www.Longfei-Taiji.co.uk	Longfei Taijiquan Association of Great Britain
		Longfei Newsletter Volume 8 Issue 3

Couch Potatoes and Slummocks

We are all familiar with the term couch potato and the implication behind the phrase. The term has developed alongside the popularity of the television viewing era. I doubt whether many of us are as familiar with the word slummock, indeed I was surprised to find it in a dictionary. I did look in a number without any luck but eventually found it in Chambers 20th Century Dictionary. It's a word I was familiar with as a child and I believe it must have connections with the East End of London. My parents both came from the Hoxton/Stoke Newington areas which I believe are within the sound of the famous Bow Bells. I have also enquired of some of my old cronies about the word and like me as Londoners they recalled the word from their childhood. They, like myself remember it being pronounced with an 'O' (Slommock}. The Chambers definition Slummuck is "to move awkwardly".

As a child I would be admonished not to slommock by my mother which I understood was a mild rebuke for my posture (shoulders slouched, hands in pocket etc.). At school I can recall (1930s/1940s) being reprimanded (a severe rebuke) by the headmaster to, "get your hands out of your pockets and stand up straight boy".

I was recently intrigued by a newspaper article with the headline. "How lessons in poise are the best way to ease your back pain". This reported on a recent study published in the British Medical Journal online, study leader Paul Little, professor of primary care research at Southhampton University. It went on to say millions of chronic back pain victims could dramatically ease their discomfort by learning about poise. The study recommended the use of the "Alexander Technique" (most taijiquan instructors are aware of this system and vice versa) that recommended and taught the art of movement in conjunction with guidance on how to alter physical habits which trigger pain.

The study found that after a year of treatment, patients who had chronic back pain and took 24 lessons in the technique that included routine back exercises suffered only three days of pain a month. Those who just followed their GP's advice, using painkillers or taking physiotherapy continued to suffer 21 days of back pain a month. Those given only six lessons in the technique had 11 days of back pain a month, while those who took the alternative of a massage experienced 14 days of pain.

The study enrolled 579 patients with chronic or recurrent lower back pain. Some 140 were told to continue with their GP's advice, such as medication and physiotherapy. A similar number were offered massage, others were to take six lessons in the Alexander Technique and the final group 24 lessons. The report concluded with the observation that three in every four people will suffer back pain, becoming chronic for millions.

The study leader did not think the Alexander Method should be available on the NHS (you would require a strong imagination) as he felt it could not be offered on a plate. Clients need to make a commitment to these classes themselves, (taiji students is there anybody out there ????).

The directions I got as a child were more as a mild rebuke for a small misdemeanour, even, almost a form of bullying rather than enlightened medical advice. However is it not a pity that these matters are not emphasised in education, not as some quasi military discipline, but as an introduction to life skills with regard to our muscular/skeletal structure and the role that tensional forces play in maintaining our upright posture with greater precision? Any attempt to examine an improved posture must begin with the spinal column. In an upright posture it becomes the major structural element of our skeletal composition supporting the head, upper limbs, and the trunk.

Each and every style of taijiquan supports and carries a view on the correct alignment of the spine, allowing the spine to elongate with the relaxing and softening of the the connective tissue.

The opening posture of taiji forms give a very simple introduction to a good posture: the feet should point directly to the front, the ankles are over the feet, the ankles support the knees, the knees support the femur which in turn supports the hips and girdle. The lifting of the crown and the sinking and tucking in the tailbone, hollow the chest and relax. These instructions should be emphasised as part of the introduction to taijiquan. They are indeed a cornerstone of the whole system. Whether one's interest is taken up by martial arts, competition or improving well being it will remain one of the ten major principles.

The Song of Peng

Peng is likened to water, giving buoyancy to a boat, 
First sink the energy to Dan Tien,
Then set the "Head Upright" as if suspended from above,
The body should be entirely relaxed and full of energy.

Visualising or actually carrying an object on top of the head can help create the feeling, this is an exercise we were encouraged to do in the ITCCA back in the 1970s. It can bring a complete change in the awareness of the use of the head and eliminate the tendency for it to dart about without reference to a integrated whole. Taijiquan, Daoyin exercise, Zhan Zhuang (standing pole exercise), Yoga, Alexander Technique, Feldenkrais and his Awareness Through Movement, Ida Rolf PhD Structural Integration or Rolfing, all deal from either a eastern or western perspective with the causes and corrections of bad posture arising from structural problems of the human body.

Having written the foregoing I realise none of this information was available to my parents and my headmaster and it took another 30 years for it to become meaningful to me, so I unfortunately continued to slummuck around for some time.Hold your head up boy and get your hands out of your pockets. Amen to that!! Richard Watson

Richard Watson

Longfei Newsletter Volume 8 Issue 3Table of Contents