The whole is simpler than the
sum of its parts.
(Willard Gibbs)
External strength
'External'
strength uses local muscular tension to perform an action.
The elbows and shoulders are involved.
Typically, the
stronger, faster person has an advantage.
If something fails to work, you just
push harder.
Most martial arts use external strength. It is easy to learn and effective.
Internal strength
Internal strength is different to external strength.
It unites the entire body and never uses local strength. The larger muscles
of the torso and legs do most of the work.
Not many martial arts use internal strength. It takes longer to learn, but
requires far less effort to apply.
Something more is required
Neigong is the way in which you do the movements, rather than the
movements themselves.
It is an area of study in its own right.
Internal strength changes the way in which the body is used by adding subtle
considerations.
These qualities augment the practice and strengthen the body.
Body and mind must be
clearly united, and a high degree of physical
sensitivity is necessary.
Neigong is not an exercise.
An exercise may help cultivate neigong but is not neigong, just as the
sitting with your eyes closed may lead to a condition of
meditation but is not in itself meditation.
It is quite possible to sit 'meditating' and have no productive outcome.
Connection: the lowest tier of internal strength
The basic
skills
are easy to learn and simply involve connection.
Testing connection is straightforward. A student adopts a posture and
invites another person to push into their body.
This is the simplest illustration of internal strength and serves to test
whether or not the body is internally united.
The posture must be maintained without crumpling the framework or tensing
the muscles.
Most people just tense-up and this is not internal. The body parts must be
connected by a tenuous stretch.
When pushed, the practitioner relaxes within their body and makes no attempt
to resist or push back. The joints remain mobile and the muscles are
soft
and pliable.
There is no discernable muscle use whatsoever.
The structure should feel relaxed, loose and flexible, yet somehow strong.
How is this accomplished?
Partly it is the slight stretch; it utilises the tendons and ligaments, and
draws the muscles out from the centre.
Part of it is
mind. The practitioner thinks upward and outward. This aids
the connection and is necessary at first.
The rest is a matter of alignment.
The joints in tai chi remain open most of the time and maintain a 90º angle
or greater.
This is simple
physics. The more open the joint, the more
strength it can support. Like a bridge.
The alignment of each joint relative to other joints is also a
consideration.
What good is accurate
form
if it is weak?
Alignment serves a simple function: the projection of kinetic
energy and
body weight.
A
tai chi
student never punches in a conventional way.
They turn and twist their body such that it produces a
pathway of force that
is delivered through the hand.
The mechanism for delivery is
very different to an external punch.
Bow tension: the outcome of connection
The tai chi body must be united such that it contains latent energy, ready
for release.
Imagine a bow and arrow. The bow is drawn and it contains stored kinetic
energy.
Tai chi
was designed to store and release
power with every movement.
An important point with the bow and arrow metaphor is to notice that neither
the bow nor the string is tense. They are soft and pliable yet internally
strong.
If the body represents the bow, the striking limb is the arrow.
The arm must be projected out from the torso; springing forward at great
speed only to be withdrawn like a whip upon impact.
Tai chi striking is soft and deep; penetrating far into the body.
Circularity is essential. Every tai chi movement involves a spiral or a
curve. Nothing is linear.
Nature is curved. Look around you.
Bow tension does not tax the body. The framework is passive until action is
required.
When the exponent moves into a relationship with the attacker, it is
essential to establish bow tension instinctively.
There cannot be any extraneous thought involved. The process needs to be
comfortable and natural.
This kind of
strength is useful.
If somebody attempts to apply an arm lock, the defender can use bow tension
to disperse the effect of the lock and stop the arm from being broken.
More...
Page created 1 January 1998