Master Sifu Ho Fatt Nam once said :
“If you want to soar to the greatest heights in Kung Fu, you must practice Chi Kung,
If you want to soar to the greatest heights in Chi Kung, you must practice meditation.”
Tai Chi Chuan was developed out of Wudang fighting styles whose most significant difference from Shaolin fighting styles is their focus on internal energy or chi. Chi is what gives internal martial artists their strength, it's the ground that supports them.
External martial arts are the way of yang chi, they are masculine – relying on strength and aggression. Internal martial arts are the way of yin chi, whose power comes from the union of the will with chi, it is the way of the female. It is said of internal martial artists in China - “looks like a woman, fights like a tiger.” Meaning whilst one is yin or feminine on the outside, on the inside one harbours the strength of a tiger. Normally without training we are only able to tap into this strength in life or death situations - the classic examples are of slight people lifting impossibly heavy weights to save a trapped loved one.
This is why Tai Chi Chuan and Chi Kung complement each other so well. In Tai Chi Chuan the end phase of the form produces chi – in the sense that it is delivered to the outside, while during Chi Kung the chi is taken into the body.
Many people practice only the outward form of Tai Chi Chuan, they merely perform the Tai Chi movements ignorant of their internal force. You need Chi Kung or your Tai Chi will degenerate into a mere dance. When you use energy and mind the form becomes poetry in motion, you literally imbue it with internal force and consciousness. The Chinese say that if your form has no energy you are “just waving your arms in the air.”
A truly internal system trains the body to become an extension of the mind. First you learn to develop your inner potential, then you learn to focus it to a specific end – be it martial, spiritual or holistic.
Your external movements assist with the free flow of internal energy, so the form allows you to circulate your chi more smoothly and efficiently...But it's the application of YI, your “intention” or “focus of the mind" which keeps the chi flowing through your channels strongly, “first use the mind, then muscle power".
Your mind is the general, when your mind gives the order your chi moves, by the same token when your mind is still your chi is calm (martially when your mind moves your chi will reach your shao jie or tip section – meaning the hands and feet).
If the chi is flowing freely throughout your body without encountering any barriers the mind can guide it easily. The aim is to allow the ‘stream of energy’ to flow by means of mental guidance in such a way that no barriers or blockages are created, circulating your chi to particular places or organs and bathing these areas in healing, revitalising energy, which will in turn preserve and strengthen the overall wellbeing of the practitioner.
Blockages are created by tension so the body must be ‘sung’ or relaxed or chi cannot flow smoothly, a relaxed body allows chi to flow unimpeded through your system. Being relaxed and practising slowly are methods NOT objectives, they are methods that help us to get rid of our post natal stiff force in our bodies and access our pre natal natural energy. Performed properly the form should leave you feeling fresh, calm, and energised.
Upon learning the form one can progress at ones own pace. Subsequently, the more earnestly one trains the more swiftly inner strength develops, ultimately allowing the chi to flow both inwardly and outwardly through your thirty six vital points invigorating the body and eventually allowing you to summon your chi at will.
With greater control over our minds we have greater control over our bodies, lives and the exterior world of which we are apart. It is by putting this power to work everyday that our lives may become enriched and fulfilled in ways we never thought possible.
Never limit your spirit merely to what your body can do.
Blessings
Mathew
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