Did massage school significantly impact your own ability to relax and how you exist in your body?
I've known some massage therapists who are very relaxed and embodied... and I am curious to what degree massage school changes you.
Hello friends,
I have some questions for those who've achieved a high level of internal skill/physical transformation and/or a certain level of mastery in internal martial arts.
(And I would define internal skill as a level of power, vitality, security, and fluidity of movement with a relaxed nervous system... and I would define physical transformation as transformation of your posture and internal structure - "correct alignment"... though feel free to interpret physical transformation however you will - though I am not referring to "woo" levels of physical transformation. Obviously strength and endurance are valuable too.)
Namely... how did you do it?
It may sound like a silly question. But its not. I know what I want, I know that its an ongoing process of refinement that lasts a lifetime - perhaps lifetimes. I'm already a couple years into it without much formal, in-person training in this one.
And I don't know what I don't know.
And there are a lot of stories out there.
There are a lot of fantasies, and narratives about what you need - especially with the internal arts... like one year of solely rebuilding your inner structure.
And my exposure to martial arts in the US has been combat sports and McDojos. Both have their place... neither offered what I am after.
EDIT: To provide some further context for my question, I am about two years into my own journey without a teacher, and will be going abroad to a Gong Fu Academy as the next step in January.
EDIT2: I amended the body of my post a little because I think some people think I am asking how to become immortal or a no-touch master or something. Two years ago I had the posture of a velociraptor, a very screwed up nervous system from trauma and poor lifestyle choices that allowed me to avoid processing the trauma, and was extremely stiff with limited range of movement.
I am now at a level from my own informal, but part-time job level of training in calisthenics, yoga, qigong/breathwork/standing meditation, and flow arts (primarily steel mace and rope dart but others as well) where friends have noticed significant postural transformation, change in muscle mass, to ease of movement and strangers compliment my mobility and ability to move. (I train a lot in public.)
I want to go deeper and will be attending a full-time academy next year. My interest in Daoist martial arts specifically comes partly from my interest in the religion and philosophy which aided me in my transformation thus far as well as living life and partially because it has a focus specifically on posture, the nervous system as the Chinese understood it, and rebuilding the body. My understanding is that historically all Chinese martial arts had these qualities but in the modern era your mileage may vary and the external arts may or may not have a focus on them. (My experience in combat sports and other non-Chinese martial arts is there is very little.)
My question was motivated by the fact that I initially came here to ask a different question born from insecurity - what schools/teachers to people recommend as though I hadn't already found a school, made the plans, and secured the initial funding (I have) or as if there was some magical formula or mountain training fantasy that I am missing and need in order to reach my goals.
Thank you.