What The Heck is Chi? Part 2

Chi is a Chinese word. What difference does that make? It makes plenty of difference! Quite often a simple translation is not enough to convey the real meaning of a word. If you want to have any reasonable idea of what went through the mind of a Chinese person you have to know about the culture in which the word was used. I believe that the image evoked to a Chinese person upon hearing the word chi is vastly different then the image Westerners get. To really understand chi you would   have to have an intimate knowledge of all the underlying ideas that the original word includes. Basically, unless you were born and raised within the Chinese culture, you’re not going to get the same image in your mind of the word chi as someone who was.

In any case, I found myself in a precarious place; teaching others things I knew very little about. Probably closer to nothing! But all was not lost. Remember your basic Zen, Buddhist, Taoist idea of an empty cup? Well, it turns out my cup was empty and one day it suddenly filled up with a new brand of tea! Every time I see the word chi, think “movement”. Movement is something I can easily understand. I can see it, hear it and feel it; all the requirements for a noun to be classified as a concrete noun. Something either moves or it doesn’t move, there is not much room for interpretation. I could say, “the chi flowed through my elbow”, which to me is a bit ambiguous, or I could just say, “My elbow moved!”

To be clear, I’m not asserting that the word chi is translated as “movement”. I am not interested in translating the word chi. What I am saying is simply that whenever chi comes up I think movement. I will show you that if you make the same association in your own mind, it will revolutionize your study of kung fu. But a word of warning is appropriate here. For most practitioners, Chi Kung is usually accompanied by a healthy dose of imagination or visualization. If you make the switch, you must become grounded and centered in physical reality. You will need a deep and honest awareness of what you  are doing with your body.  It’s one thing to stand and visualize the chi moving up and down your spine. It’s quite another thing to actually make, to actually allow, your spine to move according to it’s inherent nature. If your spine doesn’t move, there is no chi. It doesn’t matter how clear of an image one may have of the chi moving in the spine. What matters is that the spine actually moves! Bottom line; you will be responsible to make it happen. You’re going to have to move many bones. You have to move them in the right direction, the right amount and at the right time. Suffice it to say, that is much harder than imagining things. But when it’s all over, when you’ve made the switch, you will find that kung fu is about as easy of a thing to do as sipping a cup of tea! But there is a bit of work involved to get there, so let’s begin.

What The Heck is Chi? Part 1

I had studied internal kung fu for almost 15 years. To be clear, I don’t mean I studied part time. I owned a school in San Diego, CA and taught an average of 8 hours a day, 6 days a week. And I usually spent my day off practicing kung fu with some of my older students. But the day came when I realized I could no longer suppress the ugly truth. Deep down inside, I knew that I knew next to nothing about chi! In fact, the only thing I knew for certain about chi, was that I should be able to somehow use it to defend myself against a brutal attack by one or more assailants who meant to inflict serious damage on my person. I knew I should be able to use chi in such a situation, but in in reality, I had no idea exactly what I needed to do with my body, the one getting attacked, in order to actually use chi to avoid serious injury. Given that chi is the veritable foundation of any internal martial art, I knew I had a serious problem!

I had read many books, searched the internet and watched videos. I went to seminars. I talked to many teachers, including old style Chinese masters. Still, chi was something I just couldn’t grasp in my mind. One definition, and a typical one, I read is “A Chinese term for the all-encompassing universal life force that flows in and around our body.” Sounds good enough. Now, what do I do with that to prevent a fast moving fist from flattening my nose? Another typical explanation, “Your dantian is the best home for your Chi and the best place for you to focus your energy so that you can come form a balanced, whole place in yourself.” Well, that didn’t tell me how to protect my nose either. Maybe this one should have helped me, “The chi is envisioned as moving upward from the ground through the feet, the legs, and past the waist. It flows up along the spinal column, past the shoulders, and into the arms.” But it didn’t really help me any more than the others. Was I to believe that the guy trying to hit me would suddenly see the chi going up my spine and stop his attack? And what if he didn’t see it? Bye, bye pretty nose!

So there I was, every day teaching something I now admitted to myself I knew basically nothing about. I would dutifully quote the tai chi classics to my students while making a feeble attempt to put it into words I thought they could understand. The classics tell us “the energy at the top of your head should be light and sensitive.” Huh? What energy? Sensitive to what? How was I supposed to make it light as opposed to heavy? Does this have something to do with head butting? After talking to my students about such things I was always amazed, and relieved, that nobody asked for clarification. I guess they think that everybody else understands and they don’t want to appear ignorant!

When you think about it, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the whole idea of using this mysterious force called chi is difficult to understand. The word chi is a noun. Specifically, it is classified by English grammarians as an abstract noun, as opposed to a concrete noun. Concrete nouns deal with things that can be seen, heard or touched. Examples of concrete nouns would include, “house”, “tree”, “mountain” or “boat”. Everybody gets pretty much the same image in their mind when a concrete noun is used. Abstract nouns, on the other hand, are used to talk about more ethereal, or theoretical concepts. Some examples of abstract nouns would include “freedom”, “faith”, “power” or “god”. These nouns can evoke radically different images in the minds of two different people. I don’t recall a war that started because two people couldn’t agree on what a house or car is. But far too many are the wars that have been started because two people couldn’t get even close to agreeing on who or what God is!

Now, if you’re like me, if the word chi isn’t crystal clear to you, then be sure to check back for future installments on this blog.

Internal and External Martial Arts – Bogus Idea!

Martial arts are typically categorized into two broad categories, internal and external. Usually it is said that the external arts use muscle force and the internal arts use chi as the source of power. Now all this implies that a human body is designed to move in either of two different ways. That is simply not true! Your body has only one very precise design and it is either used according to design or not. There is no option.

At best only one of the categories of martial arts uses correct movement, and the other simply does not and should therefore be abandoned. Maybe they are both wrong, but for sure, they can not both be right.

For the present discussion, forget about your flesh and consider your bones. The tai chi classics tell us that the power in kung fu is in the bones and joints. Consider your skeleton. It is a series of bones strung together by joints. The classics tell us, “your body is strung together like a string of pearls”. They also say that, “when one part moves, it all moves”. The pearls are your joints. The old masters counted nine joints. If any one joint is moved it should cause the adjacent joints to likewise move.

The classics speak of nine pearls, or joints. The middle one is located between your 2nd and 3rd lumbar vertebrae. That is where your diaphragm (for breathing) is attached. The Chinese call this joint “The Gate of Life”, an appropriate name considering that is precisely where your diaphragm attaches. Now if that joint moves, which it does with each breath, then, as we have seen above, the joint above (clavical/sternum joint) and below (sacroiliac joint) it will in turn move. But if your clavical/sternum joint moves, then the next one (shoulder) likewise moves. After your shoulder moves, your elbow would move and finally your hand. A similar sequence would move from your center (Gate of Life) downward, ie. hip, knee and finally ankle would move in turn. This, I believe, is a precise definition of chi (movement) flow. No imagination needed. Just learn to move correctly in the real, tangible world.

A bull whip has no mechanism to move itself. It relies totally on the flick of your wrist. The nature of the whip, it’s design, simply transfers, and amplifies, that small force out to the tip. It doesn’t try to add anything of it’s own. Your body should be the same way. Instead of flicking your wrist, flick your center and then let your bones transfer that force to your hands and feet. If you try to use muscles it will only serve to prevent one or more or your joints from reacting naturally, a chi (movement) blockage.

Call it internal, external or banana, that is the one way a human body moves. And not just for kung fu, but for any movement. Indeed, that which separates a professional athlete from an amateur is that the pro understands the intrinsic power of the center and they do not try to add anything to it once the center is moved. They just let that force travel, unhindered from one joint to the next until the baseball leaves on it’s journey to the plate, the golf club connects with the ball, or the racket hits the ball over the net. Everything works this way.

Whenever you read or hear the word “chi”, just think move, movement or moving. It will make a whole lot more sense than the usual description of chi.

Chi

If you think of the word “move”, “movement” or “moving” every time you read about chi in the martial arts it will make way more sense than what is usually said about chi.

Specifically, the power in a human body should come from the bones and joints. They need to move. According to kung fu/tai chi there are nine pearls in the body. Three in the legs; ankle, knee & hip. There are three in the back; sacroiliac, 2nd/3rd lumbar (called The Gate or Life by Chinese) and your chest, neck area. In the arms is the shoulder, elbow and wrist. By moving one or more of the bones around these joints you can use the alignment of your skeleton to neutralize and issue force.

I mentioned the Gate of Life. That just happens to be both the middle pearl as well as the attachment point of your diaphragm. When that point moves it sends a wave down your legs through the sacroiliac, hips, knees and ankles. At the same time, a wave travels up to your chest/neck, shoulder, elbow and wrist. Each joint, as expected, moves in a strict natural order. In fact, the force going down from your center reaches your foot at the exact instant the force going up from your center reaches your hand.

Even more interesting, is the fact that as you stand in your still postures, your breathing causes your diaphragm to gently push and pull on The Gate of Life. Thus breathing is the basis of martial art movement. You should feel, not imagine, but actually feel each joint move through your whole body as the diaphragm gently moves the Gate of Life back and forth.

To be clear, I’m not talking about breathing in the sense that air is moving in and out of your lungs. I’m talking about the real, palpable movement that goes from head to toe. There is an ancient text that says, “the men of old breathed down to their heels”. Now if air somehow got down to your feet it would indicate a pulmonary embolism, a hole in your lungs, which is clearly not advantageous to a human being! Instead, the bodies of these men of old actually moved all the way down to their heels. Real movement, not imagined movement.

The classics say, “the body is strung together like a string of nine pearls”, and “when one part moves, it all moves”. Think of yourself as a skeleton and forget the muscles. Just like a bullwhip is used by a simple flick of your wrist, internal energy is used by a simple flick of your abdominal muscles. From there each joint above and below reacts to that flick, such that when it’s reached it’s limit your hand is moving very fast, just like the tip of the bullwhip.

A big part of internal training is “standing on the stake” or some variation of still postures. Why? It’s simple. First, even though you appear to be standing still, your diaphragm is still moving with your breath. Like I said, that same movement is the basis for all movement from the center. This is “cultivating the chi”.

Next you learn to move it to your hands and feet, or to cause “the chi to jump out of your belly”. That requires your body to be in such a state that the wave will move uninhibited up and down through each major joint. If one of those joints doesn’t move correctly it would be called a chi blockage.

That state or quality of body is called “sung” by the Chinese. It is neither flaccid nor stiff. It is like one of those big advertising balloons of Ronald McDonald. He has a definite shape, but if the wind or some other force acts on it, it will move naturally, while still maintaining it’s basic shape. In the same way, your body, specifically your skeleton, has a designed shape. But your skeleton should be willing to change into whatever shape it needs to in order to channel whatever force acts on it, eg. a punch, in such a way that the force is directed “into the void” instead of knocking you down and/or out.

More on the Purpose of Tai Chi

To study a martial art for the sole purpose of self defense indicates a certain level of insecurity.  Why bother with all the hard work unless there is a fear that, at some future time, it will be necessary to avoid getting attacked and beat up? That’s insecurity.

Yang Lu-Chan (1883 – 1936) was a kung fu/tai chi master who said,

“Even the ferocious strength of such ancient warriors as Meng Pen and Hsia Yui is of no interest to practitioners of Tai Chi Chi.”

This should net be construed as saying that if you study tai chi or some other art that there is nobody in the whole whole that could beat you up. Such thinking is ridiculous! Be reasonable; no matter how skilled you may be, all bravado aside, there is bound to be somebody who could prevail against you in a fight at any given time. Relative to this discussion, there are two types of people in this world; those who could beat you up and those that couldn’t. Who cares which is which? Are you going to look at everybody who walks past you and wonder which category they are in? What a waste of thought!

Instead, Yang Lu-Chan is simply saying that no thought is given as to the effectiveness of the art purely in a martial sense. There is no obsession to become “number one” in the ring or on the streets. Instead, the main reason for study should be health and longevity. The focus ought to be on increasing your resistance to sickness and disease rather than bullies. In comparison to this, the practical, or martial, skills are a mere trifle.

By the way, after a few years of studying a martial art, you will naturally increase your ability to withstand a real life assault. Just don’t worry too much about that part of it!

Why Tai Chi?

Why was Tai Chi created? Chang San-Feng created the art of Tai Chi around 600 AD. He desired longevity for all the worthy men of the world and not simply that they practice the superficial techniques of the martial arts.

Yang Ch'eng-fu on Tai Chi

Yang Ch’eng-fu (1883 – 1936) is considered one of the few real old school practioners. Here is some of his writings with my comments.

“Tai Chi Chuan was not created merely to brawl with ruffians. Rather, the immortal, Chang San-Feng, invented this soft martial art as an aid to maintaining good health.”

Tai Chi is form and function together, making it good for both self defense and overall health. Most of us will never get into a fight, but we must all live with some level of health. Nonetheless, a brutal attack, should you be unfortunate enough to ever experience, will certainly have an effect on your health. With self defense as an adjunct to your health regime you have nothing to loose but much to gain.

“Those who practice faithfully will see results in three years.”

You may have heard it takes 20 years to learn internal martial arts. False. It should take the same amount of time as any other type of marital art, internal or external. That assumes you have a teacher who knows what he is talking about and that you do, as Yang Ch’eng-fu said, practice faithfully.

“If one should ask about it’s usefullness, the answer is that it allows usto use no stength and yet not be intimated by strength. If someone possessed of great strength should attack us, then our supreme softness is sufficient to defeat them.”

No matter how hard a guy can punch, he can’t hurt the air. And what is softer than air? You should be willing to change the shape of your body, ie. move. You simply allow your body to change in a way that blend’s best with the attacker’s moves. If you freeze or stiffen up, then his punch will land.

Avoiding Haste

“When beginning to study the Tai Chi form, one must absolutely avoid haste. Every day thoroughly practice one or two postures and it will be easy to appreciate their inner essence. Those who practice too much at one time can only scratch the surface.”

Kung Fu of Form & Push Hands

A very good treatise on form and function.

Tai Chi Form Videos

A couple of nice form videos from YouTube here. Although they are supposedly the same form, Yang Style Long Form, notice that they actually look quite a bit different. That is because, like good musicians or artists, they each put their own spirit into their performance. Of course, no two people are alike, so why try to look and move just like someone else. The outward pattern of moves may be different, but the principles are identical.