Subitai wrote:everything wrote:Subitai, can you further elaborate?
I'm reading all the Sun manuals on this site now.
He talks a lot about energy but doesn't mention this point about "rectum" often, and doesn't go into detail. There are other points he emphasizes often so they must be more important.
Ah Crap, I should never have spoken up...I didn't want to get sucked too much into this! ( PUN INTENDED ) You guys get my humor? I sense crickets! hahahahaha ...
Well, my information is not just coming from just Suns books but more so how it was related to me from my sifu yada yada yada ....from Sun Jian Yun.
Is that you in the clip
Maarten using the word Clench is right on...although I have to stress that it's NOT Heavy tension...It is as I said above in my example.
IF the body is a vessel and you're trying to store Chi...then it can escape via "you know where". Your mind is aware of it...you just don't have to stress out thinking about it. You certainly don't want to perform the set looking "Anal Retentive" ...LOL. The body as a gauge or (mercury Meter) example can be used to temper out the breathing:
- It can be really simple in and out (via nose only) Mind to lower dan tien. This is pretty standard stuff for you I Imagine, "Long is your inhale = Long is your exhale". This is because most people with weak breath control only take a shallow inhale (lazy)...yet let everything out on the exhale.
- Or We also learned to divide the torso into 3rds (upper, middle and Lower) But when you breathe... you try to only replace the top 2/3 's of your air...the lower 1/3 of it to keep down in the belly as a reserve. Only when you return to Wuji do you completely recycle ALL of your (Air/Chi)...i.e. return to empty or nothing...no root & no mind.
From Wuji...no mind, no root (empty) and I laugh as I type this.... no thought about rectum closing. Then a thought begins in upper dan tien and proceeds down to lower DT...as if the kua is a vessel. For example filling with water....to make the Dan tien more FULL prior to even beginning the form we wrap our hands gently backwards and squeeze gently with our elbows to COMPRESS the vessel. It is at this point....and it pains me to say this "that the mind closes the rectum". But I don't go all hippie about it and think about this sh!t allot ok. So now that I've said this stuff... I'm expecting jokes galore...go ahead I can take it.
Above all however the breathing should never be forced and should just be natural...it's just how the mind and Intent is being focused underneath it all that matters.
SLT, talked about beginning his Taiji from Wu ji (wu chi , spelling?) with feet set at a 90deg angle (toe pointed outwards and heels NOT touching) to make sure you always began from nothing and then proceed to develop your chi. Afterwards you return to Wuji. You should always finish by walking(minimum of 200 steps), sometimes briskly waving arms to help disperse the chi you have collected...obviously with NO intention of rectum closure.
I can show you a video section of how this begins...although I don't really talk too much in detail about what is going on Internally.
Here starting at about 30secs:
Please keep in mind, that i'm trying to show an alternate way to apply that movement other than the standard.
Getting back to the breathing... then end result of this type of breathing focus , when you are done with your form...you can literally feel the Cheeks of your face being drawn in. It cannot be faked or forced, it either happens organically because you did it correctly or not at all.
Lastly, does it help my fighting ability at all? I gather not but it was still something cool to learn at the time.
So is that you in the clip