My New Big Toe

In ninth grade, I took typing class.

with Mrs. Corp. On the first day,

she taught us to keep our wrists up

so that our fingers hung down onto

the keys. When we got lazy and let

our wrists drop, she would remind us.

In college, I enrolled in the first

volleyball class and learned the

proper way to pass the ball, set

and spike. I also took swimming

and learned the proper form for

all the major strokes. Then I took

kinesiology and learned the

mechanics of the human body.

All developed forms of physical

activity have proper form. Running

form; climbing form; swimming form--

even throwing a frisbee has form.

But what do they all have in common ?

Breathing is an obvious answer; and

using the bones and joints for leverage.

And how about the fact that skill comes

from practicing proper form and developing

good habits ?

There are also many commonalities between

sport-specific forms, like the way running

and boxing both keep the chin down; and

the way skiing and swimming both elongate

the arms; the way a baseball pitch and

a golf swing both create rotational speed

from the trunk; and the way bowling and

surfing require whole-body coordination.

And almost every high-level athlete uses

relaxation and skeletal stacking for balance,

speed, stability and power issuance.

But little is it known which form supersedes

all individual athletic forms. You might be

surprised to learn how all of the form

commonalities I just mentioned are proper

to Fu Tai Chi practice. However, Fu Tai Chi is
far more developed than any of those forms.

Check out this photo:

This is what a chiropractor will tell you is "normal,
healthy posture."

But when I practice my Fu Tai Chi posture, my back

looks like this:

See how straight and flat it is ?

After seven years of practicing Fu Tai Chi posture,

and Tai Chi principles, my whole body has

changed.

The most surprising and recent change is that

of my big toe on my right foot. As of April 2010,

my right big toe had gotten so much stronger

that it started developing new calluses. By

May, it started wearing holes through socks and

slippers. By June, I had to start taping it with

athletic tape because it was wearing the skin

off itself. This toe has literally reorganized itself

to be reborn as a much, much stronger asset to

my balance, speed and coordination.

Since I began Fu Tai Chi, I have found it to boost

and accelerate all of my other athletics. I have

better balance, more efficiency, I can run faster--

I'm even better at putting the dishes away.

I challenge you to practice Fu Tai Chi for six

weeks and see how you feel. I bet you'll

feel the changes too.