Swimming Through Space Session 1: Arranging Your Frame

Here we go! At the end of this article is a guided practice video for you to follow along with and begins the foundation of your daily practice routine we described in the last article. Have a read of my introduction for context and then engage with the video to begin finding the right arrangement of your frame. -Steve

The Architecture of Stillness

Modern lifestyles unwittingly encourage losing the activated state.

Before you can swim through space, you must first build the vessel.

Welcome to the foundational practice of the Swimming Through Space program: Arranging Your Frame. In this stage, we begin by dismantling the "collapsed state" and establishing the Natural Stance.

For centuries, practitioners of internal martial arts have utilized Zhan Zhuang (Standing Post) to forge profound internal connections. Masters like Yiquan founder Wang Xiangzhai stripped away complex forms to focus purely on sensation and intent, highlighting the paradox of stillness: standing physically still while visualizing immense movement. However, before we can apply the power of our mind and our "Feelizations," our physical architecture must be correctly aligned.

Many common exercise routines isolate muscle chains in order to increase their sectional strength, our goal is to link these isolated muscle chains back together.

The Trap of the Lever System

In conventional fitness and external martial arts, the body is viewed as a series of levers where muscles contract to pull bones together. While this generates isolated force, it creates distinct "breaks" in your kinetic chain. Tension acts as a rigid wall, absorbing impact locally and creating somatic "noise" that dampens your physical sensitivity.

Alternatively, if we simply "let go" without structure, we fall into the collapsed state—characterized by limpness, a loss of structural integrity, and a feeling of dead weight.

Developing a feeling state where the whole body is connected is a pre-requisite for being able to apply it to an exercise much less an activity.

Arranging Your Frame for Whole-Body Tensegrity

We are looking for the precise middle ground: a state of active, energized release known in the internal arts as Song.

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