Ignition

Ignition is the opening segment of a Complete Baseworks Practice Session. Its purpose is to mark the beginning of practice and establish the conditions for effective practice — it is not a warm-up.

“Do you warm up before opening a language app and cool down after you close it?”

The warm-up/cool-down framing would imply physical preparation for intense exertion, which Baseworks explicitly avoids through Intensity Modification. Ignition addresses a different set of functions.

Four Functions

1. Attentional shift — Clearly demarcates practice time from the rest of the day; aids habit formation by establishing a consistent session marker
2. State observation — Provides a baseline awareness of one’s current condition to inform Intensity Modification choices during practice
3. Tension release — Movements, stillness, or static contractions reduce unconscious muscular holding accumulated from daily activity
4. Priming through stillness — Different ignition formats create varied conditions for experiencing stillness, which optimally reveals internal subtleties as a preparation for the sensitivity required during form practice

Varieties

Ignition may include slow controlled breathing (for awareness/control development and breathing capacity). Different ignition formats (dynamic, seated, standing, with/without effort) create different priming effects on subsequent practice quality.

Critically: The 6 principles and movement patterns do not apply to Ignition (or Assimilation).

Related

• Assimilation — the closing segment; completes the session structure
• Intensity Modification — Ignition informs IM choices during practice
• Natural Breathing — often features in ignition formats