POWER-RELEASE PRACTICE The Chinese Martial Arts focus on the body mechanics of Open-Close-Open-Close, and so on. The body Closes with contraction of the front/inner channels (mostly) and Opens with the backside/outer channels. The general rule, for most strikes, etc., is that you store elastic energy and inhaled pressure when you are Closed; you release your whole-body energy and pressure when you Open. In the video snippet below I'm showing Chen Chunlei demonstrating the major power-practice maneuver of pole shaking in Chen Village. He stores with the inhale as the pole tip is forward and his body is Closed; he releases with the exhale and the body Opening as the pole comes backward. At the end of the snippet is a brief view of Chen Zhaosen doing a very basic and important Close and Open in his qigong (look at John Prince's Vimeo site if you want to see the whole qigong). The point is that the soft qigong is the beginning practice for the ultimate expression of fajin ...
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Jin in Movement 3/23/2021 I have written posts, over time, trying to explain how jin is essentially a force or force path/direction formed by the "intention" or "yi". Our bodies, in daily movements, naturally form force-compensation paths at the direction of the subconscious mind, but jin is a use of those same force mechanisms by deliberately directing the subconscious (via imagery) to form a force path in some direction, using either the supporting force from the ground or the downward force of gravity/weight. Movement, as traditionally defined in Taijiquan and many other Chinese martial arts, is said to contain two main components: (1.) the movement component of tissues (generally speaking, the "qi" part of the movement) and (2.) the movement component of mind-directed force (the "yi" part of the movement). I did a post in recent times that I called something like "Cast in Resin", in which I focused on how mo...
"SENDING YOUR QI INTO AN OPPONENT" (And a Subtle Side-Issue) This has been discussed before on 6H, but it's probably time for a re-do. One of the things I learned to do, earlier on and to varying degrees of skill, was to "ground" a push from a partner. At first it was grounding into my back leg, but being careful, at first, to not simply arrange the back leg as a brace. Anyone can brace and many people still do a brace and think that they are using jin. The visualization I learned to use was to imagine a straight line, like a thin wooden dowel, for example, going straight from, for example, my forearm where I was being pushed, directly to my foot (usually the back foot, but sometimes the front foot; sometimes in between both feet). The main idea is to immediately allow an incoming push to rest fully and completely in the sole of the foot. In other words, try to let the ground hold the incoming force, not your muscles. Adjust your waist and legs unt...
Qi and Jin, Movement and Stillness: the Ideal of Movement Movement, in the traditional Chinese sense, is considered to be part Yi (the mind directing forces) and part Qi (the tissues associated with movement, generally speaking). So, as an example, if someone is trying to do their Silkreeling exercises correctly, they will be training their Jin forces (where the Yi controls forces) and they will be training to wind, twist, push, and pull the body as a whole, connected-tissue unit. If I am, for example, moving my right arm in a clockwise circle in front of me, I will move the arm by twisting the body even down to the feet and controlling the overall winding with my middle/dantian; the arm's circle will have four general force directions: Up, Out Away from the Body, Downward, and In Toward the Body. Those four jin-force directions are called Peng, Ji, An, and Lu, respectively. Jin forces are not the same as our normal muscular forces, BTW....
Taking Out the Slack and Completing the Circle Muscles and tendons work by pulling/contracting; we can only push with the bones and internal pressure within our "suits". When we straighten up the body from being leaned over, we do it by contracting tissues, mainly the tissues on the back sides of the body. When we lean over and contract the body, we do it by contracting tissues that are mainly on the front, inner, and undersides of the body. The point is that most of our body movements are made by contracting and pulling tissues, even when we Open and expand the body. To maximize and make efficient any pulling of tissues within the body, we need to strengthen the tissues and take out the slack. Here's an example for people to try, in terms of what "taking out the slack" can entail: Stand in a comfortable stance, right foot forward and the right arm stretched out in line with the back and front feet. Keep the weig...
Thoughts on Dantian Ultimately, the human body is derived from a worm-like animal, far back in evolutionary history, and as such we are physically based upon a cylindrical shape. The best place to control a cylinder is from the middle area of the cylinder … and that is where the discussion about "moving from the dantian" starts, because our anatomy still reflects its cylindrical origins. The cylindrical worm first evolved a notochord, which later became a vertebral column and gradually limbs were added. But the basic cylindrical worm-body was still the original pattern and the connective tissues and muscles were additions in support of the original basic cylinder. When we control our arms and legs with our skeleton and muscles, tendons, etc., we tend to neglect the supplements to our strength that can be derived from the involuntary-muscle systems and the fascia to which they're attached. In the qi-paradigm the supplements of ...