I agree with everyone else. :) Want you want to do is really visualize the connections between your muscles and pass the movement through each one.

I used to do a visualization technique with my students that I called "passing the energy ball."

First I used to turn down the lights and put on some slow calm music, so they could really "get into: themselves.

Start with your hands in front of you, and imagine a ball of energy (about the size of a tennis ball) floating between your hands. Start passing the ball back and forth (slowly and with little movement) using your hands by undulating one and then the other. Really concentrat on the energy passing from one hand to the other via the imaginary ball.

Then when you have really connected with the movement and forgotten everything else around you, take the energy into one hand. Feel the energy in your fingers, your knuckles, then your palm and wrist. When you are comfortable with this, pass the energy up into the forearm then thru the elbow, up the arm, slowly feeling all the muscles as you pass thru them on your way up to your shoulder. Then pass the energy back down the arm, muscle by muscle. Keep going back and forth really feeling the energy as it passes thru each muscle.

Then take the ball up into your shoulder and continue to move it thru your muscles in any direction you choose, keeping the connection as you go. Play with it! You can pass it up and down your spine (undulations), thru your hips (cirlcles, fig 8s ect), and your chest or other arms, even take it down into you legs... just remember to keep the energy ball in your mind so you don't loose it. In other words if you want to do a hip movement followed by a chest movement, remember to move the energy FROM the hips UP TO the chest before engaging the chest. :)

Hope that helps, I know it really helped me connect. :)

"Another great trick is to take a circular movement -- any kind of figure 8 or circle -- and slooooooowwwww it down to be as slow as you can possibly go without actually stopping. Do a horizontal figure 8 with the hips and take 32 counts to finish each side, for example. This becomes both a movement meditation and also tells you where your posture gets out of control or where you need to stretch more."


OMGosh, I so do this! At least I know now I'm not crazy now. I started doing it to stretch and strenghten all my muscle groups involved with each little movement.

*high fives!*