Out of Bounds

Keep your energy circulating. It can sound hippy-ish and vague. But, we all understand it when put a different way. Try this one: If you lift something heavy, make sure you bend your knees. Who doesn't understand that?
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We know that straight legs and a bent, flat back are dangerous when hoisting heavy. It cuts us in two. We know that if we squat down with our torso more erect, the push of our feet can go up through our back and connect with our arms. We know to push off harder for heavier objects and lighter for light.
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However, pushing harder doesn't necessarily mean better results. How is just as important as how much.
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When we were younger and had a less clear sense of self, our energy circulated differently. Babies, as we know, can grip a finger with an amazing amount of squeeze. And, yet, despite an almost brutish force, they just lie there, smiling and soft.
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Babies are also impressive when they just start to stand. For long minutes, they watch the world, calmly swaying with ease. They don't sink, slouch or shuffle their feet. Like little bamboo, they grow in two directions, with no clear sense of their highth or the ground. They're in a continuous state of reaching out. They haven't, yet, focused on their limits.
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When we push down to lift a heavy object, we tend to put a limit on our push. The ground starts here, so my push ends here is how we think. But, like a boxer punching further than his opponant's face, we need to push down further than the obvious place of contact. That way, the energy doesn't burst and dissipate quickly. That way, our muscles work all the way through the movement, connected and uncrinkled, and our intention stays vigorous from start to finish.
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Where's the finish? There, too, we should have no set idea. After all, the push moves up from legs to our back, then to arms and heavy object -- so it finishes somewhere out there. Somewhere well outside our body.
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Amplitude Exercise #1
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1) Find a wall and place the palm of both hands against it. Try to feel the contact in all fingers, in all parts. (That means a good dose of both relaxation and intention.) Stand close enough so that your elbows are bent, but don't lean into the wall. Feel the weight of your forearms and upper arms hanging there, like a hanging bridge, attached to two verticle surfaces and drooping in the middle.
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2) Now, imagine that the contact goes deeper. Imagine that you're feeling into the wall, somewhere inside or beyond it. Already, you may feel a difference in your body. If space opens in one direction, then space opens in the opposite direction. Can you feel your shoulder blades relaxing and becoming more mobile? By touching deeper into the wall, can you 'touch' your shoulder blades?
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3) Push gently into the wall with one hand, then the other. Keep your knees relaxed. Notice how far down your body the movement goes and how you sway from side to side. Can you feel a circuit opening up, from one shoulder blade down and around to the other?