Friday 31 March 2017

In And Out


食氣者必謂吹呴呼吸,吐故納新也*
Who nourishes himself/herself from vapours has to be called the blowing and yawning breathing, spitting out the stale and receiving the fresh.

其息深深。真人之息以踵,眾人之息以喉**
Their breathing came deep and silently. The breathing of the true man comes from his heels, while men generally breathe from their throats. 

得胎息者,能不以鼻口噓吸***
Who obtains the fetal breathing can, without his/her nose or mouth, slowly breathe out and in.




Inhaling and exhaling, it is also a question of order. Internal breathing tends to reverse it, as the Chinese word for breathing, 呼吸, literally means exhaling and inhaling.

Saturday 18 March 2017

Antidotes


陰陽接而變化起
The Feminine and Masculine joins, initiating changes*

是故誌意隨天地,緩急仿陰陽**
It is keeping intentionally in mind that intention shall follow Heaven and Earth, in priority imitating the Feminine and the Masculine 

所以必因射助陽選士者,所以扶助微弱而抑其強,和調陰陽,戒不虞也***
Then certainly because the best and brightest shoot to reinforce the Masculine, then helping the feeble while containing its strength, harmonising the Feminine and the Masculine, thus preventing the unexpected.




Any exercice, even if done perfectly, an anyway impossible feat, will still bear some armful effects on one's body, spirit...

Saturday 11 March 2017

炁, Taoist Propaganda


董仲君者,臨淮人也。服炁煉形,二百余歲不老。
Mr. Dong Zhong, someone from the Huai river surroundings. Taking vapours and refining his body, still young when more than two hundred years old.*




炁 is a synonym of 氣(气) sometimes used by taoists and Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Friday 10 March 2017

Back to the Centre


磨轉千遭臍不動
The millstone turns a thousand times, its pivot remains still

練藝不練腰終究藝不高
Training the art without training the waist, in the end it's a waste*

三盤一軸
One axle for three plates




The waist moves first.

Monday 6 March 2017

Style


把勢、把勢,全憑架式。没有架式,不算把勢
Martial arts, martial arts, it is all a question of posture. No posture, no real training.





把勢 is an old way to say training martial arts.