Damo Mitchell: Tai Chi does not use the meridians

[origami_itto]

Did anyone really get anything out of that

Man I do NOT have an hour to devote to random video. Like how do people live when they can just drop everything and watch some bullshit like that on the off chance it might be slightly interesting? Even if it's good it's like trying to sell a ribeye wrapped in sawdust. Is it REALLY worth the work?

[windwalker]

Did anyone really get anything out of that

Man I do NOT have an hour to devote to random video. Like how do people live when they can just drop everything and watch some bullshit like that on the off chance it might be slightly interesting? Even if it's good it's like trying to sell a ribeye wrapped in sawdust.

Is it REALLY worth the work?

fixed it...

People tend to get out, what they put in...
some might prefer stories , written by story tellers





CMA practice can involve some really boring shit...at times

[origami_itto]

Did anyone really get anything out of that

Man I do NOT have an hour to devote to random video. Like how do people live when they can just drop everything and watch some bullshit like that on the off chance it might be slightly interesting? Even if it's good it's like trying to sell a ribeye wrapped in sawdust.

Is it REALLY worth the work?

fixed it...

People tend to get out, what they put in...
some might prefer stories , written by story tellers



CMA practice can involve some really boring shit...at times

Sure, so we have to be discerning about what we invest our time in.

Just because windwalker posts some random video doesn't tell me it's worth spending an hour watching on the off chance I'll get something I'm not getting from direct instruction.

If you want to summarize or describe something, sure, let's discuss it, but don't give me homework assignments.

[windwalker]

always amusing reading the post...



The video was meant as follow on to the book, allowing viewers and readers to see what was done and follow along, with a book explaining the the how and why..
a lot work was put into the video. and book

The length of the video according to the practice itself, probably not understood in the land of fast food...
maybe a bad choice in getting his work out there...For some...others maybe exactly what they needed.

Qigong is more than just a set of breathing exercises. It is the codification fo the Chinese language, philosophy, tradition and belief system. The language used in the writings of qigong, therefore, is complex and opaque, to say the least.

As illustrated by some of the recent translations posted

The meaning of the words used in qigong is also quite far removed from the meaning of the same words in a general sense.
Feng Zhiqiang's language for his Hunyuantaiji system is, in the context of Taijiquan and Chinese culture, coherent and poetic.
Even native speakers have problems understanding the meaning of what they can read. Also why using the same words in English attempting to link
them to Chinese concepts they come from from doesn't work.

Would be better to use English words to describe observed movement in Chinese Martial movement
ie fainting, drawing, slipping ect.. ..

It is very befitting of such a beautifully constructed system. When writings of the Hunyuan system is read in its original Chinese language, the meaning is clear and concise.
Mr. Feng has a vast repertoire of rich and insightful writings on qigong and Taijiquan.

It is my desire to eventually translate all of them for the benefit of Western readers. Although I am a certified free-lance translator from Chinese
to English for the Secretary of State of the Government of Canada experiences in various translation projects,
I find the translation of Mr. Feng's work most difficult. Among his work,
writings on the theory and philosophy of Taijiquan are the most fascinating but unfortunately most challenging to translate.

often asked for, seldom shown with a video demonstrating what is demonstrated .


In this translation, clarity of instruction was given first priority. Equal attention was given to ensure that the translation stays true to the original.
Footnotes are added to this translation so as not to interrupt the natural flow of the original text.

Acupuncture charts were added and a numbered list that corresponds to the charts are provided. The acupuncture points are also listed alphabetically of easy location. Mr. Yaron Seidman provided advice on points of Chinese medicine and the acupuncture charts.
Mr. Shawn Christenson and Mr.Dragan Marianovic of Mediashaker Inc. provided the graphic designs for this book.
Mandarin Chinese Pinyin spelling is adopted in this translation.


Addressing the OP, the use of meridians ie acupuncture points used in taiji


Mrs. Feng Xiufang and Feng Xiuqian provided technical and administrative support for the translation of this book over a period of one and a half years.
Any misuse of the English language and misinterpretation of the original etxt are the mistakes of the translator, not that of the author.
Most importantly, I am honored and thankful to Grandmaster Feng Zhigiang for entrusting this monumental task to me.

Chen Zhonghua June 2001

Feng Zhigiang a noted taiji master

[everything]

It starts in the feet, is directed by the waist, and manifests in the fingers. Like a wave along a spiral path. Up the inner leg channel, up the spine, to the palm on the outside of the arm channel

Thanks, Origami. I get this. Its like something flow from feet to spine to fingers. It can also like go out from the fingers and draw from the feet. Flow straight or spiral depend on the movement. Front up and back down for retraction. Back up and front down for release. But how are they related to the orbit flowing within the trunk of the body? Or is their another orbit?

So at the risk of sounding more foolish, I'll take a stab at laying out my current understanding.

We'll just use Qi as a term, but don't think by using this I imply I believe in making people move without touching them or any other poppycock.

Bear in mind when reading this that I have no credentials and don't know shit from shinola but love to run my mouth.

So there are eight channels. The first two are Tu Mo from the coccyx up the back to the top of the skill and down to the roof of the mouth, The Jen mo goes from the tip of the tongue down the front down to the taint/choad/space between anus and genitals.

The lesser heavenly circulation is consciously moving qi through a series of gates up the back and down the front. The qi follows the yi/mind/intent/awareness, so to circulate it, we simply move our awareness along these points in a circuit.

What does it do? I dont really know specifically. It opens you up. Gives you greater control over the articulation points along the path. Clears out blockages.... or maybe the blockages being clear facilitates it?

The physical and energetic feed into and amplify each other.Like the energetic refinement of jing-qi-shen-jing-qi-shen-jing, etc. Like the up and down of the circulation in the back and front, a continous cycle of energy strengthening the body and increasing control and that control and strength and release facilitating the flow of energy.

The lesser circulation in my opinion isn't lesser than, but it's simpler, so it's easier to start.

The greater circulation starts incorporating the limbs. You do as above then as follows.

First the Tai Mo goes around the waist to the back, then up from there to the heart along the Ch'ueng Mo, the Yang Yu Wei Mo passes along a similar path from around the navel to the chest to the shoulders then down the outside of the arm to the tip of the middle finger to the palm. The Yun Yu Wei Mo goes from the palms inside the arms back to the chest, picking up on the Yang Chiao Mo from just below the ears down the outside of the legs to the bubbling well, then the Yun Chiao Mo goes from the bubbling well up through the inside of the leg to the eyebrows.

And as with the lesser, circulating through these pathways opens the channels and nourishes the body which feeds the meditation, etc etc.

End result, as pertains to martial arts, stronger, more coordinated, with a better ability to let plain old mechanical energy move through m
ore freely. Faster healing. Temporary "healing"...

I've really only started to make headway here in the last few months. I still have a lot to learn.

So the channels open, energy moving freely, saturated with awareness. The energy moves to various parts of the body faster and more precisely resulting in more precise movements and articulation.

SO, what I have noticed as a result of this is the sensation of the energy moving through my body.

I had for many years been thinking of things like tensing up my whole body at once and sort of expanding as the way the energy was released.

What I'm feeling lately is that it's literally moving from my feet up through the gates in those channels out to where it wants to go.

Of course, understanding this here that it's different for movement versus fajin. Fajin isn't just normal movement sped up. It's a different thing. Store like drawing a bow, move like reeling silk, release like firing an arrow.

So yeah, the energy feels like a ball travelling along those paths. It has to pass through every point or it gets lost. If you keep it together it can produce a ton of power. It's like cracking a whip, kinda, not really but sort of. From the dantien it shoots down to the feet and then rolls back up the leg, coccyx up the back to the shoulder out the arm.

It's not one big tight mass. It is like a pulse traveling down a wire, a wave on a rope. Your arm describes a sprial wave and the energy moves along it, like a surfer.

Sometimes.

Other times it's different. It's not just one thing all the time.

Like in massage. if you just put pressure on the body and push directly, it takes a lot of strength and can wear on your joints. If instead you make a circle and push into one end of the circle, the hand at the other end can deliver a lot more pressure with less work and wear on your own frame. From the outside it looks identical, but you know how you're shaping the intention and that's what matters.

So yes, to me at this point it looks like there are a lot of different ways it moves around that have slightly different flavors.

missed your post earlier. think this is a great description I can mostly relate to. I don't think I can feel "channels" or "meridians". maybe later. everything else seems similar. the energy travels. a ball. a pulse on a wire. good analogies for some of the feeling. perhaps if my channels were more open and felt, there is less "lost" or "stuck" or "more flow". perhaps it doesn't matter, idk.

[everything]

video

think my algorithm has basically become:
- assume 99% of video/gif posted is useless/not interesting.
- if a bunch of people are in a huff, maybe i'll get around to watching it. but probably have seen it already.
- if it's "real" but people say it's "fake", it might be interesting, but likely will not help me b/c my skills aren't there.
- if it's A does x, so B does y, and "see, it's taijiquan!!!" I pretty much don't even bother unless it's me posting that ironically in an asshole sort of way.

[Bob]

One of Feng Zhiqiang's major students in the United States:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Jr_spGKGhk

Dr. Yang Yang's Evidence-Based Taiji (TM) and Qigong Program



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG2Py6qr8tg

Yang Yang, an internationally renowned, traditionally trained Taiji and Gigong master, has distilled some essential aspects of these arts into an easy-to-learn program of health improvement accessible and beneficial to people of all ages and physical capacities. In scientific trials Master Yang and his colleagues demonstrated that this program improves strength, balance, immune function and cognition.



Whether you like his art or not, at least you can know what he is about and what his reputation is.

https://www.energyarts.com/feng-zhi-qiang-death/
In Memoriam to Grandmaster Feng Zhi Qiang
by Bruce Frantzis | May 8, 2012 | Tai Chi, Taoist Masters | 7 comments

This weekend was the supermoon, the one time of the year when a full moon coincides with its perigee, the closest point to Earth in its orbit.

On Sunday I was on a call with Alan Peatfield in Ireland discussing a future project I was planning on Lao Tse’s “Tao Te Ching,” and talking about how our kids were doing. Then he told me he’d heard that my Chen style tai chi teacher in Beijing, Feng Zhi Qiang, had just passed away the previous day, on Saturday May 5th. I felt as if I’d just been punched in the stomach.

After the phone call I lay in bed unable to sleep for several hours. This news put a hole in my life and I felt overwhelming sadness. I had great personal affection for Feng, something considerably more than the ordinary bond between teacher and student. After the last time we met at his home this past December in Beijing, the hope was that I could go back to China and study with him for a few months.

The supermoon peaked on Saturday May 5th more or less at the time Feng died. According to the Taoists, during a supermoon is a particularly auspicious time to pass on that bodes well for the future of his spirit. I have heard it called “the Great Yin Sendoff.”

The next day I called Beijing and spoke to Feng’s daughter, Feng Xiu Fang. I really didn’t know what to say to fully convey my feelings. I asked if there was anything I could do to help and told her I could come back to Beijing for Feng’s funeral on May 11. She said it was not necessary as it would be too much trouble for me. I asked Feng Xiu Fang if she was overwhelmed with arrangements, and if it would be better for her not to have another burden to deal with. She agreed and we left it that we’d talk again in a month after the dust had cleared. When possible, sooner than later I hope, I would like to pay a visit to Feng’s grave and give my condolences personally to the family.

A Legend in China and the World
Feng until a few days ago was generally considered the best living Chen style tai chi master in China, a living legend, official head of all tai chi in China and clearly one of the best of the best.

His death marks the end of an era. He was one of the last connections to the greats of tai chi who were the most direct and complete inheritors of the most important and public tai chi lineages of the 20th century. The other members of this elite club included for the Yang style, Yang Shou Zhong and Fu Zhong Wen; and for the Wu style, Ma Yue Liang.

In early 1986 Feng wanted to make me a formal disciple with a banquet – the tradition is to hold a large gathering to mark the occasion. However, I couldn’t do this as at that time I was Liu Hung Chieh’s formal disciple. Although Liu was fine with me studying with Feng Zhi Qiang, the unwritten rules of Beijing’s martial arts world is that you can’t ride two horses at the same time and therefore becoming Feng’s disciple didn’t happen. After Liu died at the end of 1986, although I wanted to accept the formal offer and study full time with Feng to complete my Chen style tai chi education, I couldn’t for reasons beyond my control, including being able to have my oldest son born and raised in the West.

In 1998 studying near Feng’s home for about a month, I learned Hun Yuan Qigong with him privately. The last time I saw him was in December 2011. I published a blog about that meeting on April 26 and Grandmaster Feng died just a week later on May 5th.

My First Meeting with Feng
I first met Feng in the summer of 1981 during my first trip to Beijing. While studying Yang style tai chi with Men Hui Feng at the Beijing College of Physical Education, I constantly mentioned that I would like to meet Master Feng who was quite well known for both his push hands and the inner workings of Chen style tai chi. At that time Feng worked in a factory and it was very difficult to have his bosses agree for him to see a foreigner. So for several weeks I was only told wait…. maybe.

During that time, since I was also a qigong tui na doctor having been trained in Taiwan and Hong Kong, part of my ongoing research was investigating and meeting whatever experts in that field I could. One day I was told there was another a qigong tui na doctor for me to meet. He was going to check me out relative to my possibilities of having a body capable of learning the deeper energetic material in internal martial arts.

I was introduced to a guy dressed in whites with the strange looking white hat many doctors wore in those days, which seemed like something a baker should have been wearing. This doctor gave me a bodywork session that lasted about an hour and a half. He was doing a serious checkup on me.

When the session was complete, we started talking about what he found as he worked on me and then we began talking about tai chi. I casually mentioned that I wanted to have a meeting with Feng. Then with this huge trademark smiling grin on his face the doctor says, “Oh, I am Feng Zhi Qiang.”

I was floored and asked if I could study with him as soon as possible. He said that working at his factory at this time made that politically impossible. However my body passed the test and the next time I was in China if possible we would get together, which we did. China in those days was very heavily politically constrained and Feng had to be cleared by higher ups to have contact with a foreigner – especially in relation to tai chi. He was not always free to do as he wanted. In the sense of freedom of social intercourse, times in China today have significantly changed for the better.

My Personal Experience of Feng Zhi Qiang
Feng was a conservative, straight up, old fashioned, salt-of-the-earth Beijing type without nonsense or tricks. He was very open, friendly and generous of spirit, nevertheless he was also able to deal with the political weirdness of official governmental martial arts politics, which was not a mean feat in Communist China. I felt a strong connection with Feng based on deep respect and great personal affection.

He genuinely considered what we would call morality to be very important, something quite rare in the Communist society in which he lived where what one said and what one actually did were commonly disconnected.

He was especially big on martial arts morality that in Chinese is called “Wu De.”

Feng never seemed to be that much concerned about material goods. Morality and having a bright spirit were dramatically more important to him. His original apartment was tiny with very little in it, even in 1998 when he had the financial ability for it to be otherwise.

In 2011 he had moved into a new, larger and more comfortable apartment. I am glad that by the end of his life he became well recognized in the tai chi world outside China and was able to have a bit more financial prosperity. He deserved it. He also was a good father, if one can judge that by the quality of his children. His daughter, Feng Xiu Fang, is charming and gracious.

My experience was that Feng was both a skilled tai chi master practitioner and a great teacher, two qualities that don’t always combine in the same individual. As a practitioner, his push hands were in the first class category. His mastery of chan sz jin (reeling silk power) was exceptional. Feng demonstrated this clearly even when he was severely ill at age 84. This was when I last saw him in December 2011. Unquestionably, he still “had it.” He was one of China’s top tai chi pros.

As a teacher, Feng and I had what the Chinese call “yuan fen” or what you could say was a powerful innate or karmic connection. As such he never had to show me something twice for me to reasonably recreate it, if not immediately at least shortly afterwards. Personally or with others as I saw, if you asked the right question Feng was exceptionally technically precise regarding not just the answer to the specific question asked but also to the unspoken series of interconnected issues associated with it.

Feng was a primary source of knowledge about Chen style tai chi in China, who loved chan sz jin. He made crystal clear the difference between the pulling (for which the Yang and Wu styles of tai chi are especially known) and the reeling of silk for which Chen style tai chi is more recognized.

All my gratitude goes to Grandmaster Feng Zhi Qiang. I am quite sure the whole world of tai chi will be diminished by his passing.

In fondest memory,

Bruce


http://www.chinafrominside.com/ma/taiji ... rview.html
Interview with Feng Zhiqiang
Jarek Szymanski

[everything]

i mean, if you can help people's health, it's more important than beating prime jon jones in mma. if you're a descendent of ylc or michael jordan or helio gracie, and you cannot beat prime jones or play basketball well, whatever, why should anyone beat you up over that.

[wayne hansen]

The health benifits of tai chi lay in the combat rational
If not just do 8 brocade or Zumba
TCM is deep within tai chi
Meridian training within posture and sequence
No matter how much you push the water thru the plumbing if the joints arnt sealed and the pipes not layer correctly
It matters little how strong the pump