* Internal...
Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2014 10:50 am
[edited due to feedback]
Martial Movements, in usage/ application and development, at the core level, are really similar to Basketball. Similarities include the training, solo and team practices, the bodily development, and differing skill levels dependent upon various factors of it's practitioners, etc.
Don't use Li (zhuo li- awkward/clumsy strength), use Qi. is easily and immediately known and understood when a person is trying to play basketball. Especially if they're playing against someone who is even just slightly more practiced in the art of basketball.
Basketball also makes use what we've dubbed 'Tendon strength' in English but is 'Jinmo' (Muscle Membranes) is Chinese, and are the Fascia that surround the muscles and gather into the tendons.
Don't use Li , but instead use Qi. is another way of referring to turning a biomechanical movement of our body (生物力 Shengwuli but also just referred to as 力 Li in the classics of IMA) into a movement that has been learned, ingrained and is a biomechanical movement that is very efficient, so efficient is the movement that it can be controlled with finite percentages of speed, power output etc.; where when a typical '生物力 Shengwuli' (body movement) is first learned it's either just zero or 100%, but when it's trained and developed into a 勁 Jin (Refined Movement) - as 勁 'Jin' is made up of the character for an 'Underground river' (巠 Jing) next to 'Biomechanical Force' (力 Li) and represents the underlying movement of 'Yi, Qi and Xue' (Intent/ thought, energy and blood) that provides the movement, and this 勁 Jin can be controlled with your mind, or power output in varying percentages- 30%, 90%, etc., like in basketball where the ball can be thrown with just the right amount of force to just make it into the hoop, no matter how far away you are standing when you throw it.
Internal Martial Movements take this movement of 'qi' (and blood) to another level as they strive to develop the physical system or network that qi and blood travel, to a degree that's not really seen in normal life. This development comes from Zhan Zhuang and Xing Zhuang (Static and Moving Standing) Cultivation practices. Also called 'Nei Dan' (Developing the network from the inside), opposed to practices that move blood, then qi via External movement and aerobics (Wai Dan).
These Internal Martial Movements can then generate a lot of power but in a short distance - Duan Jin (short power). Or a lot of power but traveling over a long distance but steady and continuous- Chang Jin (long power) for throwing.
The Key ingredient though is the 'Qi', which at it's root is our 'Yuan Qi' and 'Zhen Qi' (Original and True Energy) which in a healthy person is in ample supply and can provide the average man with the energy to be at the top of his game until around the age of 32 when it levels off and as you draw from this supply you gradually feel weaker over the years, around the age of 40 it naturally starts declining.
But the Internal Martial Artist's don't even want to draw on their 'Yuan Qi' at all, and do cultivation practices that draw from our 'Normal Qi' (from food, air, and stored fat), and through a process, and the nature of the practices, there is a surplus of 'Qi' in the body, and this surplus of energy can promote, or rather return to, and transform to become this different form of 炁 Qi Energy. This type of 炁 Qì begins to build up and is stored in the 丹田 Dantians and eventually throughout the whole body. (It can be looked at as: 精 Jing -> 氣 Qi -> 神 Shen -> 炁 Qi). Where instead of: 'shen'returning to the void, it's used for energy to power the Internal Martial Movements.
Around the 1200s a.d. the Chinese Martial Artists began incorporating the 'Qi Preservation and Cultivation' Practices from the 'Quanzhen' school of Daoism (which is really an amalgamation of Daoism, Chan Buddhism, and Confucianism) to have an even better function of martial movement (勁 Jin) and maintain this level and degree of skill into old age.
The other aspect to this understanding is that of 'Conservation of Energy' (of the body) and the reason that Basketball players are the closest athletes to compare to High Level Internal Martial Artists, is because they're really only 'conserving' their power, during their practices and actually competing in a game, as they're only working against the light resistance of the basketball and the nature of how the game is played.
Chinese martial artists had also figured out that a more refined and powerful quality of movement could be obtained by spending a lot of time practicing the movements against the air - shadow boxing, developing the 'Chan Si Jin' (Silk Reeling Power) aka 'Tendon Strength'.
But it's important to find the balance between slow and fast movements, as the slow movements are a type of 'Xing Zhuang' (Moving Standing), while the fast are more burning-up or using energy. (To offset this, and be able to do a lot of fast movement striking drills, into the air, in Yin Fu style of Baguazhang we keep the Laogong points on the palms of the hands covered with the thumb, which helps to circulate the 炁 Qi back around, and prevents 'dispersion' (Sangong).)
.
Martial Movements, in usage/ application and development, at the core level, are really similar to Basketball. Similarities include the training, solo and team practices, the bodily development, and differing skill levels dependent upon various factors of it's practitioners, etc.
Don't use Li (zhuo li- awkward/clumsy strength), use Qi. is easily and immediately known and understood when a person is trying to play basketball. Especially if they're playing against someone who is even just slightly more practiced in the art of basketball.
Basketball also makes use what we've dubbed 'Tendon strength' in English but is 'Jinmo' (Muscle Membranes) is Chinese, and are the Fascia that surround the muscles and gather into the tendons.
Don't use Li , but instead use Qi. is another way of referring to turning a biomechanical movement of our body (生物力 Shengwuli but also just referred to as 力 Li in the classics of IMA) into a movement that has been learned, ingrained and is a biomechanical movement that is very efficient, so efficient is the movement that it can be controlled with finite percentages of speed, power output etc.; where when a typical '生物力 Shengwuli' (body movement) is first learned it's either just zero or 100%, but when it's trained and developed into a 勁 Jin (Refined Movement) - as 勁 'Jin' is made up of the character for an 'Underground river' (巠 Jing) next to 'Biomechanical Force' (力 Li) and represents the underlying movement of 'Yi, Qi and Xue' (Intent/ thought, energy and blood) that provides the movement, and this 勁 Jin can be controlled with your mind, or power output in varying percentages- 30%, 90%, etc., like in basketball where the ball can be thrown with just the right amount of force to just make it into the hoop, no matter how far away you are standing when you throw it.
Internal Martial Movements take this movement of 'qi' (and blood) to another level as they strive to develop the physical system or network that qi and blood travel, to a degree that's not really seen in normal life. This development comes from Zhan Zhuang and Xing Zhuang (Static and Moving Standing) Cultivation practices. Also called 'Nei Dan' (Developing the network from the inside), opposed to practices that move blood, then qi via External movement and aerobics (Wai Dan).
These Internal Martial Movements can then generate a lot of power but in a short distance - Duan Jin (short power). Or a lot of power but traveling over a long distance but steady and continuous- Chang Jin (long power) for throwing.
The Key ingredient though is the 'Qi', which at it's root is our 'Yuan Qi' and 'Zhen Qi' (Original and True Energy) which in a healthy person is in ample supply and can provide the average man with the energy to be at the top of his game until around the age of 32 when it levels off and as you draw from this supply you gradually feel weaker over the years, around the age of 40 it naturally starts declining.
But the Internal Martial Artist's don't even want to draw on their 'Yuan Qi' at all, and do cultivation practices that draw from our 'Normal Qi' (from food, air, and stored fat), and through a process, and the nature of the practices, there is a surplus of 'Qi' in the body, and this surplus of energy can promote, or rather return to, and transform to become this different form of 炁 Qi Energy. This type of 炁 Qì begins to build up and is stored in the 丹田 Dantians and eventually throughout the whole body. (It can be looked at as: 精 Jing -> 氣 Qi -> 神 Shen -> 炁 Qi). Where instead of: 'shen'returning to the void, it's used for energy to power the Internal Martial Movements.
Around the 1200s a.d. the Chinese Martial Artists began incorporating the 'Qi Preservation and Cultivation' Practices from the 'Quanzhen' school of Daoism (which is really an amalgamation of Daoism, Chan Buddhism, and Confucianism) to have an even better function of martial movement (勁 Jin) and maintain this level and degree of skill into old age.
The other aspect to this understanding is that of 'Conservation of Energy' (of the body) and the reason that Basketball players are the closest athletes to compare to High Level Internal Martial Artists, is because they're really only 'conserving' their power, during their practices and actually competing in a game, as they're only working against the light resistance of the basketball and the nature of how the game is played.
Chinese martial artists had also figured out that a more refined and powerful quality of movement could be obtained by spending a lot of time practicing the movements against the air - shadow boxing, developing the 'Chan Si Jin' (Silk Reeling Power) aka 'Tendon Strength'.
But it's important to find the balance between slow and fast movements, as the slow movements are a type of 'Xing Zhuang' (Moving Standing), while the fast are more burning-up or using energy. (To offset this, and be able to do a lot of fast movement striking drills, into the air, in Yin Fu style of Baguazhang we keep the Laogong points on the palms of the hands covered with the thumb, which helps to circulate the 炁 Qi back around, and prevents 'dispersion' (Sangong).)
.