6H Blog

  TING JIN - "LISTENING JIN" There is an old saying to the effect that "There are many jins, but there is only one jin" (I heard that from Chen Xiaowang, so it's a credible saying). Basically, the jin they're talking about is the ground-based jin where you mentally adjust force directions in your body when your "qi is sunk" and you bring the force/solidity of the ground to your hands (or wherever). "The force/energy starts at the feet, is controlled by the waist, and is expressed in the hands". All of the various "jins", of which there are many, like short jin, cold jin, spiraling jin, hard jin, soft jin, and so on, are just ways of applying the basic jin, the "neijin". The point in this post is that "Ting Jin" is just another variant of the jin that comes from the ground ... because "there are many jins, but there is only one jin". When a person is standing upright with all incoming forces al

  Why Similar Postures in a Form Mean Little   Many applications and usages in Chinese martial arts can be found in numerous different styles.   One of the reasons for common applications is that over the centuries, certain applications have been found to be so generally useful that most Chinese martial arts adopted those applications.   Remember that the Chinese martial arts evolved over thousands of years and the better techniques have been codified and saved.   One of the prominent features of the Chinese martial arts (and the other Asian martial arts that borrowed from the Chinese) is how the body mechanics are used.    The Chinese developed a system of whole-body strength, using the middle of the body as a pivot as it Opens and Closes, that optimized the use of strength, while using less muscular effort.   The system of strength and mechanics that is the hallmark of Chinese martial arts is often denoted by the Yin-Yang Symbol ☯, indicating the constant cycling of Open and

 Functional Qigongs 2   Going back to the example in Functional Qigongs 1 of the qi-tissues of the chest, arms, and dantian pulling the arms inward and using breath … do that a few times as a warmup and then let's look at a slight tangent to some of the same tissues or tissues nearby.   If you look at a diagram of the muscle-tendon channels (the muscle and tendon paths/channels upon which the acupuncture "meridians" are based), you can see that there are three channels that are used to lift and Open the arms: large intestine, small intestine, and triple burner.  The 3 Yin channels are, of course, used to contract and Close the arms.  Notice that the Yang muscle-tendon channels that pull the arm upward are rooted in the head and neck: something higher on the body from which to hang the arms. So, try this experiment.  Let the arms hang loosely to the front and sides of the body.   Lean the head backward to help make some pre-tension (take out the slack) in the t

  Functional Qigongs   Know Your Qi and Know When People don't know their Qi   The qi-related tissues of the body are ones that involve involuntary-muscle systems controlled by the subconscious.  Respiration tissues fall into this category because they are controlled both by the motor cortex and by the brain stem under subconscious/unconscious control.  Much of the discussion about "qi" has to do with the subconscious control of the involuntary-muscle tissue systems and, often, the voluntary control of respiration for physical training.   The ancient Chinese took the involuntary-muscle systems into account when they analyzed human strength and motion, but the ancient Chinese also postulated (remember, this was thousands of years ago) an unseen energetic part of the whole qi-paradigm in order to explain the actions of blood sugar, health, congenital strength, and so on .  Most westerners focus on the unseen, unmeasurable, energetic qi postulate, but most actual

  PUT YOUR MIND IN YOUR DANTIAN? From a question by Mander Thiara and one other person. When I allow forces (say, a weight that I'm holding) to go through my body and rest on the ground at the soles of my feet, I am letting the ground do a lot of the work. If I push someone while leaving my hands connected to the soles of my feet, the ground provides the solidity and all I have to do is add a little extra force (usually with the dantian/backbow) to push effectively. By making sure that I always source my forces at the soles of my feet, I have to pay attention and "keep my mind in the soles of my feet". It's called "sink your qi". When I am used to using jin from my feet but have learned to control the forces with my dantian, my body becomes more efficient, although such a skill takes a while to develop. But ultimately, by keeping your focus on moving jin and pushing from the dantian area, you learn to use jin and qi better. But to focus on movement and

  PUSHING FROM THE SOLE OF THE FOOT? OR THE DANTIAN? July 9, 2021 It's a quirk of mine to focus on sinking all forces to the sole of the foot, aka "sink the qi". In other words, "sink the qi to the sole of the foot". But the common saying is "sink the qi to the dantian", isn't it? The reason I say to sink the qi to the sole of the foot is that most people don't have any dantian development so when they try to "move from the dantian", their source of forces is not the sole of the foot. Hence, they screw it up. It takes a while to develop movement from the dantian, so I always suggest that people focus on the force line straight between the sole of their foot and their hand(s). If they learn to push or absorb forces from the sole/ground, they will be far ahead of any wrong movements from the non-existent dantian. All of that having been said, someone asked me what the next step is, so I'll offer a suggestion. You don't