C.J.W. wrote:I always tell people -- especially TJ/XY/BG guys with "neija superiority complex" -- that southern styles are actually more internal than northern styles and TJ/XY/BG at beginner's level because they usually provide explicit instruction on breathing and qigong training from the getgo.
Northern styles and TJ/XY/BG tend to simply teach beginners to "breathe naturally" or "relax and focus on the dantian" and do not get down to the nitty gritty until practitioners have reached higher levels -- or become indoor disciples.
So reverse breathing and dantian contraction work are certainly found in northern styles and TJ/XY/BG as well, just not openly taught in detail to everyone.
Agreed. The superiority complex has to go. I see zero basis for it. The Fujian styles start people on the jin training right away,and some IMA never even get to it. I've come to the conclusion that when people tell you to "breath naturally" that's basically code for "I don't know anything" or "I'm not going to teach you anything."
The IMAs TALK about the dantian a lot but almost never get around to actually doing anything with it. Many southern styles start with that and somehow get branded "external." In fact I sometimes get the impression that working directly with the dantian itself is somehow considered external because it involves physical work instead of theory. IMO the vast overwhelming majority of IMA people are themselves doing a purely external practice because all they are doing is forms and very little actual internal training. Basing the neigong on the YiJing, the Neijing Tu (that painting), or the Luo River diagrams (as many northern systems do )which no one understands or can explain doesn't exactly help.
And becoming an indoor disciple in IMA doesn't always lead to this stuff being taught, for various reasons I'll leave up to the imagination.
Time to put the QUAN back in taijiQUAN. Time to put the YANG back in YANG style taiji.