Arm Swinging Exercises
The following exercises are a reminder for students who have just started learning Do-In. These exercises should first be performed under supervision in class so that any mistakes and misunderstandings can be corrected.
Horizontal twist
- Stand with feet shoulder width apart, slight bend in the knees, arms loose by your sides, eyes looking straight ahead.
- Turn your upper body 90° to the left, picking a spot on the wall at eye level, letting your arms swing out as you turn.
- Turn your upper body to the right 90° from centre, picking a spot on the opposite wall at eye level, letting your arms swing out as you turn.
- Repeat
It is important to direct the exercise with your eyes. By looking left and right at eye level you pivot nicely, keeping your weight above your centre of gravity. If you look down then your weight comes forward of your centre of gravity making the body tense as it tries to maintain your balance.
A large aspect of this exercise is to relax the body and let if move freely. You will know you are doing this if your arms hit off the body both sides. If not then you are holding your arms in position. Let them fly about like pieces of string.
There is no need to turn beyond 90° each side of centre. If you do you will at some point come past where you are flexible and pull yourself off your centre of gravity, making your body tense to maintain balance.
Vertical drop
- Stand with feet shoulder width apart, slight bend in the knees, arms above your head, eyes looking straight ahead.
- Release your arms letting them drop forward, creating an arc. Let the movement expel the air from your lungs.
- As your arms drop deepen the bent in your knees.
- Allow the momentum to carry your arms past centre swinging freely.
- As your arms return and swing forward, straighten your knees and take a deep breath.
- Maintain the momentum and bring your arms back to their starting position
- Repeat
The object of this exercise is to create big relaxed movement of the shoulders with minimal effort. Allow your breathing to be big and relaxed and in time with the movement. This reduces friction and adds to the movement.
Don’t bend your elbows during this exercise as you will loose some of the momentum as well as hurt your wrists as your arm snaps straight.
By bouncing your knees you absorb excess energy from the downward swing that would crash your shoulders into your neck in a whiplash movement as your arms swing back. This energy is put back into the movement during the upwards part of the bounce.