# "Kenpo-Karate & Chi"



## Doc (Nov 3, 2007)

Reprinted from Combat Sports Magazine Mar 92

Kenpo Karate and Chi
By
Ron Chapél, Ph.D.​
"Chi" is a term that is used across the full range of the Chinese Culture and is included in all of its diverse sciences. The reason for this is these sciences are all interconnected to, and relate to the human body. This includes what my teacher and I choose to call Martial Science. Additionally you have medicine, philosophy, art, calligraphy, etc.  The term has a range of meanings from the mundane to the esoteric depending on the context and the user's intention.  

In Martial Science, it is the end result of anatomically correct neuromuscular coordination, major and minor sub-skeletal alignment, in conjunction with mental focus and proper breathing and timing. Expressed briefly, it is a kind of energy created by the extremes of biomechanical efficiency.   

"Chi" has also been described as an esoteric type of life force in Chinese Medicine and in the Chinese Cultural Philosophy. Common descriptions use terms like electricity, or energy flow as if it is a fluid. As a fluid, youll hear phrases like let it flow. Expressed in electrical terms, it can be discharged, strong or weak, positive or negative. Often the fluidic and electrical analogies are used in consort with each other. Expressing it this way embodies it with the characteristics of bio-energy that has the qualities of a fluid and some unseen force simultaneously.  

Discussions of chi centered on the life force analogy began with Chinese Philosophy. Under Taoist teachings, chi is the moving or animating force of the universe and is everywhere. The earth, heavens, and man are all a part of the force.  For a man, life and chi are synonymous. No chi no life. When the chi has been drained, disturbed or unbalanced there is illness or a weakness. When it has been completely drained, death ensues. These functions of chi are all governed by natural laws. 

Even the modern Western Medicine interpretations give this perspective some merit. It has been shown through a controversial process called Kirlian photography, that living things appear to have an aura and a life force that can be seen and recorded on film. This energy or life force is so strong that the aura it manifests continues to display parts of the anatomy long after they have been removed through injury or accident. An amputation of a limb continues to maintain its aura emanating from the main life force, as if this energy supports and perpetuates the whole of the being. The process also appears to demonstrate that once an individual has passed away, the life force and its aura cease to exist. It has been further demonstrated that individuals with well developed chi are capable of visualizing anothers chi through their own aura with the naked eye.

Chinese Philosophers classify force of this type as  vitalism. The Chinese Doctrine of Vitalism suggests the functions of living organism are due to a vital principal, separate and apart from physicochemical forces. In other words, there are processes that are not fully explained by the laws of physics and/or chemistry.  

Defining "chi" as a kind of biomechanical efficiency is not unique to physical activities like martial arts. When applied properly it becomes Martial Science. In any physical discipline chi is viewed as a "quality."  In competitive physical activities phrases like Hes on fire, Hes really feeling it, or Hes in the zone, are common explanations for what cannot be easily explained otherwise. 

When used this way, "chi" refers to the product of proper alignment of the human body and all its parts and acute senses necessary to perform the function at maximum mind body focus.  This results in efficient movement and the optimal and maximal use of what can be sometimes described as an effortless force. 

In striking situations when executed properly the effects although devastating, seem effortless to the person performing the action. 
Sometimes so much so, they report not even feeling the contact despite the results. Proper chi is therefore the optimal skeletal alignment and most coordinated use of the muscular and neuromuscular system for the purpose of generating the maximum amount of force through congruency with the minimal amount of effort. Put more simply, the utilization of maximum force and effect with a minimum amount of effort. Without it, there is no chi. Without chi there is no efficient biomechanical movement. One cannot exist without the other. They feed off each other, and the catalyst to begin the process is built around the proper teaching of body mechanics. 

In western martial arts this is lost, (actually never found) knowledge.
This philosophically contradicts Ed Parker's commercial Motion-Kenpo Karate Concept of Economy of Motion. Just because a motion is economical does not necessarily translate into efficiency. Motion-Kenpo Karate Concepts do not address the internal because by design they favor motion efficiency over anatomical proficiency. 

This favoring of motion has its advantage in that it allows a student to learn to use simple motion to overwhelm an opponent rather quickly. Motion-Kenpo Karates only true stated goal is quick individual self-defense skills, and with proper instruction, it can do that well in many circumstances.

Motion-Kenpo Karate at its greatest depth explores motion in conjunction with its Mathematical and Alphabetical Re-arrangement Concepts. Because the possibilities and combinations are endless it can be explored forever, but this is motion constipation and will never yield advanced knowledge beyond its motion base. 

Ed Parker was aware of this pairing of terms that created a commercially successful oxymoron, but because it was not representative of the whole of his methods, it was of little concern at the time. Besides, it served and continues to serve its purpose reasonably well.

If one were to examine a true biomechanical model, proper body alignment focuses on some fundamental elements. The use of the complete body as an efficient, integrated unit is paramount in execution. There is no singular part of the human anatomy that once moved, does not affect another part of, or the entire body in some way. Then, in conjunction with the correct coordination of the relaxation and the contraction of appropriate muscle groups, we finally, add the proper alignment of the sub-skeletal structure to transfer and/or receive external stimuli or force.

Although this rather simplistic analysis of chi appears to be expressed in western scientific principles, an examination of 18th and 19th century Tai Chi shows that they discuss and place fundamental emphasis on many of these same essential biomechanical factors. Thus the explanation, although expressed in western terms is definitely Chinese, not western.  

Although chi or the internal is not represented in Kenpo Karate, it is represented in the more complete American Kenpo, or what I chose to call SubLevel Four Kenpo. Ed Parker spoke of sub-categories of distances with distance four being all inclusive" to the knowledgeable. SubLevel 4 Kenpo extends beyond the basic definition of the four distances or ranges of his commercial motion vehicle. 

Here the relationship between antagonists is more intimate and specific in applications. This is where all the elements necessary to produce chi are greatly expressed but not exclusively. This is where the whole of Ed Parkers genius resides and it exists exclusive of the terms karate and dominant motion concepts. I personally use the descriptive term Advanced Concepts because it applies to all physical movement, and not just the martial disciplines. 

Kenpo Karate teachers have realized their art is incomplete but many have not shared this with their students. Like parents they answer questions with because while omitting the I said so. Martial art teachers often use the word "chi" similarly, as a catchall term for any aspect of the martial arts that they themselves dont understand, understand only in a vague sense, or find difficult to articulate. 

Kenpo Karate violates some very important rules of learning.  There is an assumption that learning any art happens in gradual stages and that each stage is laid on a foundation of what the student has already learned. 

Kenpo Karate routinely gives students information out of order and context through what if scenarios creating confusion. Taught properly, there is a very strict order to learning. Oftentimes, however, the student will ask questions about some aspect of the art that cannot usefully be answered because the student simply does not know enough to place the answer in context. 

Kenpo Karate by design must focus on self-defense skills immediately. Long term benefit normally found in traditional martial art training is eschewed in favor of immediate success.

In the western arts, "chi" is used to describe phenomena that do not lend themselves to verbal articulation. Many aspects of physical arts are not easy to talk about; they are subjective feelings. Thus in sports you hear phrases such as "in the groove," etc." In the creative arts, you will hear such things as "the words flowed out of me," "the band clicked," or "I found my rhythm." These types of expressions reflect very real experiences that are common to people involved in that activity. 

However, the experiences are not easy to articulate in concrete scientific terms. Therefore, a metaphor such as chi may be used. To someone outside the art the metaphor makes little sense, but to someone who has had the same experience the metaphor is clear. 

However, on the less legitimate side in the martial arts, sometimes the term "chi" is used as nothing more than a way to hide the teacher's ignorance. It seems an unfortunate reality that in all times and places martial arts fraud has been prevalent for centuries. Not just recently in contemporary America, but in the Japan of Miyamoto Musashi's time, and pre-World War II Hawaii. 

Unfortunately, high percentages of martial arts instructors do not know or understand their own art in any depth. Thus, the use of terms such as "chi" provides a convenient cover for that ignorance.  

The fact that such a central concept as chi has multiple uses is a result of a number of factors, not the least of which is the reality that fraud, charlatanism, incompetence and ignorance are prevalent in the martial arts, even in China and other birth-art countries today. We can take some cold comfort in realizing that the use of "chi" to cover fraud and ignorance is not a recent phenomenon but rather a traditional part of the martial arts of any nation or any time.

The two fundamentally different views of chi owe their existence to factors in Chinese Culture. However, beyond that, there are also factors in Chinese culture that have lead to the multiple and sometimes confused understandings of chi in the martial arts as it spread outside of China. 

Firstly, most of the theory surrounding the Chinese Martial Sciences including the concept of chi dates back to pre-modern scientific methods. The martial arts were not subjected to modern scientific methods of scrutiny until late in the 20th century. 

Prior to that Chinese martial art, practitioners were long on practical experience, but lacked the type of quantifiable information that is the basis of modern scientific study. 

Because of the many wars and conflicts, the availability of human bodies for experimentation and examination for the effects of applications were quite plentiful. It wasnt difficult to discover what worked, but the quantification of the why scientifically was not yet available. 

Because of this, it was difficult to distinguish the separate entities inherent in high-level martial science skill and performance. Therefore, the Chinese themselves used terms like "chi" vaguely to describe a mix of principles that could not be separated through experimentation. 

Even in western boxing as well as other modern athletic endeavors, the various scientific approaches to human performance have only recently began to be measured, improved, and validated scientifically. 

In addition, China has always had a tradition-bound culture for most of its history. This has manifested itself in a very specific relationship between students and teachers. All arts are regulated strictly. Two basic rules are that teachers do not "explain" to students and students do not question teachers. This tradition extends itself to all student-teacher relationships.  If the martial arts teacher says something, the student will never inquire beyond that and the teacher will not explain beyond his own statement. 
As a result, vague and confused ideas are passed on, and that includes "chi."   

A third factor is that Chinese language and literary forms, do not lend themselves to specific discussions of martial science. The classical Chinese is purposely vague and intentionally flowery. The rising eagle grasping with the invisible talon. Although great for poets and philosophers, it is poor when it comes to concrete discussions of things such as martial science. 

To make sense of martial arts material written in classical Chinese the reader must have a background in martial arts. Even so, written material in Chinese does not lend itself to do much to clarify what chi is.  Taken together, these three factors are in large part responsible for the different frameworks and nuances of meaning that "chi" has in the modern martial arts.

Chi as life force is the most widespread and traditional explanation. Chi as biomechanics is the most provable explanation from a scientific perspective. Moreover, regrettably, ignorance is the most common use of the term.


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## Xue Sheng (Nov 3, 2007)

Doc said:


> The classical Chinese is purposely vague and intentionally flowery. &#8220;The rising eagle grasping with the invisible talon.&#8221; Although great for poets and philosophers, it is poor when it comes to concrete discussions of things such as martial science.



Some of this is very true it is made intentionally vague, for a good example read the Dragon Tiger Classic, now that is vague. But some of this is metaphor, Chinese are big on metaphor, and if you understand the metaphor it becomes very clear

Jin Gang Dao dui (pound mortar) is a simple example, short description with a story behind it but it is fairly obvious from the description as to what it does, kinda, but they can get much more complicated and without the story seem very vague but yet to many Chinese they are very clear.


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## Rob Broad (Nov 8, 2007)

Thank you for sharing that Doc.  Has it been posted on KenpoTalk as well?


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## Doc (Nov 8, 2007)

Rob Broad said:


> Thank you for sharing that Doc.  Has it been posted on KenpoTalk as well?



No sir!


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## marlon (Nov 9, 2007)

Thank you for sharing Doc.  We all benefit from things such as this article
Respectfully,
Marlon


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## Doc (Nov 9, 2007)

marlon said:


> Thank you for sharing Doc.  We all benefit from things such as this article
> Respectfully,
> Marlon



Thank you sir for reading, and getting something out of it.


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## marlon (Nov 9, 2007)

Hello Doc,
finding the many holes in my knowledge is what is leading me to grow in my kempo.  To this end i find that my sk is different in execution from others yet i have developed these changes based on principles and practical testing (as much as possible) i find them sound. However i am still learning and still finding holes.  Would you explain what you mean by the term sub-skeletal systems, please?  Looking at taiji forms by the 'masters' do you see the structural alignment that you consider necessary?Also, would images of correct structural alignment aid a student in developing this quality.  Lastly, what order and what basics does your understanding dictate for your teachings?

respectfully,
Marlon


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## marlon (Nov 9, 2007)

Doc said:


> Thank you sir for reading, and getting something out of it.


i am making a study of it.  Thanks you again for sharing

respectfully,
marlon


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## Xue Sheng (Nov 9, 2007)

Doc

This is one of my, I probably should just move on to a different topic and not post anything moments, but I am apparently not listening to well to myself today

I just reread this article and overall it is pretty good and I cannot comment at all on anything about kenpos relation to qi or Ed Parker, I have no experience with either, but form the perspective of CMA and TCM it is missing a few points



Doc said:


> Without it, there is no &#8220;chi.&#8221; Without &#8220;chi&#8221; there is no efficient biomechanical movement.



Without qi (proper pinyin spelling) you have no life. Strong Qi equals healthy, weak qi equals sick and no qi equals dead.



Doc said:


> In the western arts, "chi" is used to describe phenomena that do not lend themselves to verbal articulation. Many aspects of physical arts are not easy to talk about; they are subjective feelings. Thus in sports you hear phrases such as "in the groove," etc." In the creative arts, you will hear such things as "the words flowed out of me," "the band clicked," or "I found my rhythm." These types of expressions reflect very real experiences that are common to people involved in that activity.



In western arts it may be used to describe qi in those terms but that is not qi. It is an example of what could be perceived as strong, unimpeded flow of qi



Doc said:


> In addition, China has always had a tradition-bound culture for most of its history. This has manifested itself in a very specific relationship between students and teachers. All arts are regulated strictly. Two basic rules are that teachers do not "explain" to students and students do not question teachers. This tradition extends itself to all student-teacher relationships. If the martial arts teacher says something, the student will never inquire beyond that and the teacher will not explain beyond his own statement.
> As a result, vague and confused ideas are passed on, and that includes "chi."



Not my experience my Sifu&#8217;s have generally been rather forth coming with information when asked but he is over 50 years Taiji, an old school TCM guy and a western Doctor. Also TCM in China has a pretty good handle on Qi, what it is and what it does. And they have been rather successful with that knowledge for many many years.



Doc said:


> A third factor is that Chinese language and literary forms, do not lend themselves to specific discussions of martial science. The classical Chinese is purposely vague and intentionally flowery. &#8220;The rising eagle grasping with the invisible talon.&#8221; Although great for poets and philosophers, it is poor when it comes to concrete discussions of things such as martial science.



As I previously posted this is both true and not true. Yes some is very hard to interpret, as I posted previously as an example &#8220;the dragon tiger classic&#8221; but it is written with the idea that the person reading it has prior understanding and it is written and in such a way to intentionally make it hard to understand by and outsider so this would support what you are saying. However many things in Chinese are written based on metaphors that many Chinese are fully aware of and if you have the knowledge of these metaphors things become very clear which says that much of what was written was written with a Chinese reader in mind and with no thought of anyone else ever reading it. Remember China called itself the Middle Kingdom because it believed it was the Center of everything.

Now with that all said, you are very correct that there is a lot of misunderstandings of what qi is or what it is suppose to do. There are also a lot of Charlatans in China and the West claiming to be Qi masters when they are not, and the Qigong department of Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine would agree. They basically say there is no way to measure it at this time and that many claiming vast powers of Qi are not telling the truth. 

Also it does help to have an understanding in Traditional Chinese Martial arts and Traditional Chinese Medicine to understand Qi.

But Qi is very understood by many TCM Doctors in and outside of China.


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## Doc (Nov 9, 2007)

marlon said:


> Hello Doc,
> finding the many holes in my knowledge is what is leading me to grow in my kempo.  To this end i find that my sk is different in execution from others yet i have developed these changes based on principles and practical testing (as much as possible) i find them sound. However i am still learning and still finding holes.


Aren't we all.


> Would you explain what you mean by the term sub-skeletal systems, please?


The human skeleton is a unique sub-structure support mechanism that has the unique ability to be "loose" and very flexible, but also "solid" on knowledgeable demand. This is because the skeleton is made up of essentially about 206 bones (more for the young, less for the older) and various density connective tissues. The connecting tissues, (that includes, muscles, tendons, and ligaments), have the ability to draw the articulated parts together to from a rigid structure through specific movements of "Body Indexing." Some of these movements are instinctual, having been cultivated through "means testing" as we mature through life. Other "applications' are not instinctive and require intense training to be effective in dynamic interactions, such as certain sports, or defensive training.


> Looking at taiji forms by the 'masters' do you see the structural alignment that you consider necessary?


It appears in everyone in some form and degree, but more in others that are well trained like a few "masters."


> Also, would images of correct structural alignment aid a student in developing this quality.


Yes and no. As I've said many times, images still or moving only convey a small part of the information. A great deal of what creates structure, (or destroys it), is very subtle and virtually invisible even live in-person, let alone on video or film.  A great deal takes place subcutaneously. However, certain methodologies may be exaggerated and viewed, but applications will still be elusive without prerequsite knowledge and skill to identify what you are examaning. Basically;* "You need to know to know, and if you already know, you don't need to know." - Ed Parker*


> Lastly, what order and what basics does your understanding dictate for your teachings?


That is a difficult question to answer, but I always teach from the "floor up." Very few have any understanding of stances and how to move correctly in stances. Most ignore, relatively speaking, stances in favor of "techniques." Unfortunately techniques are based on the ignored stances.


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## marlon (Nov 11, 2007)

Xue Sheng said:


> Some of this is very true it is made intentionally vague, for a good example read the Dragon Tiger Classic, now that is vague. But some of this is metaphor, Chinese are big on metaphor, and if you understand the metaphor it becomes very clear
> 
> Jin Gang Dao dui (pound mortar) is a simple example, short description with a story behind it but it is fairly obvious from the description as to what it does, kinda, but they can get much more complicated and without the story seem very vague but yet to many Chinese they are very clear.


 

XS, could you give us a direct example of the metaphor making things clearer, perhaps from texts that are easily found in the west and in english?

respectfully,
Marlon


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## marlon (Nov 11, 2007)

Doc said:


> Aren't we all.
> 
> The human skeleton is a unique sub-structure support mechanism that has the unique ability to be "loose" and very flexible, but also "solid" on knowledgeable demand. This is because the skeleton is made up of essentially about 206 bones (more for the young, less for the older) and various density connective tissues. The connecting tissues, (that includes, muscles, tendons, and ligaments), have the ability to draw the articulated parts together to from a rigid structure through specific movements of "Body Indexing." Some of these movements are instinctual, having been cultivated through "means testing" as we mature through life. Other "applications' are not instinctive and require intense training to be effective in dynamic interactions, such as certain sports, or defensive training.
> 
> ...


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