Week 2 under Modified Integral Strength Pt 2. Sore neck

Woke up this morning with the back of my neck more sore than it was yesterday.  Worked through the supine and quadrapedal exercises from the GMB Neck Mobility routine, as well as reviewing the seated exercises.  There was one exercise that I was unable to do because of the neck pain - the Retraction with Rotation and Sidebend from the quadrapedal series.  Because of the sheer number of neck exercises from the GMB Neck Mobility routine, as well as prescribed reps and set, the neck mobility practice took up most of my morning exercise time.  The rest of the session was spent on a bit of Cando Bar silk reeling practice and some stretches from the Muay Thai mobility routine. 

Speaking of the Cando Bar stuff, I realized that I should keep the arm more extended - not necessarily lock out the elbow, but at least remove the "slack" from the "suit" we are trying to develop.  This is helping me feel the suit working a bit more in the bottom half of the "positive" movement - I'm feeling more of a pull from my abs/core to the hand, through the arm; instead of just the arm, or at best a conventional "rowing" action (the arm and upper back working together).  I'm also getting more comfortable with the "negative" movement, in which the counterclockwise rotation of the dantien pulls the right arm out, causing it to unfold, which is quite a different sensation from the normal pushing action of the triceps, shoulder, and chest working to extend the arm.  This is why all of the punches I've seen in Chen Taijiquan are accompanied by the opposite arm being pulled back.  The pull of the opposite arm is sometimes said to be for an elbow strike to the back, but I think it's mainly a reminder to the practitioner of what direction the dantien should be rotating.  The rotation causes one arm to pull back because the front of the dantien is pulling; while at the same time the back of the dantien is pulling through the other arm, causing it to unfurl like a party favor and extend outwards.

As of this post, my neck is feeling better.  I'll do another round of the seated exercises when I get home, then the supine and quadrapedal ones before I go to bed.

Unless my neck is completely pain free tomorrow, I'll switch from the Inverted Leg Raise series to the Inverted Press series, so I can continue improving my overhead pressing strength while waiting for the neck to recover.