ChiDragon

This practice seems to me is an one man style. Nowadays, everyone comes up with new ideas. It looks it is a good exercise for the legs. However, it seems to put too much stress on the spinal cord is because of the awkward position it is in. I wouldn't continuous with this practice if I were you. I would recommend the traditional Zhang Zhuang stance. Focus(意守) means just pure awareness. It is a concentration in one area of the body. It is the area where you want to apply power to. In the squatting monkey, it seems that all the concentration was occupied on the up and down movement. Thus less focus was on the dantian.

There is no secret about Neidan now. From what I've gather, nowadays, any practice is considered as Neidan as long it is good for the health of the body.

That's great. I hope they will have a long life.

Did your true teacher put mercury into his cocktail and enjoy a good night sleep? PS There is no need to get upset. I am only speaking for the Chinese version of Neidan. I have no idea what the India practitioners are doing in their practice.

This was a recipe for external alchemy(外丹術). It uses lead(鉛) and mercury(汞) in the process. It was deadly. Hence, Taoists dropped the external practice and went to adopted the internal alchemy which known as Neidan method(內丹術).

Jin is 勁，not 金（gold). Jin is an immense power acquired from practicing Taij diligently. It takes years of daily practice to develop this internal strength. If you want to know more about Taiji, you may go into my personal practice journal (PPJ) in the Personal Practice Discussion Section.

I practice the Yang style Taiji. I had learned the 108 form to begin with. Some of the moves are no longer existed. I am glad that I have inherited. Here is a demo of mIne doing part of the 108 form. The movements are the basic form of the Yang style. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrrxbfqtLIw&feature=youtu.be

Talking about isometrics, Taiji practice is a very good one. It was also considered as an aerobic exercise but not as vigorous as the western aerobic. I think!

What I have to say is that weightlifting is an external practice, normally one doesn't mix practice with internal practice. It is because they are contradicting with each other. Internal art and external art are very different in terms of muscle construction. Internal is soft which is considered yin(陰), external is hard which yang(陽). In martial arts, it was recommended to start with the yin practice, then do the yang later. In reverse, like do the yang first then the yin later or do both at the same time, one will not get the best result from both. However, I don't think westerners do aware of this idea. One can practice Taiji to build the Jin in the body, then, one can do the weightlifting. However, after the weightlifting training, it is hard to reverse the muscle structure back to the initial condition. Besides, after the weightlifting training, there was no need to do any internal training. It serve no purpose to the body builders. That was why it was not recommend to both at the same time. PS IMHO I don't think we want to confuse our muscles. To me, body weight training is when standing on leg as in Taiji practice. It requires to stand on one leg, alternately, for few seconds at a time works wonders. I might say it is equivalent to ZZ with the body weight shifted alternately to the legs. Shifting the body weight alternately is to prevent applying the stress on the legs for too long. Carrying water are the later stage of training. After the students went through the basic training and built up some internal strength, then they would go to this level.

The prenatal chi came from your parents. The postnatal chi is from the universe.

Thank you for your valuable comments. Anyway, the objective of the OP is not how one was trained. It is not how one takes the impact from Fajin. The question was: did the practitioner acquire Jin from the training? Whatever the training was, all practitioner use the same muscles, breathe the same way, use the hips the same way. The main question Is did the practitioner able to Fajin effectively like everyone else. However, everybody do make mistakes in the training, but I wouldn't discredit the ability of the practitioner in Fajin because a mistake was made during training. In Taiji, the movements are most difficult to follow. However, regardless of the mistakes, the exercise still exercise the body joints and muscles. As I think of it, based on my experience, Taiji is not really a dependent on the precision of the movements. Rather, did the muscle exercised daily. Regardless of precision, the body will have the same effect by going though the movements even with mistakes. Mistakes may be corrected some place along the line. Before the correction of the mistakes was make, no health benefit was lost.

You welcome! Your headaches, most of the time is caused by hypoxia(lack of oxygen). How is your breathing? I wouldn't worry about what has been said in the video. He seems very convincing and very serious about it. However, it seems to me it was baseless of what he is telling everybody. I am breathing all day long by focusing on my dantian. I am staying healthy everyday. Anyway, it's up to you. If your don't feel comfortable with it, just don't try it. Good luck to you.

@Thrice Daily These three treasures are the major ingredients are used in internal alchemy. The final product become a neidan. The ancient Chinese Taoist alchemy, originally, started externally by baking the elements in a cauldron. However, it was done ridiculously included some poisonous ingredients such as mercury and lead. Thus the elixir instead of prolong life but shorten life. Therefore, the Taoist came up with another idea with the thought of internal alchemy. They had thought of using three intangible ingredients inside the body. They are 精氣神( chi jing and shen). In internal alchemy, it was assumed that the body is the caldron as in external alchemy. The three major ingredients inside the body are as follows: 精(Jing) is a unit substance that makes up the structure of the human body. 氣(chi) is the vital life source that keep the human body alive 神(shen) is the soul of the body like the vital sign of the body. The external uses fire to bake the ingredients in a caldron. In internal alchemy, Taoist perform meditation by breathing the chi(oxygen) into the dantian to bake the three major ingredients. The idea was to have 練精化氣, Here is the Taoist terminology for 練精化氣, refine jing to chi: 炼精化气，道教术语。其为内丹术筑基气功的第一阶段，即炼精化气、炼气化神，炼神还虚，炼虚合道。内丹术以精、气、神为基础， 元精须与元气合炼，化为轻清无质的精炁相合之物，始能随河车运转，炼成丹胎 English translation: Refining the jing to transform in to chi, is the Taoist terminology. It is first stage of qigong in the fundamental internal alchemy process. Then, the whole process is refining the jing to transform in to chi, refining the chi to transform in to shen, refining shen in to the void. Refine the void integrated with Tao. In internal alchemy, using jing, chi, shen as the basic fundamental, the prenatal jing and the prenatal chi should be refined together, transform them to a light and pure no-form compound substance. Refine it to a "dan body" which means after the body was returned back to the prenatal form. BTW Qigong means the practice of breathing here. Void is return back to the innocent stage of oneself. The esoteric explanation was hard to interpret and comprehend. That's why I say it sounds fictional to me.

With the practice of any kind, all the of above come with the package. I am not just want all martial. I am in the 性命雙修, dual cultivation of mind and body. 精氣神( chi jing and shen) are the esoteric terms used by the ancient Chinese Taoists specialized in alchemy. If people talking about neidan(內丹) without mentioning these three terms, then, they knew nothing about neidan. These three treasures are the major ingredients are used in the alchemy. The final product become a neidan. I had posted the explanation of the three treasures. I need to look for it again. I wish Cobie is here to help me. She is good at that.

If fighting was the first thing comes to the mind is to learn martial arts, then, it was the wrong step to begin with. An intent to learn the art is for health and good character other than fighting. It was considered to be the virtue of martial arts(武德). However, whether you like it or not, the fighting skill comes with the package. You have the virtue of martial arts, my friend. I believe visualization is a western idea which I am not familiar with. I don't know what is the true meaning of universal energies or how to work with it. I do meditation in a zazen manner by sitting in my garden with the ultimate breathing method(UBM). Ever since I have accomplished the ability to sink chi to my dantian, it had become my normal daily breathing habit with no hesitation. My tip is not to kick the breathing habit. The ample of oxygen supply, the universal source of energy, with keep me alert and focus at all times.

Sorry, Taomeow. I don't really know what are you asking.

You welcome and thank you! I am not sure what it means by intent and cultivated with the heart. Perhaps, I need to have more clarification from you in to near future. I am glad that you have considered to pay more attention to the significance of reverse breathing. Yes, both mean a lot to me. First of all let's relate the TCM terminology with the physiological terms. The upper dantian(UDT) is the mind that control all the body activities. The middle dantian(MDT) is the chest where the lung is located. The lower datian(LDT) is the abdomen. The MDT is where it begins to sustain life. It provides oxygen or chi as fuel to generate energy to keep the body function. As we breathe oxygen(chi) into the lung, the lung is the first organ that uses oxygen to produce the ATP energy to carry out its function. Then, the blood brings in oxygen into the heart from the lung. The cells in the heart will use oxygen to produce the energy for contraction. The contraction of the heart will squeeze the oxygenated blood out to arteries throughout the body. The rest of the body cells will fight for the oxygen. The cells of the heart and brain do not reproduce if they die. Hence, the constant supply of oxygen is required for these two organs in order to keep their cells alive. Under the condition of "sink chi to the dantian(氣沉丹田)" is very important to a martial artist and a Taoist. To a martial artist, 氣沉丹田, is at the condition which the body can generate the maximum internal power. To a Taoist, it is the ultimate alchemy condition for Neidan. However, the ancient people did not understand the physiologically functions of the body. So, they assumed that at "sink chi to the dantian(氣沉丹田)" is the ultimate condition to accomplish the goal of whatever the practice was. Therefore, they only focus on the LDT rather than the other two. Progress to me is same as what you have stated. I want keep my ability to breathe deep to sink chi to the dantian(氣沉丹田)" at will and to increase my internal strength by increasing the mitochondria density in my body. As I understand, it could be done by slow body movements and slow deep breathing. I believe that I have accomplished by the diligent practice of Taiji. Thank you very much for your response and interested in the thread!

Not at all in my imagination. It is only the traditional explanation is fictional to me. However, I consulted with a more reliable source such as modern science to satisfy my thoughts. The master said that chi is flowing in the body. My understanding that is to replace chi with oxygen. It is because oxygen was carried by the red blood cells and delivering to all the cells throughout the body.

@Thrice Daily I will respond to you soon. I am in my Taiji class for the next two hours.

FYI By definition: the upper dantian is the head and middle dantian is the chest. There is not much one can do with martial arts. However, lower dantian are most adaptable for martial applications. All material arts practitioners perform reverse abdominal breathing. That is what they meant by "sink chi into the LDT." Abdominal breathing is most vulnerable in martial arts. It is because if the LDT was opened to the opponent，one strike to the LDT will release all the chi. Thus that would make one most vulnerable to be the weakest at that point in time.

You are very amusing, I'm glad that you are here. You are very observant. Let me tell you something about Fajin. Fajin is not just using muscles but brain power too. The idea of FJ is to place yourself in the most defensive position. When you strike, you want to have the opponent in an indefendable position. That is to keep the opponent in an off balance position. It is by putting the foot behind the student who, of course, cannot resist.

This reminds of in my late twenties, I was playing majeong sitting by the wall. A fly was flying around me, by natural instinct, I raised my right palm followed the fly and smashed it against the wall. Ofc that was after few years of practice of Taijiquan.

They can't kill them all.

At least they can Fajin to kill a fly.

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Otto-Warburg PS Does anyone know was there any Taiji practitioner died of cancer?