Internal/external ratio | ||
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Chinese martial arts
In traditional Chinese martial arts the student commences training
with a significant amount of hard training
methods.
These are similar to what is practiced in
most other martial arts.
The aim is to gain a foundation level of fitness;
stamina, core strength, endurance,
flexibility and
cardiovascular fitness.
External
A new student spends most of their time doing external training
approaches.
The practice is crude, difficult and demanding.
But it is not forceful or
damaging.
This kind of training may be deemed 'external' because it is
simplistic.
It trains the body to become familiar with new
patterns and habits of usage.
Lower grades
The lower kung fu grades are not
advanced. How could they be?
They are introductory.
The student is training 'externally' because they lack the
physical skill to be
internal.
Internal takes time. It requires years of careful work.
Aptitude
A lower grade tai chi student lacks
the physical ability to perform technically
sophisticated internal movements.
They don't know much of the overall syllabus.
Possessing only a severely limited repertoire of skills: a few
qigong exercises, some
form and partner work... they must work with what they have.
And this is primarily external.
Internal
Since novice students lack in-depth
awareness,
coordination, balance,
poise, they cannot reasonable train
anything subtle.
The 'internal' aspects of tai chi are merely
conceptual to the student.
They are nowhere near ready to embrace the
internal.
Difficulty?
Most beginners experience difficulty with the very notion of
'internal' use of strength.
They resist, look for shortcuts or simply continue to use brute force.
The answer lies with the mind.
You will be hampered by force as long as you perceive it to be of value to you.
Changing this belief will involve changing your mind.
Ratio
For quite a long time, a tai chi student must focus purely upon
external matters.
Appearance, accuracy, alignment,
structure.
Their training is mainly external.
Even internal-seeming methods such as
qigong and form are
hopelessly tense and
forceful.
But this is OK. The instructor expects nothing more.
Kung Yi-tsu was famous for his strength.
King Hsuan of Chou went to call on him with full ceremony,
but when he got there, he found that Kung was a weakling.
The king asked, "How strong are you?"
Kung replied, "I can break the waist of a spring insect,
I can bear the wing of an autumn cicada."
The king flushed and said,
"I'm strong enough to tear apart rhinoceros hide and drag nine oxen by the
tail
- yet I still lament my weakness.
How can it be that you are so famous for strength?"
Kung replied, "My fame is not for having such strength,
it is for being able to use such strength."
(Zen story/David Schiller)
Fitness first
Martial arts require
students to get fit.
Usually much, much fitter than the student is
expecting.
The training may seem challenging at
first.
Once the student has become significantly stronger,
it will no longer be so difficult.
An easy option?
Tai chi is typically regarded as being an easy
option; a poor man's martial art.
Ideal for slackers and talkers.
This is frequently the case; with many
exponents woefully out of shape
and no match for more earnest martial artists.
Fighting is fighting
It does not matter which martial art you study; you are still
engaged in combat.
Tai chi students fantasise that qi is going to
bridge the fitness gap and mysteriously defeat the
opponent.
This is childish and naive.
A punch is a punch, a throw is a
throw, an armlock an
armlock.
There is a high risk of being hurt.
No one starts internally
Every student starts externally.
How long you remain external depends entirely upon how heavily you
invest in the basics.
Many people imagine themselves far more skilled than they really are.
This is a road to nowhere.
The exercises that I teach in this
book are qigong, but to balance our body we need to practice cardiovascular
and strength training as well.
(Yan Lei)
Strength-building
Students must commit to a regime of strength-building exercise:
qigong, leg stretches, psoas exercises...
An increased degree of strength is necessary if the student expects
to eventually be capable of employing the art in
combat.
Tai chi will only work if you have both external and internal strength.
And if you can
use the art in a
unified manner.
Square on the inside, round on the outside
You need to be externally and
internally strong, and that
requires hard work.
In actual combat application, the external strength
is subsumed within the internal
principles of usage.
But this takes time to happen.
It requires high repetition and mindful practice.
Partner work
The student must connect the separate body parts together and start using the
body and mind as one unit.
This is the real start of your internal strength training.
Instead of forcing, exerting, sweating, you learn
to be sensitive, relaxed
and aware.
No
shortcuts
The training doesn't get easier. You get stronger. But only if you practice.
External concerns
Trying to be too clever, fancy or ambitious - without the external strength
to support the body - is a recipe for injury.
We are muscle and bone.
The joints need to be supported, the
core strong, the muscles
toned and responsive, the cardiopulmonary system
healthy and robust.
These are all 'external' concerns - and will
always remain relevant - no matter how highly
skilled you eventually become.
Harmony between the internal and
external parts.
(Yang Cheng Fu)
Page created
3 May 1995
Last updated
8
April 1999
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