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Gong and Nei Gong (Internal Skill). It describes the benefits from
training internal methods in a language which is coherent to any
reader. Unlike in many other Chinese martial arts books (back then
and nowadays as well) who use all sorts of complex lingo related to
Traditional Chinese Medicine and Chinese Cosmology, the author of
this book had attempted to provide scientific explanations to the
beneficial results which arise from training Internal Methods. Even
though the content of this book is relevant for us even today, it is
important to take into account that the book was written over 70
years ago, and the knowledge we have now is slightly more
advanced than it had been back in the day.
To better understand the contents of the book and in order to read
more materials published by its author, Zhang Naiqi, I began to look
for more information about his life, his education and his practice in
the traditional Chinese martial arts. Most of my efforts came up in
vein, and I couldnt find much neither on the Internet, nor in martial
arts circles. From the little written in the forward of the book itself it
appears the author had trained in Xing Yi Quan, Bagua Zhang and
Taiji Quan. Recently Ive managed to find out he was also involved in
the revolution in China in the beginning of the 20th century, and that
he had written an additional article on Qi Gong.
In 2006 I reread the book several times, and decided to translate it
into Hebrew, so the Israeli reader could also benefit from its content.
The book was later further translated into English, under my
supervision, by my student Jonathan Bluestein, in May 2013. As
the book includes lots of descriptions, stories and explanations
which I did not think were so important, I chose to skip them and only
translate the parts which I felt were meaningful and useful to the
reader.
Internal Skill and Fatigue
The Internal Skill eliminates fatigue in the following 3 ways:
1. During rest, the Chest and Abdomen, which contain the vital
organs, are completely relaxed and flaccid.
2. While moving, the tension is transferred from the Chest into the
Abdomen area.
3. By avoiding unnecessary tension in bodily areas which remain
static.
Wu Ji Full Body Relaxation at Rest
At this time, it should not be allowed for the eyes or ears to notice
the outside world, because as soon as they become aware of what is
going on around them, an unconscious tension appears in the
chest. One should only focus on keeping the relaxed state of all
bodily parts, and especially make sure the breathing is natural. This
sort of focus helps one avoid what goes on around oneself.
Sometimes the breath is vocal and heavy. This is many a time a
result of undue tension in windpipe, and not because of fast
breathing. All that should be done to resolve this is to avoid any
tension in the mouth, nose, neck and chest, and as a result the
windpipe will expand and the breathing becomes easy.
One could notice that unlike adults, children do not have any tension
in their chests. Among children, the abovementioned relaxation of
the muscles and breath are natural. Their chests and bellies slightly
protrude outwards. In this state, the stomach and intestines are lain
rather than hanged. Even though practically and physically we are
not really hanging them, psychologically there is a feeling of having
no safe place to lay them, so one is forced to hang them up in order
to prevent them from dropping. This also works the other way
around the feeling of the stomach and intestines being hung also
produces the anxiety of their possible dropping in the unconscious,
and this anxiety in turn produces a pressure from the abdomen
upwards, supposedly providing support for the stomach and
intestines. These two phenomenon produce and create each-other.
Further,
the tension in the chest contracts the chest muscles and the internal
organs.
This cycle of anxiety and tension in the chest leads to fatigue. An
upwards pressure of the intestinal wall is extremely fatiguing
anyone could feel it. Because of the fatigue, once in a while one has
to loosen-up. But as soon as a thought arises, or there is a will to
perform some sort of action, the upward pressure immediately
returns. These cyclical contraction and release lead to a lot of
excessive movement of the stomach and intestines and lead to
fatigue.
(Jonathan: Albeit being fairly accurate, the word Psychologically,
which was used in the last paragraph, is a modern translation and
interpretation to what Zhang was saying)
We must aspire to a state in which the entire body is free from any
undue tension. This state of release from tension and the looseness
of the body is in Daoist literature referred to as Wu Ji (Without
Poles), or: Yin and Yang have yet to be determined. What is Yin? It
is Absence/Emptiness. What is Yang? It is Fullness. At this time, the
entire body is free and loose. The chest and the abdomen too are in
a state of complete looseness. When we start to move we should
keep the belly full and the chest broad. Of this was said: Emptiness
and Fullness have yet to be determined. All these names bear the
identical meaning: Pre-heaven, Wu Ji, Yin and Yang not yet
determined, etc. It Buddhist literature this is called Serenity, or
Existing Naturally. At this time, the inside and outside of the body
accept the authority of gravity and sink downwards without the tiniest
bit of resistance. At this time, all the bodily cells (not to be taken
literally) are separated from each-other, unrelated and care not for
one-another each of them exists by itself and for itself.
Fullness in the Abdomen, Openness in the Chest
When we rest, our body is relaxed and loosened, but it is no longer
so once we move. There are two reasons for this. First to move
muscles are connected via the nerve plexus of the spine, which yield
mutual influence. Tension in the intercostal muscles shrinks the
volume of the chest cavity, which then creates a sensation of
pressure in the heart and lungs.
Most people will feel this sort of tension in the chest area. For many,
this tension in the chest is unavoidable even when doing nothing,
and as soon as they use outwards-driven force, the pressure levels
rise significantly.
Unification between Awareness and Movement
When the body is active, the tension reaches the limbs. Because of
the nature of various movements, sometimes the left side is loose
and the right contracted, or vice-versa, or they can both be
contracted. Contraction means Fullness, or being Yang. Loose
means Absence (lack of Fullness), or Yin. The mutual relationship
between contracted and loose, between Fullness and Absence, is
one of the five rules that explain the ancient principle of Tai Ji (same
as Tai Chi in Tai Chi Chuan or Taiji Quan).
A lack of uniformity between movement and Intention (Yi) can point
to a state in which the Intention predates bodily movement, or that
the body reacts before one has the Intention for it to do so.
When we practice one movement for a long time in succession, it
often happens that the bodily action comes ahead of ones intention
For example, among Xing Yi Quan practitioners, when they practice
one of the Wu Xing (Five Fists) for a long time in a row. It can
to aim and keep the intention pointing to the inside, then the
following movements would be intentionless.
When the ancients said The Real Power of the Dantian they were
utterly wrong. They were mistaken to think of Intention as a type of
power by itself. They were mistaken to think that the gathering of
intention and concentrating inwards is collecting power. They were
mistaken in that the thought that outwards concentration equals a
release of force. The lower abdomen which they called Dantian is
nothing but what I have referred to earlier as Fullness in the
Abdomen, Openness in the Chest (as something which manifests
downward pressure).
(Jonathan: I dont think Zhan Naiqi was trying to say that the Dantian
is useless. He probably meant to suggest that the Dantian is a
physical thing which could and ought to be explained with physical
actions and language rather than a metaphysical one).
The Importance of a Steady Posture, and the Vigor of
Muscles, Tendons and Bones
Important posture is very important. First, when standing, the limbs
should be in harmony with the principle of the fulcrum. The purpose
of uniform movement of the hands and feet in the Internal
Martial Arts is to find the correct fulcrum. When we release a
punch outwards with all our might, if the hand and foot are not sent
ther, the body loses balance because it loses the fulcrum.
In Nei Jia arts one should maintain the hand and leg joints slightly
bent. This way, springiness is maintained when the tendons and
muscles near the joints are flexed or extended. This helps assure
that an outwards pressure cannot break the joint. Additionally, a
state is created in which the tension in the muscles and tendons is
low, which enables one to produce more power. Attempting to use
any sort of force while the arm is fully extended can lead to the
breaking of the elbow joint. On the other hand, insisting to overly flex
the joint inhibits the initiation of forward-driven movements.