Do-it-yourself Meihua Poles?

[Lama Pai Sifu]

I remember that in the old Mineola school, someone got ahold of an old telephone pole, cut it into pieces of varying length, and then attached them to square plywood bases: I still have some of them in my parent's garage, BTW...

Wow, I was wondering what happened to all of them! I know a few people 'absconded' with a few over the years in mineola...


I actually got a few telephone poles and took a sawzall to them. (took me hours) and then attached them to plywood bases (Square).

I made the poles for our Lama style, so they varied in height. But I believe they were, 11", 15", 19", 23". We had 36 in total.

[TenTigers]

years ago, I got stumps from a cut down tree. They were about ten inches wide and 8" high. They worked well, being able to stack them on top of each other in the corner, but several months in, we found them to be infested with insects.
note to self: use some sort of wood sealer.

The flower pots sound cool, but last week, I went to Home Depot and priced them, about 20 bucks each, so I might buy one and see how strong it is before shelling out 200 bucks for enough to perform tan tuie lines on them.
We also have a plum flower ten star bolcking set that is performed on them which is fun.

[jdhowland]

Thanks for the info, but it seems you must use the ball of your foot if you're standing on a beer can or something even smaller (someone from Wah Lum mentioned V8 cans). My whole foot is on the ground when I practice stances normally (other than xu-bu, duli-bu, etc.), so I can't just do the stances as usual.

Onyomi, you should probably avoid training on the balls of your feet even if you stand on skinny posts.

Our lama style uses mui fa jong and we were taught that as skill improved, the practitioner was to gradually shave down the tops of the posts until they were only a few inches in diameter, but the weight should remain centered on the feet so that the pivot point remains close to the heel. The post training is also for the "post" of the spinal column, and is supported by the bones of the legs. If the weight is supported by the front of the foot you miss the chance to improve your anatomical "post" and may develop bad habits.

Be well.

jd

[uki]

traditionally they used like 100 stakes in the ground with uniform spacing... i have discovered that you can also pattern them after star constellations and geometric shapes... you can also increase or decrease the height of each one so as to further work your lower body - i like 9 inches difference in mine... you can also incorporate the concept into bagua circle walking. i have a stack of utility poles that i am using - they were left on the property and i got tired of watching them waste away... you can substitute set poles with FHA's and corner cinder blocks stood up on end... or upright bricks.

[Black Mantis]

This guy used industrial-sized coffee/food cans filled with cement.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puk_6zwNBqI