D_Glenn wrote:If you are good at pool, then you have instinctively learned how to do the requirement. It’s a natural thing that all mammals are capable of doing. You don’t have to know anything about ‘Qi’ to do it. Everyone already knows how to do it. They just aren’t aware that it is a thing. Let alone a thing that can be given a sort of name.
Instinct is natural knowledge that doesn't require learning. To say something is "instinctively learned" is simply meaningless. You don't just pick up a pool cue any old way and start sinking bank shots. You have to learn how to hold the stick, how to aim the stick, and how to move the stick. You don't just throw the stick at someone and say "see, that is playing pool!"
Now if you did just throw them the stick and they caught it with a proper grip, did a tight little spin, landed in perfect shooting position, and they ran the whole table in two shots, and it was their first time then I'd say that's instinctive. If they'd been playing all their life and developed that gungfu then I'd say it was second nature.
Maybe a better example is cold weather.
When it's cold out, your natural response is to tighten up, that restricts blood flow, which makes you feel colder since the warm blood isn't circulating as much, and then you start to shiver to create motion and heat and feel warmer.
To a certain temperature, it's much more efficient to sink the qi. Relax the muscles, let the blood flow. Even though your entire life you've conditioned yourself to tense up and shiver, you will actually feel warmer if you relax and calm your body.
BUT ONCE AGAIN I MUST SAY, you may be studying and practicing something different with the same name. I can only describe the parameters of what I practice, which is to re-condition my mental, emotional, and physical responses, not simply to amplify the natural response.
