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 movement potential can be
arranged by the mind, even when the body does not make discernible movement
(the post is also one of a number at my blog: http://6harmony.blogspot.com/ ). The idea of the "Cast in Resin"
post focuses on the "yi"/"intention" part of movement, not
the structural, dantian-related movement of the qi-tissues, muscles, and bones.
Ideally, in the classical sense, the yi/jin of the body is
combined with the optimal whole-body mechanics of dantian-controlled movement,
so the true "internal" martial-arts contain jin forces with the
whole-body, dantian-controlled type of movement. However, jin can be manifested and used in a
body that does not use dantian-controlled movement, so many of what are
referred to as "external martial arts" use jin also. Jin is common to both the internal and
external Chinese martial arts; dantian usage or partial dantian usage will vary
within the numerous Chinese martial arts.
The "Cast in Resin" idea of mind-controlled jin
direction prior to movement is a first step that is very important. Using the jin directions to provide forces
while moving is a second step. In the
video below, taken 5 or 6 years ago, I demonstrated how jin is used within
movement in order to give the body power that is not just use of muscles: the
jin forces add the power of ground-support and/or weight to movements, thereby
making a seemingly mild movement quite strong.
In the video below I was demonstrating jin forces that are
used in conjunction with whole-body, dantian-controlled movement … the
important point to note is that I still could have used fairly good (although
not as efficient) jin forces if I had just been moving my body with normal
muscle, bone, joint movement.
The idea I am trying to convey is that I could take a martial
arts "form" and do it with jin, regardless of whether I used whole-body
movement or not. A Taijiquan form would
require that I used both jin and full-body, dantian-controlled movement, in
order to truly be Taijiquan. Many other arts,
for example Wing Chun, could be correctly done with jin while using more local
control of the body. Bear in mind that a
person can do a form with varying degrees of "local control" that
might still employ some aspects of "whole-body control".
As an example, the first form of Wing Chun is generally referred
to as something like "Siu Nim Tau" (or a close variant of the
spelling), but the same slow analysis of jin that I show in the video can be
applied to every movement within Siu Nim Tau, even the small, twisting motions
of the hand. If I were practicing Siu
Nim Tau, I might envision every small movement as being pushed or pulled or
twisted through a thick molasses type viscous liquid, making sure that only jin
forces were used at every angle (similar to what I showed in the analysis of a
circular motion in the video).
The idea is to move non-muscularly against an imaginary
viscous fluid with jin forces until jin forces become an imbued part of your
every movement. You gradually develop what
is called an "iron wrapped in cotton" feel to your strength, regardless
of whether you use whole-body motion or the more localized movements of the
so-called "external" martial arts.
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