The
Essence of Taijiquan
Part
2:
Perspective from Taiji Qigong
2007-12-R8
(Copyrighted 2007
by Don M. Tow)
In the August 2007 release of this
website, I wrote the first part of a two-part series on “The Essence of
Taijiquan.”
That Part 1 article described the “Perspective
from Taiji Push Hands.”
Part 2 in this release describes the
“Perspective from Taiji Qigong.”
This
article will briefly address the following three questions:
This discussion is based on material from several books:
What is Qi?
I don’t think that there is yet a definitive
scientific answer to this question.
However, just because we may not yet have a
detailed scientific definition of Qi that is universally accepted by
scientists, it doesn’t necessarily mean that Qi doesn’t exist.
As a matter of fact, to the many people in this
world who practice Qigong on a regular basis, Qi is as real to them as their
breath, their heartbeat, their conscious mind.
They can feel the Qi in their body.
They can guide the Qi to circulate to different
parts of their body.
They can feel sensations in their body, e.g.,
tingling sensations in their fingers, when they are practicing Qigong.
Qi is often defined as an energy,
some sort of bioelectrical energy, that exists inside the human body,
although many qigong experts may consider that kind of definition to be too
simplistic.
Furthermore, the effects of Qi is not limited
to just inside the body; it can be felt outside of the human body.
For example, the strength of the
electromagnetic field around the hands of an expert Qigong practitioner
could be substantially larger than that of an average person.
To some extent, all people have Qi in their
body, but the amount may be small, not noticeable, and stagnant.
Through appropriate practice, one can increase
the amount of Qi in their body and increase the circulation of Qi within
their body.
It is important to increase the Qi in the body,
because Qi is considered to be the essence or vital force of life.
However, Qi must also be balanced in the body.
There should not be an excessive amount of Qi
in one part of the body, while at the same time there is a deficiency of Qi
in another part of the body.
That is why the ability to circulate Qi is so
important; it is the mechanism that can keep a proper Yin-Yang balance of Qi.
In modern physiological terminology, balancing
the Qi is equivalent to attaining homeostasis.
Liang and Wu in the third reference refers the
term “gong” to the power to produce an effect, an attainment of, or an
accomplishment that is achieved with steady practice.
The term “Qigong” then can be defined as the
practice that increases the Qi and its circulation within the body.
Before discussing the relationship
of Qigong and Taiji, I first digress to discuss some basic concepts in
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), because Qi and especially the imbalance
of Qi is so intrinsic to TCM.
TCM believes that the development of illness is
due to the upsetting of the natural balance (or Yin and Yang) of Qi inside
the human body from pathogenic influences, such as germs.
To treat any illness, one needs to eliminate
the pathogenic influences.
Both increasing the Qi in the body and
balancing the Qi in the body will help to fight against the pathogenic
influences.
The Qi imbalance may be occurring in
non-adjacent parts of the body.
TCM stresses that to heal, one should look for
the cause of the illness, and one should not treat only the head if the head
hurts, or treat only the foot if the foot hurts.
A natural question one may ask is
“doesn’t continuously increasing Qi in the body lead to any harmful effects
to the body?”
The answer is no, as long as the Qi is
increased in a balanced way.
The body can react to the increase in Qi and
build itself up so that it can accept the new increase in Qi.
An analogy may help to understand this issue.
Through exercising with weights, a person can
build up his muscles.
If the exercises are done properly, the
person’s strength in various parts of his body is also increased, thus
allowing him to accommodate the increase in weight due to the new muscle
mass.
As long as he is not increasing his body mass in a
major way in only one part of his body, the exercising not only has no
harmful effects, but actually makes him healthier.
Similarly, increasing the body’s Qi in a
balanced way through Qigong exercises results in a healthier body without
any harmful effects.
What is the relationship between
Qigong and Taiji?
Many of the concepts that are important for
Qigong are also important for Taiji.
For example, many Qigong exercises are done
very slowly while undergoing slow and deep breathing, which is also the case
for doing Taiji.
The slow movement also allows the body to be in
a relaxed state, again also the case for Taiji.
In Qigong exercises, the mind is supposed to be
freed of scattered thoughts, and the mind should focus on the activities at
hand, e.g., the body movements and the breathing.
As a matter of fact, the mind is supposed to
lead (or regulate) both the body movements and breathing, again exactly the
case for Taiji.
It is important to point out that in both
Qigong and Taiji, in an advanced stage, the regulation of the body movements
and breathing should become automatic, and the mind is no longer required to
do the regulation.
Because of the many similarities between Qigong
and Taiji, many of the exercises for Qigong and Taiji are similar.
As a matter of fact, Taiji Qigong is one of the
most popular types of Qigong, although there are many other types of Qigong.
Qigong plays a key role in Taiji’s
two main objectives:
To improve health and for self defense as a
martial art.
We have already explained that the ability to
increase Qi and to circulate Qi is key to good health.
How does Qigong help Taiji to achieve its
second objective as a good martial art?
Basically, Qigong can increase the martial
artist’s striking power and to train the martial artist’s body to better
resist punches and kicks.
The theory behind increasing striking power is
actually very simple.
Dr. Yang in the first reference wrote “the
average person generally uses his muscles at under 40% maximum efficiency.”
The martial artist can use the mind to lead the
Qi to the muscles to energize them to a higher level, thus increasing the
martial artist’s fighting effectiveness.
Similarly, leading Qi to the skin and muscles
can enable them to better resist a blow without injury.
This is clearly demonstrated in those martial
arts exhibitions when a martial artist can resist a pointed spear pointed to
a spot below his throat (the esophagus area).
As a matter of fact, the martial artist not
only can avoid the puncture of that area of the body, but can actually bend
the spear.
Associated with acupuncture, we know
that the body has many vital acupuncture cavities.
An acupuncturist uses needles inserted into
these acupuncture cavities to remove Qi blockages or regulate the flow of Qi.
Conversely, a martial artist can exert pointed
pressure on these acupuncture cavities to disturb the enemy’s Qi flow and
create Qi imbalances that can cause injury or even death.
However, this requires very sophisticated
techniques involving understanding the route and timing of the Qi
circulation in the human body and the ability to strike the cavities
accurately and to the correct depth.
At an advanced level, almost all
Chinese martial arts involve Qigong training.
Chinese martial arts are loosely classified
into two different general categories:
External martial arts such as Shaolinquan, and
internal martial arts such as Taijiquan.
Sometimes people think that only internal
martial arts involve Qigong training, which is not true.
Both types involve Qigong training, although
there is a difference in emphasis.
External martial arts focus on building Qi
directly in the limbs and then move the Qi from the limbs to the body.
Internal martial arts focus on building Qi in
the body (where the vital organs are) and then lead the Qi from the body to
the limbs.
In TCM, the human body has 12 major Qi channels
(like rivers) through which the Qi circulates, and has eight vessels (like
reservoirs) which store the Qi and also regulate the distribution and
circulation of Qi in the body.
External martial arts focus on the Qi channels,
and internal martial arts focus on the Qi vessels.
I now briefly discuss some general
principles and steps in doing Taiji Qigong exercises.
This article does not discuss specific Qigong
exercises.
If interested in that topic, the reader can
consult any of the four references.
The first step is to regulate your body.
Your body should be completely relaxed.
If you feel certain tension in a particular
part of your body, then focus on and relax that body part.
Your body should be centered and well
supported.
You should not be leaning forward or backward,
or to one side or another, so that the weight of your body is firmly
supported by your legs.
Keeping the upper body straight also allows the
Qi to flow more easily between the upper part and lower part of the body.
That is why in Taiji, we always emphasize that
your upper body should be straight, as though there is a string attached to
the top of your head and tied straight up to the ceiling.
Since the power of any strike originates from
the feet (although may be controlled by the waist and manifested in the
hands), a body centered also means that the feet (either both or at least
one) are firmly rooted on the ground, thus allowing you to generate more
power.
The next step is to regulate your
breathing, using abdominal breathing instead of the usual breathing method
of using your chest muscles to expand and contract your lungs.
Abdominal breathing uses your abdomen and
diaphragm muscles to help expand and contract your lungs, and is crucial to
Qi circulation.
Depending on what you are trying to accomplish,
you may use Normal Abdominal Breathing or Reverse Abdominal Breathing.
For more description of the different types of
breathing in Taiji, see my article “Breathing and Taijiquan” in the
"Archived-Taiji" page.
The next step is to regulate your
mind, i.e., use your mind to lead your body movements and your breathing.
You need to be consciously knowing what and why
you are doing.
As previously mentioned, when you get to an
advanced level, the regulation of your body and breathing becomes automatic,
and you no longer need to use your mind to do that regulation.
The next step is to regulate your Qi,
again with the mind leading the regulation.
You want to circulate the Qi to different parts
of your body, including to the skin, to the bone marrow (where blood cells
are formed), and especially to your brain.
If you have certain discomforts in a particular
part of your body, then you especially want to circulate the Qi to that part
of your body.
There are other more advanced steps to Qigong, but that
kind of discussion is beyond the scope of this introductory article.
I like to end this article with a
personal observation.
I find it very difficult to understand large
portions of every book that I have read on Qigong.
This is of course due partially to my lack of
expertise in Qigong.
But I think it is deeper than that.
It seems to me that in trying to explain
Qigong, modern writers still often have a tendency to use terminologies and
descriptions exactly as they were written or explained hundreds and
sometimes even thousands of years ago.
I understand that there are a lot of wisdom and
truths from the old sages.
They were the ones who invented and developed
these skills, and we have a great deal to learn from what they wrote or
said.
However, I often feel that I am in a situation as
though someone is trying to explain chemistry to me using pre-Periodic Table
terminologies and descriptions, or explain astrophysics to me using
pre-Copernicus/Newton terminologies and descriptions.
If anyone knows of any Qigong books that do not
have this problem, I would appreciate knowing about it.
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