Chinese Internal Boxing. Robert W. Smith

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       Theories Behind the Art

      BREATHING AND BODY

      Correct breathing uses the diaphragm, a large muscle that stretches from the lumbar spine to the rib cage, separating the heart-lung area from the digestive organs. Abdominal breathing articulates the intercostal muscles and ribs and efficiently positions the shoulder blades and clavicles, thus assisting coordination of the upper torso and supporting the head and arms. All movements are coordinated with the breathing, achieving, as master Sung Shih-jung wrote, "full calmness, full regulation of breathing, and full coordination of the body." Initially, breathe naturally without thinking of inhalation and exhalation. Breathe only through your nostrils, filling your belly. Keep your tongue on the roof of your mouth, your lips relaxed. Later, pay attention to your inhalation, sinking the ch'i (intrinsic energy) to your tan-t'ien (the psychic center just below the navel). Specifically, when practicing the forms, you should exhale through the nostrils as you apply the movement, but simultaneously, sink a part of the breath down to the tan-t'ien. If you reach the top level of the art, you will not be conscious of breathing. As master Kuo Yun-shen wrote: "There is no sound, no smell, and everything is empty."

      Hsing-i enlivens your muscles by expansion and contraction, strengthens the ligaments and tendons, eases the circulation of both the blood and ch'i, and produces rapid, effortless movement. The muscles and sinews are made more elastic and lively while being strengthened in a process similar to that of the refining of raw iron into steel. Open your body: become familiar with the pull of gravity and with a precise, straight posture. Relax your shoulders: become aware of the position of the shoulder blades. Bend your legs: become aware of the way you hold the pelvis. Hold your neck straight: keep the head erect, as though it were being pulled up with a string, and look directly ahead. Relax your buttocks, holding the sacrum naturally straight.

      These training principles bearing on the muscles are important, but if you pay attention only to the external musculature, the blood and ch'i will not be able to circulate freely—and ch'i is the foundation of the art. It must be sunk to the tan-t'ien, whence it circulates throughout the body. The ancients said that the original ch'i (yuan ch'i)—"the power that keeps the sky blue and the earth calm and also makes for achievement in man"—must be maintained. Besides cultivating your ch'i, you must also rid yourself of bad habits and thoughts, calm your heart, and thus attain sincerity.

      Hsing-i gives good health and makes your body strong. Your internal organs are like the engine parts of a car, your muscles like its outer surface. Blood and ch'i are the fuel generating movement. If the engine parts are broken, the car will not run, even if it is full of gasoline and looks fine. Therefore, priority is given to the internal organs, which leads to a natural cultivation of ch'i, rather than to the outer muscles.

      Coming from stillness, the upright postures teach grounding by lowering the waist and pelvis, relaxing the buttocks, and bending the legs. The rhythm of the movements provides aerobic benefits, while the alternate training of moving and pausing assists the sense of timing and rooting. Natural coordination is "restored" through movements stressing opposite-hand-and-foot substantiality as well as synchronized same-hand-and-foot movements. Finally, because balance is lost when you place your weight 50-50 between your legs ("double weighting"), Hsing-i depends upon single-weighted, "one-legged" boxing that allows you to distinguish the empty (yin) and the full (yang) and that enhances freer movement.

      EXERCISE AND MEDITATION

      Like Pa-kua, Hsing-i derives from ancient Buddhist and especially Taoist meditation practices. The physiological and esoteric principles have been explicated by master Kuo Yun-shen, and what follows in this section is a summary of his teachings. Taoist meditation and internal boxing both have the goal of emptiness. But where meditation goes from inaction to action, boxing goes in the opposite direction, from action to inaction. From the Taoists, the Hsing-i masters borrowed the following concept of changes:

      To get visible energy, you must be centered and balanced. This energy transforms essence (actually connoting but meaning much more than just sexual energy) into ch'i, which changes the bones. When you stand and move, your bones become hard and your body becomes solid like a mountain. After rigorous practice for an extended period, your dispersed ch'i is concentrated at your navel and all parts of your body become coordinated.

      The next stage is concealed energy. Developing from the first stage, it is free, relaxed, and natural. It is not soft like snow, but elastic like grass. Here, ch'i is transformed into vital spirit and the sinews are energized.

      In the next and highest stage, that of mysterious energy, the bone marrow is washed and cleaned, relaxation is complete, and your internal organs are so purified that you become as light as a feather. The energy becomes so concentrated that its nature is restored to that of original emptiness. Your actions are the same, but your energy remains inside, controlled by the mind.

      But how does Hsing-i manifest itself in these three stages? Traditionally, it is described thus: in the visible stage, it is "like a steel chisel that thrusts out strongly and falls lightly like a piece of bamboo"; in the concealed stage, it "starts like an arrow and falls weightlessly, like the wind"; and in the highest stage, it "follows the wind and chases the moon." An outsider never sees it hit. Here, the mind is mindless; you do nothing and have done everything. In the emptiness you find your pre-birth energy, but if you search too hard it will elude you. It is better to think that you already possess such energy. This will influence your mind, the embodiment of all actions. Remember— Hsing-i is boxing with the mind.