The first piece or movement in the 8 Pieces of Brocade is the one pictured above. It can be called different names, but Holding Up the Heavens is the one i'm comfortable with. Essentially, begin with feet shoulder width apart, gently breathing in through the nose, out through the mouth... inhale with pushing out the lumbar spine/chest relaxed/collapsed, as we inhale, we bring the hands up towards the upper chest/neck (open the upper chest), and then press upwards. Then the hands are lowered down.
One thing that I notice right away when doing my research is the wide variety of hand positions and subtle motions of the hands/wrists used by different teachers/presenters. In the class that I attended, instead of interlocking fingers, they used open hands/palms and there clearly was more force applied than shown in some videos.
Interesting...this is where experimentation and steady practice over time will allow us to choose the variations we do. As always, please don't follow my writing and do your practice without either initially seeking out a licensed medical practitioner or the guidance of an expert teacher. I'm just sharing my thoughts/research and personal experience/thoughts. In no way, will I or any associate of my group be liable if any of you out there choose to follow the things i've posted here on my blog. OK, lol... enough of the disclaimers! Good practice to all of you out there!
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