"raise the spirit"

[everything]

Looking back at translations of the taiji classics, I'm always a bit confused by the phrase "raise the spirit" especially "to the headtop". I take the raising spirit part to mean roughly "alive", "alert", "ready", "in the moment", "paying attention", "very aware", like a cat in readiness, the opposite of "sluggish". Does that seem right to you? But what about the headtop business?

[johnwang]

There is a gate on top of your skull. If you can open it, your soul can leave and come back to your body freely. One day when you can float above the ground and look at your own body, you then know that your soul are capable to travel through galaxy.

[Joe L.]

There is a gate on top of your skull. If you can open it, your soul can leave and come back to your body freely. One day when you can float above the ground and look at your own body, you then know that your soul are capable to travel through galaxy.

Thank you.

[Bao]

lol@JW. I sense a subtle irony there...

I think you are about correct, Everything. Don't read to much stuff about qi-channels and circulation, keep your interpretation simple, as Occam would.

[D_Glenn]

Looking back at translations of the taiji classics, I'm always a bit confused by the phrase "raise the spirit" especially "to the headtop". I take the raising spirit part to mean roughly "alive", "alert", "ready", "in the moment", "paying attention", "very aware", like a cat in readiness, the opposite of "sluggish". Does that seem right to you?

That seems right but we can elaborate on that as there are actually 5 shens/spirits that are like independent aspects of ourselves. Us, our consciousness, is the central 'shen' which resides in the heart, this is the commander. The 2nd in charge is the 'yi' which resides in our spleen and provides the intuitive answers and is our sub-conscious that provides intuition and that 'gut-feeling'. Our dreams and the human quality of envisioning and imagining into the future is the 'hun' which resides in the liver. Our animal side and instinctual behavior and link to our past comes from the 'po' which resides in the lungs. The 'zhi' is our will-power and motivation or drive to act and face our fears, the heart will have the idea but it needs the will to carry it out.

So 'gathering the spirits' is bringing all 5 under the control of our heart/consciousness. If the 'hun' is in control we aren't in the present and are looking ahead, trying to predict what will happen. If the 'po' is in control we are stuck in the past and worry about what just happened. If the 'yi'/spleen is in control we are second guessing ourselves and losing crucial split-seconds. If the 'zhi'/will power isn't strong enough we aren't brave enough to act, follow through with it, and finish the job or if the zhi/will is too strong it acts before the heart gives the order and it's too impulsive and wasn't the proper action to take.

From a health aspect-
Alcohol and other liver toxins bring the 'hun' alive and we are in the "spirit world", the next day though during the hangover the 'hun' is worn out and hides away so we have a hard time seeing a future for ourselves which is coupled with the 'po' being more alive and we can only look back into the past.

Smoking damages the 'po' and diminishes our instinctual drive to survive and live.

Drinking and eating cold and sugar rich foods damages our spleen and causes poor decision making or addictive behavior and obsessive compulsive type problems.

Too much sex, hard drugs, many pharmaceuticals, and lack of sleep damages the kidneys and our will power.

The heart is protected by the pericardium which takes the brunt of all the damage but can eventually wear out. In IMA there is a saying that you hit with the 'shen'. The heart shen actually comes through it's intermediary the pericardium and travels the pericardium meridian which goes out to neiguan point and laogong point. Sending out intent with the eyes (liver is connected to our eyes) brings out more of the hun spirit, while yelling (lungs) 'ha' with the strike adds in the 'po' although normally it's held back with the 'hen' sound, the 'yi' is at the front of the strike, while the 'zhi' follows at the end.

If our strikes contain all these qualities there is a saying "When you strike, even (the opponents) 'hun' and 'po' will be scared."


On the raising I believe it's actually bringing the spirit up to yintang point in the center of the forehead, this like 'centering' or getting into the 'present'. It's also a spot to aim for on the opponent for this same reason but kind of considered a 'black hand' tactic.

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.

[everything]

lol, JW. thanks. I'll watch out for that.

Bao, thanks. The qi stuff is there but it's staying simple.

D_Glenn, thanks for the elaboration.

[Captain McNugget]

Looking back at translations of the taiji classics, I'm always a bit confused by the phrase "raise the spirit" especially "to the headtop". I take the raising spirit part to mean roughly "alive", "alert", "ready", "in the moment", "paying attention", "very aware", like a cat in readiness, the opposite of "sluggish". Does that seem right to you?

That seems right but we can elaborate on that as there are actually 5 shens/spirits that are like independent aspects of ourselves. Us, our consciousness, is the central 'shen' which resides in the heart, this is the commander. The 2nd in charge is the 'yi' which resides in our spleen and provides the intuitive answers and is our sub-conscious that provides intuition and that 'gut-feeling'. Our dreams and the human quality of envisioning and imagining into the future is the 'hun' which resides in the liver. Our animal side and instinctual behavior and link to our past comes from the 'po' which resides in the lungs. The 'zhi' is our will-power and motivation or drive to act and face our fears, the heart will have the idea but it needs the will to carry it out.

So 'gathering the spirits' is bringing all 5 under the control of our heart/consciousness. If the 'hun' is in control we aren't in the present and are looking ahead, trying to predict what will happen. If the 'po' is in control we are stuck in the past and worry about what just happened. If the 'yi'/spleen is in control we are second guessing ourselves and losing crucial split-seconds. If the 'zhi'/will power isn't strong enough we aren't brave enough to act, follow through with it, and finish the job or if the zhi/will is too strong it acts before the heart gives the order and it's too impulsive and wasn't the proper action to take.

From a health aspect-
Alcohol and other liver toxins bring the 'hun' alive and we are in the "spirit world", the next day though during the hangover the 'hun' is worn out and hides away so we have a hard time seeing a future for ourselves which is coupled with the 'po' being more alive and we can only look back into the past.

Smoking damages the 'po' and diminishes our instinctual drive to survive and live.

Drinking and eating cold and sugar rich foods damages our spleen and causes poor decision making or addictive behavior and obsessive compulsive type problems.

Too much sex, hard drugs, many pharmaceuticals, and lack of sleep damages the kidneys and our will power.

The heart is protected by the pericardium which takes the brunt of all the damage but can eventually wear out. In IMA there is a saying that you hit with the 'shen'. The heart shen actually comes through it's intermediary the pericardium and travels the pericardium meridian which goes out to neiguan point and laogong point. Sending out intent with the eyes (liver is connected to our eyes) brings out more of the hun spirit, while yelling (lungs) 'ha' with the strike adds in the 'po' although normally it's held back with the 'hen' sound, the 'yi' is at the front of the strike, while the 'zhi' follows at the end.

If our strikes contain all these qualities there is a saying "When you strike, even (the opponents) 'hun' and 'po' will be scared."


On the raising I believe it's actually bringing the spirit up to yintang point in the center of the forehead, this like 'centering' or getting into the 'present'. It's also a spot to aim for on the opponent for this same reason but kind of considered a 'black hand' tactic.

.

.

Thanks for that, very insightful.

Best,

Luke

[eddie mush]

D_Glenn you write very clear and precise about these things. Interesting.

Martin

[D_Glenn]

Thanks guys. Martin, Something that I find interesting is that 'qihai' point promotes the 肓 'huang' (membranes/visceral layers) and is called 'xia (lower)huang', would you relate that to dantian? Also some say it extends to promoting the fascial layers of the whole body. What's your thoughts and would this effect of needling qihai be substantial, or how would you describe 'promoting huang'?

Also would you know if 'yintang' point is considered part of the chong meridian?

.

[RobP2]

That seems right but we can elaborate on that as there are actually 5 shens/spirits that are like independent aspects of ourselves. Us, our consciousness, is the central 'shen' which resides in the heart, this is the commander. The 2nd in charge is the 'yi' which resides in our spleen and provides the intuitive answers and is our sub-conscious that provides intuition and that 'gut-feeling'.

.

What does that mean - "resides in our heart/spleen" etc?

[eddie mush]

Let me get back to you about those questions D_Glenn. I'm going to bed now.

[Wuyizidi]

Looking back at translations of the taiji classics, I'm always a bit confused by the phrase "raise the spirit" especially "to the headtop". I take the raising spirit part to mean roughly "alive", "alert", "ready", "in the moment", "paying attention", "very aware", like a cat in readiness, the opposite of "sluggish". Does that seem right to you? But what about the headtop business?

One of the reasons Taiji Quan is classified as an internal martial art is that it uses internal mental imagery to guide/create certain qualities of movement. In modern parlance, this is called mind-body integration exercise.

In the old days, people's understanding of human physiology (detailed anatomy, the various systems and how they all interact) were very limited. But through sheer quantity of practice and experimentation, they discovered that, just as external movement can lead to internal change, we can use the mind (internal, invisible) to create external, measurable physical changes. This is done through using mental imagery, and focusing the mind on certain parts of the body during various parts of physical movements. This is an easy way of producing the correct results without spelling out detailed instructions for every part of the body, or explain why (which they couldn't anyway).

So what is "raise the spirit to the headtop"? Knowing what we know above, the real question is "why"?

Martial art is art of movement. In movement we want to have 2 opposite but complementary qualities, stability and agility. Both are achieved by maintaining the correct body alignment, whether in stillness or in motion. Stability means your center of balance cannot be easily moved. It also means you'll be able generate the maximum power possible. Agility means the ability to make changes quickly. In fighting everything goes so fast, so you must react and change appropriately in time.

In Chinese philosophy, we say stability is a yin (heavy, downward, unchanging) quality, and agility a yang (light, upward, dynamic) quality. So if you just focus on 'sinking your qi to dantian', 'hooking your toes like talons into the ground', or 'spreading your roots all the way to the river of death', you may have good stability, but little mobility. "Raise the spirit to the headtop", and my favorite hard-to-understand analogy "head suspended from above" are mental imagery that help your counterbalance these downward energies.

Since these traditional analogies are so difficult to understand today, let me try to explain this in modern terms. Why do we need to have this upward feeling, physically, what does it do exactly? The answer lies in anatomy of spine and the head. The head is this 12-15 pound weight balanced on top of your central skeletal system. Imagine you're balancing a bowling ball on top of a long pole. Any shift in that weight will have a noticeable effect on everything below. It is important that we align that weight properly. So what is the optimal alignment?


image from Alexander Technique Education site

The diagrams above illustrates why having this intent of exerting a force to the top of the head is important. Because when we have a weight on top of our heads, we naturally stand in the most balanced, neutral, and relaxed (all the spaces between the joints of spine are open) manner. We have no choice - we cannot carry a weight on top our heads if we have poor posture. Notice how in cultures where people carry weight on top of their heads, how good their postures are, how comfortable, free their movements look:



This is one of those things that, until you tried it, seems counter-intuitive: just like carrying a bag on one side of the should raises instead of compresses that shoulder, putting a weight on top of head lengthens instead of compresses the spine.

Even in the absence of that weight, if we project an upward force to the top center of the head, it helps our entire skeletal system to align itsef in the most optimal manner, allowing it to be stable and agile at the same time.


Wuyizidi

[yusuf]

..err.. lounge lizard yourself a pair of really hot women, take em home.. observe how you feel when they get freaky..

that is raising the spirit

[RobP2]

..err.. lounge lizard yourself a pair of really hot women, take em home.. observe how you feel when they get freaky..

that is raising the spirit

Yusuf really! We're having a profound energetics/pspiritual discussion here and you have to sully it with your base energies

[everything]

thanks a lot wuyizidi, makes so much more sense now. lol, yusuf