From Head to Toe

练功先练桩，大鼎增力量

One shall first train pillars when training skills, upside-down adds strength

Training pillars to first fix one's posture.

Training pillars to then fix one's heart.

Holding pillars is first a question of straightness and being perpendicular.

大鼎 refers to trainings done upside-down. It is a set of skills close to some modern gymnastics and used to be one of the basic trainings for martists.

The character 鼎, an ancient cooking vessel with two loop handles and three or four legs, is also a depiction of principles to be sought when holding a posture.

No neck training, no real backbone connection.

An upside-down straight neck to train the capacity to straighten the backbone throught the cervical vertebrae.

Posture to train the capacity to straighten the backbone throught the sacral vertebrae.

The two previous skills mastered, one shall try to do the opposite, like straighten the backbone through the sacral vertebrae while upside-down.