As we begin to move more and more from our hips by using our upper leg and lower back muscles, we start to lower our center of gravity. Also, as we cultivate the stretching of our lower back muscles in the spinal twist inherent in the movements of “Parting the horse’s mane” and “Fair lady at the shuttle”, between the midpoint of the form and the second round hand, a cleansing, or purification may be observed. The common cold may also serve this function, and the cold process may be made redundant and unnecessary if this cleansing or purification is accomplished during the performance of the form.
The above movements, when executed to the full extent possible as stretches in the area of the body’s mid section, may be likened to the wringing out of a wet rag or sponge.
As they are performed with slow conscious movements in balance, the muscles and the organs which they surround seem to seize this opportunity to cleanse themselves of toxins, lactic acid build up (from exercise), and other residues. These other residues may sometimes include emotional or psychological features, disturbing our balance in those areas. Often these may contribute to the need for a purification, or 'reset' when we feel overloaded.
This purification process, again, may replicate the function of a cold, and make the completion of the cold process redundant and unnecessary.
We are viewing the common cold here as a purification process by which the body cleanses itself of pollutant build up. When our practice achieves this function, the cold is no longer necessary.
Sometimes the only thing that works to serve the purification process is a full blown cold, or even flu - like symptomatology, but many times, as our practice evolves, when those around us are getting colds, I have observed that a tickle in my throat, and perhaps a slight cough, do not then proceed to become a cold. (At this point, taking some echinacea, or vitamin C, along with the practice of the form, may facilitate the termination of the body’s purification process that we call a cold.
This doesn’t always work, and sometimes nothing less than a cold suffices to produce the cleansing. But many times it does work, when we don’t need a cold to let go of our crap, our extra movement, etc. …
