Matthew Venn

I’m really enjoying my movement practice at the moment, here is what I do:

• start with a moment of stillness. Connect with my breath.
• state my intentions – why I practice and what values I intend to have while practising. At the moment I practice because I want mastery of mind and body and I want long term health. My values are presence, softness, strength and moving from my “one point”
• start moving with very small movements from my one point. Allow these movements to build up until they are very large and become stretches. Feel the waves through my body and identify blocks and tensions. Release these.
• do my Ki development exercises from Aikido.
• practice my Aikido forms.
• practice the Wing Chun first form (SNT) 3 times.
• practice the Wing Chun second form (CK) 3 times.
• improvise movement from my one point, with my arms “unbendable” and holding space – focus on legs.
• improvise movement from my one point, using the waves to power shapes that I form with my arms. I aim to use shapes from the SNT and CK.
• slowly come to a rest and do a bit of standing meditation
• at this point I usually feel a lot of love and excitement. I take time to feel gratitude and thank whatever comes to mind.