Not as such. We don't really talk about or foccus on chi development actively, we just tend to do some things that improve relaxed power and flow. This suits me fine. Hope things go well yohan.
Re "Is Chi Kung integral to the practice of CMA?" Yohan: I can't speak for CMA in general but Qigong (Chi Kung) is essential to Wuzuquan training. Of course you can gain some benefit without practising Qigong but you will not even reach Assistant Instructor level without it. By that I don't mean you have to be able to demonstrate the exercises themselves, but the results of the exercises have to be demonstrable. On my website, someone asked: "What is Qi?". I answered as follows: Many people make Qi out to be something esoteric. This is either because they don't understand it or because they want to appear more knowledgable and mystical themselves. Some instructors will tell you that in order to execute a certain technique, you need to "use Qi" otherwise the technique won't work. People who say that are just trying to make something simple sound mysterious. All fighting techniques work simply because of the mechanics of the movement! However, some instructors might put their own skill down to "using Qi" and the student's lack of skill down to not being able to "use Qi" . That's absolute nonsense! Even the most inexperienced student uses Qi. Wiggle your toes... you are using Qi. Breath in and out... you are using Qi. Scratch your head... you are using Qi. Qi is very simply the energy your body has that enables it to function. That's it. If an instructor tells you he is using Qi to execute a particular technique, say "So am I!" as you wave him goodbye. In answer to the question "What is Qigong?", I said: Qi is the body's energy. Gong means "achievement" or "good result". Thus, the term Qigong is used in Chinese to denote exercises designed to increase the body's energy. There is nothing mysterious about such exercises. They work simply by training the student to breath deeply from the abdomen (as a small child does), thereby increasing the amount of oxygen in the blood. This in turn results in increased energy, as oxygen is the catalyst the body uses to release energy. Qigong exercises also make the body more flexible and strengthen it by emphasising development of the torso's support structures. Anyone can benefit from Qigong but it is particularly good for those who cannot participate in brisk activity. Some people speak of Qi as a mysterious energy field, mastery of which enables you to make your light-saber fly into your hand; of course it is reasonable to assume such a thing does not exist. However, if you think of Qi simply as your body's energy, and Qigong as Chinese exercises designed to increase your body's energy and your ability to generate energy and power, then it becomes clearer to the Western mind-set. Bear in mind, that Chinese is a language very different to English. Moreover, the Chinese way of thinking is different. It is understandable, therefore, that many concepts do not translate well and are misunderstood. My own take on Qigong is that it is a form of "core conditioning" designed to stimulate and exercise (in particular) the transverse abdominis, in conjunction with the diaphragm, the pelvic floor and the internal and external oblique muscles. This is done while breathing deeply to increase oxygenation. The abdominal movements also massage and stimulate the abdominal organs, making them healthier and thus stronger. All of this is usually done in some stance or other, or moving through a series of stances, and while maintaining correct posture, thus stimulating and exercising the body's support structures. Other Qigong (or strictly speaking Jingong) exercises are designed to exercise the tendons. Similar effects are achieved by practising Yoga, Pilates or a training programme prescribed by a CHEK practitioner. The main difference is that in Wuzuquan, such exercises are also geared toward making your shots more powerful and your body more able to take shots. I guess some people might think that strengthening the body's support structures while learning to oxygenate your tissues better and exercising your tendons is a waste of time. However, in Wuzuquan, these things are considered essential. Unfortunately, many CMA "instructors" have realised that you can talk about Qi in a mysterious way, teach some weird-looking movements and people will pay you for it. But it's easy to talk about Qi and write books about it. Nobody ever developed Qigong by reading about it or talking about it. Even more unfortunately, many Chinese people wander the theatres of the world, whacking themselves on the head with bricks, lying on top of broken glass, pressing (blunt) spear-heads against their throat and performing other such circus tricks. They claim such things are demonstrations of Qi but they are nothing more than demonstrations of physical fitness and an understanding of mechanics. One time my teacher was massaging my shoulder. He then pressed the palm of his hand against the injured muscle. One second his hand felt normal, literally the next second it felt hot. Hot like a hot cup of coffee pressed against my skin. The heat was so impressive I asked if he was using a chemical pocket warmer. He replied that he was using his hand. I glanced down and saw that he was indeed! Now that is Qigong! There is nothing mysterious about what he did. Heat in the hand is caused by an increase in the flow of warm blood. How he made the blood warmer and was able to direct that warmth to his hand, I don't know. But if he were studied, there would be an explanation in scientific terms. There is nothing esoteric about it. This message is directed specifically at Yohan. I'm unlikely to reply to any subsequent messages as that's all I have to say on the subject. To all: regardless of your opinion on this topic, do what you do and do it well. Kind regards, Declan
Yeah. I liked it too. I think it can be agreed that "Chi" is something that "works", and having read Bil Gee's discriptions on how he does Sui Lim Tao (unless I've gotten you mixed up with someone else), I reckon he's doing the same thing only using "western" terminology to describe it rather than thinking of it in the eastern sense.
Nice post. Given what you've written about the purposes of qigong, and that the standard translation of qi is breath (with connotations of vitality etc.) wouldn't it make more sense to translate it as breath and not energy? As I feel obliged to make sure everyone gets their science right, oxygen is not used as catalyst in the release of energy by the body as it is consumed and not regenerated by the chemical reactions, which is why, you have to keep breathing. I think the technical word would be reagent, but this is just me splitting hairs.
I really like Declan's post and agree with much of it, but I still think there's a little more to it than his interpretation. When your Sifu's hand gets hot, that is because the blood flow there has increased, but qigong is more than a method of increasing blood flow and oxygenation. As I said before, the qi seems to interrelate with the breathing, nervous system and blood without actually being any one of those things. Ironically though, it is basically impossible to do anything to someone else, be it hurting or healing "with your qi."--the qi moves the blood and the blood makes your hand hot, or the qi makes your muscles move and the muscles move your body to punch. Qi seems to do nothing on its own while powering everything in the background. I don't think you should necessarily reject a technique that is said to be done "with qi." Although it's technically true that you do use the qi to some extent to make any movement, there is a major difference in degrees. For example, to do dian-xue/duan-mai (pressure point-attacks/sealing the vein) you have to have your body completely relaxed and the qi arteries open and then use a burst of qi from the dantian sent to the fingers. This burst of qi causes the muscles of the hand and fingers to make a jerking/shocking motion involuntarily that you would be unable to mimic without using qi. Therefore, I would say that this kind of technique "uses qi." It is true that a lot of the "jin-gong" or opening of the arteries do feel somewhat like tendons in that they feel sort of like they're being stretched like you'd stretch a muscle when I exercise them, but why does it feel as if something is flowing along them? I suppose it could be the combination of the blood flowing closely along the same lines as the tendons. However, this would be in keeping with the traditional concept that you can't actually feel qi itself, only its effects. Perhaps when I feel "qi" flowing to my fingertips I'm actually feeling an increase in oxygenated blood flow? I honestly don't know, but then again, I honestly don't fully understand what qi is. I think Declan's description is A LOT of it, one of the best I've ever seen, in fact. But I don't think it is its entirety. If it were only the body's vital energy (and what exactly is "vital energy," anyway: is it oxygen, is it mitochondrial processes?...) then why can you take it in through the hands and feet? There certainly wouldn't seem to be any way for these places to "breath" according to western science, and yet there is an undeniable sensation that energy can be taken in from those points and brought to the dantian. Also, why does the dantian exist as the largest energy center in the body? It certainly doesn't appear to be an especially major confluence of tendons, blood vessels or nerves? You certainly shouldn't be able to use it as a storehouse for oxygenated blood according to western science. Its most salient feature seems to be that it is where the umbilical cord was connected, but that fact would seem irrelevant from the perspective of just muscles, tendons, blood vessels and nerves. And yet it synches up perfectly with the qigong concept of "returning to childhood." I'm not so hung up on the idea of qi as something inexplicable to western science that I would reject the idea of it actually being a metaphor for a combination of biological elements out of hand, and yet there are certain aspects of it like I described above that seem still to defy explanation in the western paradigm. I still feel like qi is something that exists outside the body that can be taken in and released. Our body depends on it to power its functions and yet it does nothing on its own.... In other words its still kind of a mystery. Note, I'm not saying that it's mystical/magical or that science will never fully understand it, I'm just saying I don't think the biological explanation offered by Declan explains the entirety of the qi concept. You could probably base your qigong practice on Declan's description and get most, if not all the benefits anyone gets out of it, and yet I hope the scientific world will continue to investigate qi as a stand-alone concept further, because I still feel like there is more to it.
Ill repeat myself. Western science describes internal energy, its called the study of thermodynamics. Or by the first principle: DU=DQ-DW. If you are not producing work, which is in the case of: "One time my teacher was massaging my shoulder. He then pressed the palm of his hand against the injured muscle. One second his hand felt normal, literally the next second it felt hot. Hot like a hot cup of coffee pressed against my skin. The heat was so impressive I asked if he was using a chemical pocket warmer. He replied that he was using his hand. I glanced down and saw that he was indeed! Now that is Qigong! There is nothing mysterious about what he did. Heat in the hand is caused by an increase in the flow of warm blood. How he made the blood warmer and was able to direct that warmth to his hand, I don't know. But if he were studied, there would be an explanation in scientific terms. There is nothing esoteric about it." What is work, its F*dx where in this case dx=0, therefore the work is null, and therefore internal energy is completely translated into heat. The increase of internal energy is by some biological process that I am not too familiar with as i do not specialize in human anatomy but is probably again quantified and explained. I should also add that i find the applications of thermodynamics pretty limited compared to the knowledge of mechanics when it comes to martial art. Understanding how to generate heat is all nice and dandy, but pretty useless in martial result.
That depends how you look at it! Our sifu encourages us to do chi kung before we practise, especially in the winter, in order to warm our bodies internally as well as warming our muscles, in order to reduce the risk of injury. I've always understood that the 'chi' in 'chi kung' is chi in the sense of 'breath' rather than 'energy'. So all the discussion of whether chi (as in energy) really exists or not is not really relevant to the original topic of the thread. (But of course everyone loves the old "does chi really exist" argument, don't we? )
Except in healing oneself or one's students when injured as a result of training or combat. Of course, the ability to produce heat is only one benefit of Qigong. Some other benefits are: improved posture (good posture means good balance) improved stance and core-stability (a more stable body inflicts greater damage when striking than an unstable one), stronger organs (which, in combination with core-stability makes it easier to take shots) relaxed muscles (which enable more fluid movement and more powerful strikes - try punching while tensing as much as possible and see how powerful you are) greater oxygenation of tissues (increases stamina) These benefits all have martial application. Of course another approach would be to find someone who can heat their hand at will and let them hit you. Article on posture Article on core stability Regards, Declan
