Internal Power 2
- Thread starter Dudi Nisan
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greytowhite
Green Belt
Oh and here is some other stuff.
http://fasciaresearch.de/Schleip2012_FasciaNomenclatures.pdf
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/13608592/21/1
http://fasciaresearch.de/Schleip2012_FasciaNomenclatures.pdf
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/13608592/21/1
OP
Dudi Nisan
Orange Belt
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I enjoyed garytowhite and Tony Dismukes’ scientific exchanges, and also learned a lot. And that is the way to go. To respect the old, but not worship it; understand the ancient classics, but explain gongfu in modern scientific terms.
I will never stop practicing traditional gongfu. It’s not only that I enjoy the practice, I really believe that each gongfu system is a work of art, a treasure trove of knowledge and a wondrous universe, just waiting to be explored. Traditional gongfu has value in its own right. So, as far as I am concerned internal power is not everything (A mistake many make, however, is going for the huge systems. I think that this is a waste of life).
But it is important to understand internal power. It is important because this was jewel in the crown of all traditional gongfu; traditional systems were designed so as to induce in practitioners the psychophysical breakthrough we spoke about.
At least, this is what the exercises and theories left by the ancients seem to imply. And this is a very interesting point—the study of internal power gives another perspective on traditional gongfu even as traditional gongfu gives another perspective on internal power.
For example, many systems include in their curriculum joint mobility exercises. As I see it, pressure (=internal power) “gets stuck” in stiff joints. As you’d remember, when internal power manifests it actually moves one’s shoulder joints (but also the elbows and the wrists). In order to “help” pressure manifest you must work on “opening” all the joints in your body. And that is probably one reason Chinese masters always emphasize song鬆, or “relaxation”(according to a well-known gongfu teaching, stress, or force make the joints “close up”).
And this brings us to things you can work on by yourself, on your own, as a preparation to attending classes in Taipei or, if coming here is impossible, as means to independently realize internal power.
So, the first thing you can do is pay more attention to the joint opening exercises in your system and practice till your joints easily move through their entire range of motion (You should be careful though. Don’t overdo it. Your joints should move freely but not become “loose”. Do it with awareness, stability and control. This is the key to all gongfu).
Another thing you can, and should, pay attention to is “segmental” power. In martial arts, as you all know, we speak of “whole body power”. It is highly important to be able to generate whole body power, and it should be seen too as a prerequisite to internal power. With internal power the body works as a whole, integrated unit, but it can also work in segments. Most conspicuously, when internal power manifests the body (on the musculoskeletal level) is divided into (independent) left and right sides.
Normally, in order to punch with the left hand we must pull the right hand backwards. But with internal power this is different. You can use your right hand to keep your opponent at bay (and helpless, because at the moment of contact with you he lost his balance) even while freely attacking him with the left hand and/or moving around him. In other words, when you punch with the left you don’t have to pull the right hand backwards.
This division into left–right is most conspicuous in Taichi. Pay attention that in some of Taichi’s signature movements the left and right are (first) “separated” and then (second) “united”. Although more conspicuous in Taichi, I think that all gongfu systems operate according to this principle(which is commonly known as kaihe開合, separating-uniting, or dividing-harmonizing). So it is possible that the ancients knew that on the musculoskeletal level the body was made up of two “sides”(although they probably did not know that the brain too was made of two parts) and that kaihe開合 stands for their realization.
Almost all gongfu practitioner, however, achieve this separation with their bodies/muscles, in the same way that people forcefully “contain the chest, pull the back etc.” Remember, that it should have been the result internal power manifesting in one’s body, not a deliberate, conscious, action. I suspect therefore that such kaihe movements were either “copied” from people who had internal power, or were meant to facilitate the generation of that power.
So this is another thing you can do—identify the segmental-power movements in your system and experiment “separating” your body.
Also, fascia is involved too. As I understand it, fascia reacts badly to stress, to mental agitation, and to negative emotions such as anger and hatred (Negative mind states cause the fascia to so shrink, to tighten up). The admonition to “relax” song鬆 had probably something to do with this characteristic of fascia too. So practice your system’s song methods. But also meditate, for mediation helps relax the mind and body. Liu’s ultimate breakthrough came while he was meditating (he mediates daily, but he rarely trains).
And finally, apologies to O’Malley, who asked a good question("what can Liu do for me?") and got only a partial answer. a major advantage of training with Liu is that he spent huge amount of time formulating a comprehensive underlying theory. This theory, which Liu calls lifa 理法, is like a map which can take you, figuratively, all the way to the peak on internal power. But it also explains what the peak is, and what it isn’t.
So when you train with Liu you get detailed explanations on the purpose of each exercise and how it is meant to fulfill its part in taking you all the way up (Delete repeated word need to construct such a map might seem obvious to us, but most systems just don’t have one). Everything is done with internal power in mind, but not only on a theoretical level--your guide and teacher is, in internal power terms, a realized person. He can back up his explanation with real ability.
I will never stop practicing traditional gongfu. It’s not only that I enjoy the practice, I really believe that each gongfu system is a work of art, a treasure trove of knowledge and a wondrous universe, just waiting to be explored. Traditional gongfu has value in its own right. So, as far as I am concerned internal power is not everything (A mistake many make, however, is going for the huge systems. I think that this is a waste of life).
But it is important to understand internal power. It is important because this was jewel in the crown of all traditional gongfu; traditional systems were designed so as to induce in practitioners the psychophysical breakthrough we spoke about.
At least, this is what the exercises and theories left by the ancients seem to imply. And this is a very interesting point—the study of internal power gives another perspective on traditional gongfu even as traditional gongfu gives another perspective on internal power.
For example, many systems include in their curriculum joint mobility exercises. As I see it, pressure (=internal power) “gets stuck” in stiff joints. As you’d remember, when internal power manifests it actually moves one’s shoulder joints (but also the elbows and the wrists). In order to “help” pressure manifest you must work on “opening” all the joints in your body. And that is probably one reason Chinese masters always emphasize song鬆, or “relaxation”(according to a well-known gongfu teaching, stress, or force make the joints “close up”).
And this brings us to things you can work on by yourself, on your own, as a preparation to attending classes in Taipei or, if coming here is impossible, as means to independently realize internal power.
So, the first thing you can do is pay more attention to the joint opening exercises in your system and practice till your joints easily move through their entire range of motion (You should be careful though. Don’t overdo it. Your joints should move freely but not become “loose”. Do it with awareness, stability and control. This is the key to all gongfu).
Another thing you can, and should, pay attention to is “segmental” power. In martial arts, as you all know, we speak of “whole body power”. It is highly important to be able to generate whole body power, and it should be seen too as a prerequisite to internal power. With internal power the body works as a whole, integrated unit, but it can also work in segments. Most conspicuously, when internal power manifests the body (on the musculoskeletal level) is divided into (independent) left and right sides.
Normally, in order to punch with the left hand we must pull the right hand backwards. But with internal power this is different. You can use your right hand to keep your opponent at bay (and helpless, because at the moment of contact with you he lost his balance) even while freely attacking him with the left hand and/or moving around him. In other words, when you punch with the left you don’t have to pull the right hand backwards.
This division into left–right is most conspicuous in Taichi. Pay attention that in some of Taichi’s signature movements the left and right are (first) “separated” and then (second) “united”. Although more conspicuous in Taichi, I think that all gongfu systems operate according to this principle(which is commonly known as kaihe開合, separating-uniting, or dividing-harmonizing). So it is possible that the ancients knew that on the musculoskeletal level the body was made up of two “sides”(although they probably did not know that the brain too was made of two parts) and that kaihe開合 stands for their realization.
Almost all gongfu practitioner, however, achieve this separation with their bodies/muscles, in the same way that people forcefully “contain the chest, pull the back etc.” Remember, that it should have been the result internal power manifesting in one’s body, not a deliberate, conscious, action. I suspect therefore that such kaihe movements were either “copied” from people who had internal power, or were meant to facilitate the generation of that power.
So this is another thing you can do—identify the segmental-power movements in your system and experiment “separating” your body.
Also, fascia is involved too. As I understand it, fascia reacts badly to stress, to mental agitation, and to negative emotions such as anger and hatred (Negative mind states cause the fascia to so shrink, to tighten up). The admonition to “relax” song鬆 had probably something to do with this characteristic of fascia too. So practice your system’s song methods. But also meditate, for mediation helps relax the mind and body. Liu’s ultimate breakthrough came while he was meditating (he mediates daily, but he rarely trains).
And finally, apologies to O’Malley, who asked a good question("what can Liu do for me?") and got only a partial answer. a major advantage of training with Liu is that he spent huge amount of time formulating a comprehensive underlying theory. This theory, which Liu calls lifa 理法, is like a map which can take you, figuratively, all the way to the peak on internal power. But it also explains what the peak is, and what it isn’t.
So when you train with Liu you get detailed explanations on the purpose of each exercise and how it is meant to fulfill its part in taking you all the way up (Delete repeated word need to construct such a map might seem obvious to us, but most systems just don’t have one). Everything is done with internal power in mind, but not only on a theoretical level--your guide and teacher is, in internal power terms, a realized person. He can back up his explanation with real ability.
