tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13961468.post5085540796593100092..comments2024-02-14T07:29:25.919-05:00Comments on Cook Ding's Kitchen: Internal Martial Arts ExplainedRick Matzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09699550034693340637noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13961468.post-83068651473551053762018-05-25T05:54:53.363-04:002018-05-25T05:54:53.363-04:00Nice post
Lloyd IrvinNice post<br /><a href="http://www.lloydirvin.com/" rel="nofollow">Lloyd Irvin</a>LLOYD IRVINhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17250813531099876498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13961468.post-25268275851993907762017-11-08T06:55:16.055-05:002017-11-08T06:55:16.055-05:00Thanks for visiting! Don’t be a stranger. Thanks for visiting! Don’t be a stranger. Rick Matzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09699550034693340637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13961468.post-84310262131776454532017-11-08T03:13:21.662-05:002017-11-08T03:13:21.662-05:00Thanks for this great blog, Very well & insigh...Thanks for this great blog, Very well & insightful. <a href="http://www.koakenpomartialarts.com/schedule.php" rel="nofollow">Karate School in San Antonio</a>Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16001118505811490454noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13961468.post-57473746808911823382015-11-25T03:04:15.173-05:002015-11-25T03:04:15.173-05:00I very much appreciate efforts to explain the inte...I very much appreciate efforts to explain the internal arts using modern insights (such as tensegrity or research on the elastic recoil properties of fascia) without abandoning traditional explanations and teachings. I believe in intuition, but I am all for speeding it up too, one of Wang Xiangzhai's precepts was to continuously evolve the training. I'll check out your book. I'm curious to see what else you bring to the discussion. After 8 years of Yi Quan, and finding a general lack of insight in modern anatomy to explain what I'm learning, I'm very curious what you may have found that helps explain if Zhan Zhuang taps into the bodies ability to 'create' new postures (structure), and how 'whole-body' structure creates a completely new playground for movement and transferring force around the body (and between bodies). I'm just starting to appreciate how schools as different as Tongbeiquan, Taijiquan, and Xingyiquan are different expressions, different ways of using different groups of muscles, within whole-body strength. Keep writingKThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06899964180473775303noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13961468.post-17997207302268304142015-10-23T09:19:11.072-04:002015-10-23T09:19:11.072-04:00Thank you for writing and sharing this. I appreci...Thank you for writing and sharing this. I appreciate your research, study, and analysis.<br /><br />From my own experience, I recognize how difficult it is to describe this type of practice (and phenomenon). I plan to purchase your book when I return to the USA and have a chance to read it.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11721898365772170350noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13961468.post-56102693566173830862015-08-15T06:35:40.498-04:002015-08-15T06:35:40.498-04:00This subect is drowning in people who 'know th...This subect is drowning in people who 'know the truth'. But don't. Unfortunately, this article is one of them, and not even close to real insight. No concept in Chinese has one meaning, philisophical concepts even less so. It's in the nature of the philosophy that the same concept has multiple levels of meaning, all of which are dependent on where an individual is at in their understanding. This in itself represents one of the complex and multi-faceted meanings of 'internal': i.e. that, as Wang Xiang Zhai said, you proceed via intuition. Intuitive exploration of wushu means that what we think of as 'styles' are just empty shells - they have no meaning without coming alive via interaction with a living being, whose level is dependent upon an iteraction between self, body, physical training and an intuitive understanding of the principles of wushu. Everything else is superficial. 'Internal' method means that you already know wushu - it's a feature of human beings because it's natural. You can't learn it - you can only unnfold it, through multiple means. Most of what is written in this artice is just another meaningless set of trivia that doesn't even come close to understanding the intuitive method. This is why almost everyone who calls themselves an internal stylist is hopeless as a martial artist, and so has to rely on hubris and fraud. <br /><br />But of course, everyone will say such about their own trivial interpretations... the only difference is that everyone already knows that what I've written here is true - everything else is just a negotiation of the ego, that wanted all the BS much much more than it wanted real knowledge of wushu. Which is why they all ended up as useless larpers. The real meaning was always the simplest idea, with the most profound implications. Obviously. Good luck with your best seller. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13961468.post-81844273911095262362015-08-15T05:43:03.818-04:002015-08-15T05:43:03.818-04:00
To conclude (continued from previous comment):
-...<br />To conclude (continued from previous comment):<br /><br />- Yi is nothing new.<br /><br />- The training of Yi is essential for the practice of the Internally-oriented martial arts.<br /><br />- Yi is sometimes called other names when taught, the name is not exclusive and neither are the method of training it.<br /><br />- Those who have not been taught how to train their Yi (as explained in the article) tend to dismiss this concept because they are not familiar with it.<br /><br />- In my teachings and those I have received in both Xing Yi Quan and Jook Lum Southern Mantis, without the training of Yi the art would be useless. This statement I have found true in the teachings of all highly regarded martial artists I have come across, among them teachers Chen Zhonghua, Yang Hai, Strider Clark, James Cama (RIP) and Neil Ripsky whom I have interviewed for my book. They all spoke of it (in their interviews, too), and from some of them I have received such teachings personally.Jonathan Bluesteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11761231105990576102noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13961468.post-27680352011681589922015-08-15T05:42:35.916-04:002015-08-15T05:42:35.916-04:00Thank you! :-)
_______________________________
...Thank you! :-)<br /><br />_______________________________<br /><br /><br />On a certain forum a silly person suggested that Yi is a 'modern fashion', and challenged me to find texts mentioning it as important, especially by Sun Lutang. Here is what I replied to him:<br /><br />Sure, a 'new' thing. So new it's in the name of Xin Yi Liu He Quan, Xing Yi Quan, Yi Quan, etc. Actually, usage of the term in the practice of martial arts goes back at least several hundred years (not just in these three arts), and in Daoist methods - possibly thousands of years.<br /><br />Why is it not explained in books? Exactly because it's the most important component. I have explained this in the article and the rest of my book. It is not that Yi is the only thing that makes 'Internal mechanics' work. Far from it. Countless others things elements operate simultaneously, and they are all explained in the book. However, without knowing the correct usage of Yi for each movement and practice, they will be no development of proper bodily structure as sought after in a given art.<br /><br />Here is one book in which Yi seems important:<br /><br />Study of Xing Yi Quan<br />形意拳學<br /><br />By that guy, you know... Sun Lutang :D Indeed, Yi is not that important... It's just the second character in the title of the book.<br /><br />That is making my point, by the way. This is what people do not understand. The art is called 'The First of Form (Xing) and Intention (Yi) exactly because Xing and Yi are its core component, inseparable from each other. Both beg equal care and emphasis. However, many do not understand Yi and how it is trained, which is partly the reason I have written the chapter about it in my book that is the article above.<br /><br />Historically, the creation of Yi Quan (Da Cheng Quan) by Wang Xiangzhai was partly a reaction of his to what he thought was people's misunderstanding of the training of Yi, and his disappointment that his Xing Yi students focused too much on the Xing. He considered the training of Yi to be the 'higher level' of practice, and therefore based its entire art on Yi training methods.<br /><br />Sun Lutang by the way was in at least some agreement with this. Here is an excerpt from his article 'Things I Was Told About the Marial Arts' (a part which is also referenced in the article):<br /><br />余曰: 拳劍之理。大别有三。其一。上下相連。手足相顧。內外如一。其二。不卽不離。不丢不頂。勿忘勿助。其三。拳無拳。意無意。無意之中。是真意也。<br /><br />I said: “The principles of boxing arts and sword arts roughly amount to three:<br />“1. Above and below coordinate with each other. Hands and feet look after each other. Inside and outside are as one.<br />“2. Neither reaching nor separating, neither coming away nor crashing in, neither under-involved nor over-involved.<br />“3. The boxing is without boxing. The intention is without intention. Within no intention is true intention.”<br /><br />The third point master Sun makes explains refers to the three levels of grasping a skill: First, learning it. Second, practicing it. Third, you and it becoming the same thing, so it happens without conscious thought or effort. This idea is also found in Buddhism, wherein it's discussed with various metaphors. Among them:<br /><br />- "...I saw mountains as mountains, and rivers as rivers. When I arrived at a more intimate knowledge, I came to the point where I saw that mountains are not mountains, and rivers are not rivers. But now that I have got its very substance I am at rest. For it's just that I see mountains once again as mountains, and rivers once again as rivers".<br /><br />- A man that comes into the world with the mind of a baby, becomes an adult, then exists with a mature mind that regains the essence of a newborn.<br /><br />Indeed, master Sun's friend recognizes that Sun's observation is found in Buddhism, and comments on his third point by saying: "Being without boxing and without intention – this is the ‘non-identity’ of the Buddhists".<br /><br />Continued in the next comment:Jonathan Bluesteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11761231105990576102noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13961468.post-24864666181954164162015-08-13T23:31:56.448-04:002015-08-13T23:31:56.448-04:00Sifu Bluestein, Good writing. Sifu Bluestein, Good writing. Compass Architecthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09981921036122725709noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13961468.post-23882634863122885432015-08-11T12:47:43.255-04:002015-08-11T12:47:43.255-04:00The blog format did not accommodate well for footn...The blog format did not accommodate well for footnotes, unfortunately. Here are some important footnotes which we were unfortunately unable to include within the article itself (these are the first free footnotes referred to in the article with the * symbols):<br /><br />* Guided-imagery and motor-imagery are in themselves valid methods which are commonly used in sports and rehabilitative medicine, and also by various martial artists when not actively training. They are, however, not the same as using the Yi. While using the thought to imagine physical actions can greatly influence the brain, and even create actual learning and improve one's skills to a degree, it remains in the realm of the mind, and doesn't dross over much into the rest of body – at least not to the same extent that training the Yi does.<br /><br /><br />** These sensors and receptors are (133, 148): The Golgi tendon organs, which respond to muscular contractions, the Pacini endings, which measure pressure changes and vibrations and provide proprioceptive feedback, the Ruffini endings, that inform the central nervous system of shear forces in soft tissues, and the Interstitial nerve-endings, that can report on all of these, and pain as well (also see142 for similar references).<br />It has been suggested in research (149) that the Golgi tendon organs are extremely sensitive to muscular contractions, which in turn cause them to trigger muscular relaxation. The Pacini receptors in the fascia are, as explained, important for our responsiveness and sense of Proprioception. I hypothesize, following those conclusions, that we can assume that part of the mechanism of for employing small and rapid muscular contractions in the practice of Zhan Zhuang, is for training these receptors to become more sensitive to pressures, and in turn increase sensitivity to the opponent. The order of action by which this mechanism might be applied in real life can be understood via the following examples: The opponent pushes against my limb >>> I begin to stiffen, but because my tendon-organs are sensitive, they enable me to relax the muscles without the onset of significant muscular contraction >>> This in turn enables me to be more flowing and responsive, instead of being stiff and becoming stuck in place. <br /><br /><br />*** Yu Yongnian have written (156, p.69) the following: "By maintaining the muscle at a specific length, by usage of an isometric exercise, the muscles will develop a fast twitch response. This means, first, that the nerves and muscles develop the memory to accelerate instantly to the contraction point of the isometric exercise, and secondly, the fast twitch muscle-fibers are conditioned to maximize the speed of the muscle-contraction". In other words – he argued, among other things, that the postures held with Zhan Zhuang practice teach the body how to accelerate itself very quickly into these posture when needed, through the process of the muscles becoming adapt at contracting at specific angles. This logic, in my opinion, can also be applied to the static postures held by Externalists.<br /><br /><br />The numbers within brackets () are in the book super-script references for the lengthy bibliography.<br />Jonathan Bluesteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11761231105990576102noreply@blogger.com