioning For Dance". Worth checking out even for IMA guys, since he has some pretty nifty ideas for promoting joint "springiness", integrated movement, etc. Reminds me a lot of Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, same emphasis on "feeling" on the levels of the lymphatic system, the neuromuscular system, the bones, etc. I never dug too deeply into it because there are only 24 hours in a day and I was trying to get up to speed on Sonnon/Cotter/Pavel back when I first bought it.

Anyone else here how has zip in the way of being able to "visualize stuff"? I only seem to see things in my "mind" when I dream.

Jason,

Imagine, right now, sipping from a large glass filled with your own warm moist saliva. Feel how it fills your mouth and slips down your throat.

If you had a guttural reaction to this than you can use imagery.

Sackett wrote:Jason,

Imagine, right now, sipping from a large glass filled with your own warm moist saliva. Feel how it fills your mouth and slips down your throat.

If you had a guttural reaction to this than you can use imagery.

I never imagined you as a fag, now I do. Thanks for the cure.

Norman U. Senchbau wrote:

Sackett wrote:Jason,

Imagine, right now, sipping from a large glass filled with your own warm moist saliva. Feel how it fills your mouth and slips down your throat.

If you had a guttural reaction to this than you can use imagery.

I never imagined you as a fag, now I do. Thanks for the cure.

I think a more, eh, "accessible" image is as follows:

Close your eyes. Imagine slicing a lemon. See yourself doing it. Smell the citrus. Hear the blade tap the cutting board. Feel a drop of lemon squirt your face. Now take a slice and bite into it.

I think most folks would have a puckered mouth with increased saliva production at this point. YMMV.

Cayenne wrote:

Norman U. Senchbau wrote:

Sackett wrote:Jason,

Imagine, right now, sipping from a large glass filled with your own warm moist saliva. Feel how it fills your mouth and slips down your throat.

If you had a guttural reaction to this than you can use imagery.

I never imagined you as a fag, now I do. Thanks for the cure.

I think a more, eh, "accessible" image is as follows:

Close your eyes. Imagine slicing a lemon. See yourself doing it. Smell the citrus. Hear the blade tap the cutting board. Feel a drop of lemon squirt your face. Now take a slice and bite into it.

I think most folks would have a puckered mouth with increased saliva production at this point. YMMV.

I get this part of it. I can feel and have physiological reactions to guided imagery. I was just wondering if anyone else cannot "see" stuff in their "head". I cannot see my bedroom if I try to recall it, I just have a lot of descriptions that are just words for the most part.

Jack wrote:Kata enforces the habit of serious imagery. Naturally, I'm an expert at imagery.

High level Japanese Sensei I used to know once said, "To be good at Karate you must have a good imagination."