ChiDragon

People who live in the Southern part of China speak Cantonese; and the people in the Northern part speak Mandarin. Mandarin is the Chinese official dialect. It is the one to learn to get in touch with the Chinese culture. The people in Beijing was considered to be spoken the perfect dialect of Mandarin. A Mandarin speaking person may or may not understand Cantonese. It all depends how much one was exposed to Cantonese.

Relaxation of the muscles during the practice of Tai Ji Chuan. At the first level, it is important to relax the muscles when doing the slow movements. However, no matter how relax the practitioner was, there are always some tension in the muscles. Otherwise, the practitioner won't be able to stand up on the feet. Tai Ji Chuan is considered to be an internal art because it develops the inner strength or Jin. In order to utilize the body strength, the muscles must be contracted to generated the inner strength. A Tai Ji practitioner has more Jin than an ordinary person. The Jin was acquired from practicing the slow movements with the muscles relaxed. It is important to relax the muscles because that is the uniqueness of NeiGong. As a rule of thumb, NeiGong always start with something soft then become hard. After a long time practice, the muscles of a Tai Ji practitioner will be firmer or good muscle tone. It was an indication of progress from the practice. Another words, in Tai Ji terms, the Jin has been developed in the muscles. A Tai Ji practitioner should always feel a little tension in the muscles, even in relaxation, because of the presence of Jin. With the Jin in the muscles, it is readily to be exploded as soon a squeeze of the muscles. One can feel the strength of the Jin in the muscles when squeezed. However, if anything comes in contact with the muscles, then a slight movement of the muscles will cause anything to be ejected away to a distance. The process is called Fa Jin(發勁). One can tell if a person has any Jin at all by observing how the other person reacts to Fa Jin. If a person pushes an ordinary person, assuming they are same size, and the defender just fell back a little and was able to maintain balance; then the offender has no Jin. However, if the defender was completely off balance flew across the room and hit the wall, then one will know that the offender has Jin developed in the body.

zerostao.... That's cool. Sorry for picking on your brain......!!! I just like to be consistent as long as we know what's in our minds.

Yin within Yang and Yang within Yin. Perhaps during combat, 10% Yin within 90% Yang and 10% Yang within 90% Yin. Rather than 50/50 during combat.

I can understand the "I still listen when I issue"; but "I am Song at all times." It seems to me that Song is at the Yin state and Fa Jin is at the Yang state. Generally speaking, is it possible to be at a full state of Song while Fa Jin at the same time.....??? It seems contradicting....!!!

Why are some people healthier than others....??? It is because the internal organs of some people are in good health and the functions of the organs are at the peak performance. People with illness was due to the malfunction of the internal organs. Fortunately, the human body has the capability of self-healing. Any illness if found in time are curable. There are two things that the body need for healing such as food and breathing. The ancients had discovered by breathing alone has great effects on the human body. The more they breathe the healthier they are. Besides breathing was good for self-healing, it also make the body much healthier than before. Therefore, the ancients were paid more attention to breathing and called it Chi Kung. Since Chi Kung has great effects on the body internally, it was considered to be NeiGong(internal practice). When NeiGong was mentioned, it was understood that Chi Kung is the primary requirement. At first, Chi Kung was done by just sitting down in a lotus position(靜功, Static Chi Kung). However, it was discovered that Chi Kung was done with slow motion of the arms and legs has a great effect of strengthen the body muscles. Hence, it becomes the, 動功, Dynamic Chi Kung. For example, Tai Ji Chuan has a set of sophisticates movements which is the best internal practice for the health of the human body. The body strength can be developed tremendously by the practice. In order to distinguish the inner strength that was developed by Tai Ji Chuan, it was called Jin(勁) rather than just the normal body strength.

steve.... "To achieve this requires a high degree of skill in Song and Ting Jin (sensitivity) among other things." Okay, I have been thinking that we should understand each other if we are talking about the same thing. If we want to communicate in the same field, then we should speak the same language by not assuming that the other doesn't know what one was talking about. For a skillful practitioner, by the choice of words such as "Song and Ting Jin" was applied to the defender; and Fa Jin is for the offender. During Fa Jin, at that moment, it was no longer Song and Ting Jin because one of the practitioners become the offender. Did I make any sense....???

In general, the person who practice externally was to speed up his ability to combat in a short time. However, one must be physically build and have great normal body strength. These innate features make one a good fighter but one must win in a short time. Otherwise one will become fatigue when the normal body strength become exhausted. The one who was not physically build and weak must practice the internal art to build up the body strength and strengthen the muscles. That was exactly what Tai Chi and QiGong are all about. One does not suck the energy from thin air by breathing. The body makes its own adjustment as one breathes. To exert an external force, the force has to be coming from the inner strength of the physical body. The body must be capable to withstand any external force for some reasonable time. Without the inner strength, it would be difficult for the body to resist any external force nor can endure for some time. In the body, it was the muscles that generates the inner strength. How much inner strength can be generated depends how much practice does one had done. I will emphasize what are the nuances between internal and external practices. Basically it is the concept of the Yin-yang principle. If one can identify what is being yin or yang attribute, then it won't be so difficult to understand what is internal or external. Indeed, the purpose for the internal practice was to convert the Yin(weak) body into a Yang(strong) body.

Zerostao... I'm flattered. Thank you for your generosity and respect. Let's wait and see how it is going to be worked out. Thanks again

"Bagua is the yang side of the coin, Tai Chi being the yin." I don't know where this notion was coming from. I wouldn't take that for granted. "Hence careful with Bagua, don't train this art or you will overtrain and hurt your body." Any martial arts can hurt your body if over trained. Just use a little common sense can go a long way. PS.... I would be under my own discretion to listen to any generalization which can be a fallacy made by anybody.

If you took it literally like that, I can't ague about that. I believe I only said relax the muscles but not totally relaxed. Even though I have said totally relaxed, I still wouldn't be collapsed if I wasn't unconscious.

The Tai Chi movements are fundamentally the same but there are slight variations between the Tai Ji families. The effects for the physical health are the same. The unique thing about Tai Ji was that the breathing is in synchronization with each movement. Indeed, the breathing was guided by the movements spontaneously. For example, as a general rule, inhale while the hands are being raised, exhale while the hands are being lowered. Tai Ji is the best cure for people with breathing problems. Normally, people with breathing problem, their breathings are very shallow. Another words, they cannot breathe deep down to the abdomen. Breathing down to the abdomen is equivalent to the saying of "Sunk Chi to the Dan Tian". Dan Tian was referred as the abdomen by the martial arts industry. Hence, the goal in breathing was to have the breath reach down to the Dan Tian. In QiGong, it has the same goal of "Sunk Chi to the Dan Tian". Most people thought or interpreted that this Chi was the energy being stored in the Dan Tian. However, by the Chinese definition, it means that the breath was being sunk to the abdomen. The priority in breathing for QiGong and Tai Ji is reversed. In QiGong, breathing is primary and movement is secondary. While in Tai Ji, the breathing was guided by the movements which is secondary.

Basically, the fundamental principles are the same in martial arts. One just have to know the nuance between them. It is an art to know the uniqueness of each. Then one will have a better understanding of the other types by comparison. PS..... I am too critical and may offend too many people. I better stay out. Thanks for the welcome.....

"The hot one opens the pores, the cold closes them." I was told that was a fallacy in my high school health class.

Here is the Generative Cycle of the Five Elements: Metal engenders Water Water engenders Wood Wood engenders Fire Fire engenders Soil Soil engenders Metal "So If Mtiger takes a cold shower anyway then what happens his pilot light goes out ?" What will happen will happen internally. Nothing is effective externally unless one has a cut.

Probably not....!!!

Is there any tension in the mind.....???

"Song to me is letting go of any tension / holding patterns in my body" "song(鬆, 松): relax or loosen the muscles." Is there a difference.....???

For my understanding. By the linguistic meaning, it has nothing to do with martial arts. song(鬆, 松): relax or loosen the muscles. Jin(勁): is the body energy or strength, anyone who uses the body strength requires muscle contraction. song(鬆, 松) is just relaxing the muscle; it doesn't require any special skill to develop it but Jin does.

Rooting is like a building having a good foundation. The key in balancing oneself is to have the centroid of the body maintaining in the center with the vertical. In order for the body to have a good foundation or rooting, the legs must be able to lock into the ground or floor. That was done by exerting the inner strength to the legs as all the martial artists would have done. Rooting was done by having the feet anchored to the ground by imaging that with the left and right foot squeeze toward each other while the Fa Jin in the lower legs. To keep the balance was by shifting the centroid of the body according to action of the opponent. If the opponent moves toward the chest, then the practitioner should guide the opponent away from the centroid to maintain balance. At the same time, try to shift the centroid of the opponent off the vertical or move him around to get him off balance. If a normal person was standing on the ground, it is very easy to push the body upward then back to get him off balance. Thus the upward push will cause the opponent to loosen the feet lock off the ground; while pushing back will cause the centroid to shift off toward the rear. Finally, a big thrust with a full amount of Fa Jin with both arms will send the opponent flying off to the wall. At higher level of understanding Tai Ji, these kind of the subtleties ought to be grokked by the intuition of the practitioners.

In order to Fa Jin, the body of the practitioner must be able to be standing still against any external influential force. This is where the rooting comes into play. Traditionally, in martial arts, rooting was accomplished from Zhan Zhuang (站庄). In Tai Ji, Zhan Zhuang was not required to do it separately. It is because good 'rooting' was obtained from the fundamental movements, spontaneously, by bending the knees and sometimes standing on one bent leg for few seconds at a time. During Fa Jin, to balance and stabilize the body, the muscles of one or both legs were contracted depend on the circumstances for solid rooting. BTW Rooting was not done continuously, it was only applied at the time when necessary to counteract any sudden lunge by an opponent. Another words, the body was most powerful is when all the muscles are at the Fa Jin mode.

"With the combination of the Yi, inner strength and Xing all putted together, it is the most effective way to Fa Jin." I would like to put a little emphasis on Fa Jin(發勁). One does not born with Jin(勁). Jin has to be developed in the muscles by the prolong practice during the first year. The muscles have to be completely relaxed while performing the slow movements; so, the normal strength does not interfere with the Jin development. Thus this is the secret to NeiKung(內功, internal practice). However, as soon one exert a force in the muscles, that will become the external practice which will defeat the principle of Yin-yang in Tai Ji. The Yin is before Yang which implies that the muscles were soft to begin with then hard after the first year of practice. The reason was because the result of the muscle tone was developed. At the same time, Jin was developed and distributed evenly in the muscles. So, the Yi can issue a signal to any muscle of the body to exert Jin at any time and position. Fa Jin can be done by each muscle in any part of the body. Partial Fa Jin was done to reserve the body energy. The idea to issue Jin partially was only to focus in the area that was interested. Let's look at Fa Jin in the right hand. A Tai Ji practitioner can exert Jin in any part of the hand. It can be done in this sequence under different conditions. 1. If one wants to just hold the opponent in place, then more Jin was exerted at the fingers than the lower arm. This sequence was to hold the hand of the opponent, the lower arm was to lock the hand in place with a slight pull back to resist the force of being pulled by the opponent. However, as soon as the opponent cease the resisting force, the practitioner will relax all the muscles to reserve energy for the next counter interaction. As soon a sense was felt that the opponent become aggressive again, the practitioner will immediately exert the Jin again in the same manner. 2. If the Yi of the practitioner has been determined at a condition that the opponent can be pushed away, then also Yi will automatically calculated how much Jin to be exerted and how far to send the opponent away. For example, the practitioner can just send the opponent away or all the way against the wall. All the calculations were taken place in a matter of a split second by the Yi of the practitioner. As soon the body strength of the opponent was felt by the practitioner, at that instance, the Yi will react spontaneously without hesitation for the counteract. BTW It corresponds to the old Tai Ji saying "You don't move, I don't move. If you move, I'll move first".

Guess what...??? Watermelon would be in the Water attribute.....