Many a Little Makes a Mickle

一日練一日功，一日不練十日空

A day spoil for a day training, ten empty days for a day without training

藕斷絲連

The lotus root snaps but its fibres don't break

An old saying states that Taoists avoid violent exercises. This is often confused with intense exercises. Violence actually refers to something too harsh for one’s body and/or health.

Drastic Changes

杳之若日，偏如滕兔

Dark then like the sun, slant like a surging rabbit

杳 distant and out of sight, gloomy; dim; dusky, dark and quiet, disappear, remote and out of sight, obscure, dark, mysterious, deep.

之 "then" (之 knows multiple uses as a particle, in some cases with no particular meaning. Translating it by "then" is just to avoid not mentioning it), up to. 

若 as if, like if, assuming, similar.

日sun.

偏 slanting, leaning.

如 like, as if, such as.

滕 to surge, water bursting forth.

兔 rabbit.

This phrase is a typical example of a totally obscure text when one has not been given any clue to decipher such sentences. To understand what seems not only a total paradox but also two statements which do not seem to have any connection, one has to remember that change was the cornerstone of old practices. Indeed "Martial without change, a waste of the study of the Art"*. 

Ride Like the Wind

髮舌齒指

Hairs, tongue, teeth and fingers.

The “leisure for all ages” repurposing of ancient martial arts practices has brought to light a cornerstone of internal practices often overlooked before because, training teenagers, performance and endurance seemed quite similar. Still, if youth and a body growth which could be influenced towards heavy duties made teenager training look like searching for performance, the actual aim for internal schools was endurance and the rule was never to stretch one’s body over its limits, only to reach just below the breaking point.

A Gentle Hare

行礼文靜如處女，開拳一動如脫兔

As gentle and quiet as a virgin when one salutes, like a fleeing hare when opening the fists* as soon as one moves.

One shall never be seen as a threat outside fighting.

Overload

铁杵成针

To grind an iron bar down to a fine needle

集腋成裘

Many a little makes a mickle (many hairs make a fur coat)

The use of weights in old practices is often a misunderstood issue. Indeed, it is often considered as either good or bad. Old practices were all about method, which means most of the time neither a total inclusion, nor exclusion, of any exercise. It was a question of opportunity, so of when, how and why. The first question to be answered was why one would use weight in training, then would come the when was it opportune and how to train with them. Since training was primarily customised for children and teenagers, whose body would transform very quickly, the opportunity to use weights in training would come very fast. Hence, as far as teenagers were concerned, weights were almost from the beginning a part of their training. Unfortunately, going from children professionally trained to leisurely adult changes totally the equation. Therefore, it may be interesting to describe how adults shall face the weight issue.

Shape, Vapours and Spirit

布形候氣，與神俱往

Deploying the body and awaiting the arrival of vapours, entirely bound for the spirit

布 to spread, to deploy, to disseminate, to dispose, to arrange, cotton cloth

形 form, shape, body

候 to await, to attend, to wait upon, to inquire after, to serve (by extension, in 伺候)

氣 vapours

與 used to introduce 神 the recipient of the action, with, to follow, to assist

神 spirit

俱 all, entirely, without exception

往 in the direction of, towards, bound for, to go

From a basic understanding, such statement can be expanded or modified to decipher even more out of it.

Twists and Locks

無力優力

Without force is the better force

直而不直，曲而不曲

Straight but not straight, curved but not curved

三節九段，三弓九曲

The three parts and the nine sections, the three arches and the nine curves

Straightness with a body as lax as possible is just the first step of training. Indeed, as it has been described in the previous post, one has to change his/her body to make it supple enough to be able to work with fascia elasticity instead of muscle contraction. Once the body is transformed enough, one can go a step further and learn how to tense it. If intent and using the cross and the six directions principles has also been described before, the ultimate roundness through the locks is supposed to tense the body automatically. Still, one shall not put the cart before the horse, enough flexibility has to be achieved to be able to contemplate the locks trainings, otherwise not only it will not work, but it will also end up harming one's body. To achieve the locks, one has first to go from straightness to roundness, working on twist and the six directions. Then, when enough extra flexibility has been gained, locks will be about using it to tense up through particular angles.

Back to Square One

内外合一，形神兼备

Internal and external combine into one, having both shape and spirit

The body is the container, the spirit the content.

Suppleness is in the Details

二曰左偏臥，頭枕左足尖，左手搬左足跟，右換如之*

Second, on the left side, the head lying on the extremity of the left foot, the left hand pulling the left heel, then doing exactly the same on the right side

Most of the trainings to improve fascia elasticity were originally meant for teenagers, if not very young kids, quite violent and/or intense in order to take the advantage of their very flexible body and influence their growth. Since grown-ups and/or leisure practice cannot reach such intensity without surely harming the body, the issue is how to adapt old trainings and one's objectives in order to still be able to improve elasticity and connectivity.