the rum soaked fist: internal martial arts forum

robert wrote: There are a lot of shades of gray between internal and external.

Seems to be a reoccurring theme.

For clarification my view

All CMA is "internal" having been developed in the culture that makes this distinction.

The distinctions, IME help clarify, expressions, method and usage ,,that the internal is used to develop or enhance.

ie either to be a conductor of it, or the output of it....

Are quite different, noted by those I've encountered over the yrs consistently expressing the same

In the end it means there are certain aspects that cannot be done any other way with really understanding the distinctions....
Among the masters that most use to illustrate the distinctions, its quite clear.
Maybe not so much in common practice...

Windwalker, do you not see a difference between the link in the OP and the link I posted? Do you think they are both internal?

robert wrote:Windwalker, do you not see a difference between the link in the OP and the link I posted?
Do you think they are both internal?

For me they are expressions of the same thing.

Yes, and if you would have spoken to Chan, Shifu...or listened to his views.
He would talk about "qi" and how they use it...as expressed in his art...

It's cultural, they can not express it in any other way except to acknowledge the differences in focus and expression.

It's like those who train "iron palm or burning hand" both use and train internal aspects expressed through a physical means directly.

Just my views...others as you might feel different.

In either case

One might ask what can one do with it, vs those who don't use this concept...?
Why would those training it, train it,,what are the expectations ?

One must understand the difference between internal arts and the internal within arts
I have yet to see a CMA that does not contain the internal
The internal arts are those that follow a well designed Shen Fa

wayne hansen wrote:One must understand the difference between internal arts and the internal within arts
I have yet to see a CMA that does not contain the internal
The internal arts are those that follow a well designed Shen Fa

Interesting definition, well put.

There is also difference in training obviously: neigong vs waigong, what the art focus more on, or only one or the other.