Sticky and Nimble Hands

手為先鋒*

Hands are the vanguard

手以心把, 心以手把**

Hands are held by the heart, the heart by the hand.

One trains the grip, not the fist.

Light And Athletic Foot

手腳眼為根

Hands, feet and eyes for roots

足膝效法乎坤，取其鎮靜厚載*

Feet and knees model themselves on The Feminine, fetching its unruffled largeness which supports and contains.

腳為四肢百骸之舟楫，一身之領袖，稍有不合，全體之氣俱不入矣，不可不細為區別**

Feet are the oars of all the limbs and bones, what leads the body, just a little bit uncomfortable, none of the whole body vapours can enter! They cannot not be meticulously diacritical

With 26 bones, 33 joints and more than a hundred muscles, tendons and ligaments, the foot is a complex machine often overlooked in training.

One Centre, Six Extremities

勁從足下起，還得丹田足

The strength raises from the feet on the prerequisite the cinnabar field is full

掌心力從足心印

The force from the centre of the palms comes from the mark in the centre of the feet

One can only be as relax as his/her hands and feet are lax and as nimble as the waist is lest. 

Changes

玲瓏變化佈周身

Exquisite, ingenious and delicate changes dispose the whole body

拳有勢者，所以為變化也。横斜側面，起立走伏，皆有墙戶，可以攻，故謂之勢。拳有定勢，而用時無定勢。然當其用也，變無定勢，而實不失勢，故謂之把勢*

Fists have a posture, which implies changes.Transversal, oblique, sideways or frontal, getting up, standing, moving or lying prostrate, everything has walls and doors, attack being then possible, therefore we talk about posture. Fists have fixed postures, but when boxing there is no fixed posture. So that it undertakes its own usefulness, changes knowing no determined posture and yet one actually not losing posture, which is the way to be skilful in the art.

A few further posts will try to stick more to the old methods, giving only leads.

Starting with one dealing with changes in one's practice seems, then, appropriate.

Breathless

呼吸往來，不及法禁*

Exhaling and inhaling comes and goes, never reaching what the method prohibits

At first your breathing will be rough. When it gradually calms down, your ch'i will become lively and should feel as though it fills Heaven and Earth. This is not a matter of holding your breath or straining your ch'i. In this case, your ch'i fills you internally and becomes active.**

當明內外呼吸之歸***

When understanding where internal and external breathing converge

Breathing is a complex matter which has been briefly described in Breathing, Complex and Evolving. Being one of the main obvious activities our body has, it is naturally ultimately the main tool used in practice, whether external, the body, or internal, the organs. Of all the different ways to train one's body, in the end, it just becomes a question of a correct breathing. Indeed breathing directs everything, from body relaxation and stretching to organs pressure, from body angles to vapours flow, from body stillness to mind awareness, from movements to emptiness of one's mind. Therefore fascias and vapours are linked through breathing, they naturally expand and retract following one's breath. Whether external (pulmonary) or internal, it may be interesting to describe a few ways breathing is used in order to decipher the method it relies on. 

The Rice Strikes Back

五臟實為生性之源，生氣之本*

The five organs are really the source of the production of essence, the basis of the production of vapours

布形候氣**

Deploying the body awaiting for vapours

行氣，深則蓄，蓄則伸***

Vapours behaviour, deep then accumulating, accumulating then stretching

Even if the original character for Qi was just a simple description of cloud vapours and did not contain any reference to rice, as explained in "气 Where is my Bowl of Rice?", one cannot also totally dismiss the presence of rice, or grain, in such notion. Indeed, languages are a living thing, meanings and understanding changes during the course of time, and the complex version of Qi, "氣", has been used for a time long enough to alter, willingly or not, the original meaning of what was just a simple way to describe the feminine and masculine principles interaction, more known as the Yin and the Yang. Futhermore, if the complex version was not a pictogram, it was still an ideogram made of two very recognisable compounds, grain (or rice) and vapours. Hence, for who opened the lid of a pot of just cooked rice, or grain, and saw the vapours coming out of it, the link between the character and vapours coming from just cooked grain or rice can seem quite obvious. A lot of texts describing the notions behind the concept of Qi were originally written with its complex version, meaning the understanding was also coming from an analysis including the rice/grain element.

Back to the Fascias II, Using Fascia Elasticity

筋道不舒長，欲伸而筋不能伸*

When the fascia channels are constrained and short, one cannot stretch at will

發如美人之採花，收如文士之藏筆**

Sending out like a beautiful lady picks up flowers, gathering like a scholar collecting his brush

Fascias by essence being passive tissues, the main issue is, of course, how to make them participate as much as possible in motion and power generation. Stretching and particular body angles are the main way some old practices used to have the student understand how to generate power using fascia elasticity as it has been described in the section Fascia Elasticity. Still, to further understand how this works, it may be interesting to use an old martial art method, studying animals.

Being passive structures transmitting mechanical tensions, one cannot use fascias directly but only through muscles, body angles and sometimes gravity or any other outside force. If in the posts The Bow, Cornerstone of Elasticity and The Cross and the Six Directions, the principles behind the angle issue has been described in details, the muscle issue can be further explored. The first issue resides in the kind of muscles one is looking for to enhance the use of facia elasticity, mainly the difference between tender and hard muscles. Furthermore, building from the example of the hanging gibbon against working on a chin bar, one can also explore the difference in motion between the use of muscle contraction and fascia elasticity.

Back to the Fascias I, New but Old

然而練筋易而練膜难*

However, it is easy to train the tendons but harder to train the membranes

筋有十二經絡**

The fascias are twelve net channels

足太陽之筋***

Fascias of the Foot Great Masculine

Internal practices centre themselves around three notions: fascias, vitality and breathing. If fascias seem to deal with the body power, the external force, vitality with its internal aspect and breathing with rhythm, they are actually intertwined. Indeed, the work on fascias improves one's organs, hence one's vitality, and regulates one's breathing. Vitality, through swifter moves, improves fascias resistance and stronger organs allow a deeper and uninterrupted breathing. Breathing, through relaxation, improves fascias stretching and saves vitality by keeping the emotions under check. One could say the bones, our frame, should be also mentioned as a very important issue. Still, they are a byproduct of vitality through the kidneys and thus included in this one. Since training is often about repetition, it seems opportune to revisit those three concepts from time to time.

The concept of fascias, or connective tissues, which seems to have appeared around the 19th century in modern medicine and became more and more known recently**** is a notion very close, if not alike, to what one of the best known book of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic, describes as 經筋, the fascia channels (a modern fascia line compared to an old Chinese fascia channel). Still, 筋, which is often taken in its meaning "tendons" for a lot of martists, is and has not been the only term used to describe connective tissues. Therefore, it seems necessary to first deal with the terms covering the concept of fascias in Chinese.

Fast and Furious

故身雖疾而心自暇*

Therefore the heart remains naturally leisurely even though the body is swift

故以神為主，形而從利。以形為主，神而從害**

Therefore when the spirit takes control, the body follows for its own good. When the body takes control, the spirit follows for its own harm

電挈昆吾晃太陽***

To wield with lightning speed, Kunwu swings the Great Yang

There is a urban legend about some Japanese soldiers during World War II able while charging to withstand the shots fired at them until they reached their opponents and killed them. Only then would they die. If the Boxers' Uprising taught us to be extremely cautious with tales of seemingly extraordinary feasts performed by Asian martial arts against modern weaponry, this legend remains interesting because it tells about an achievement sought while training fast and in frenzy, "getting out of one's body".

All Along the Watchtower

故氣雖結而神自揚*

Therefore the mind naturally expands itself even though the vapours bind themselves

百拳之法，以眼為網**

All the boxing methods have the eyes as a key link

Moving extremely slow, taking half an hour to execute just one move, was made to further train one's heart capacity to endure by having one's mind even more awake. This is actually the essence of the peeping thief technique.

Taking One's Time

故形氣盛而能縱橫，精神斂而能飛騰*

Therefore one finds great ease when his/her vapours flourishes, may soar when he/she has collected vitality

鬆則活變**

From relaxation comes lively changes

且夫乘物以遊心，託不得已以養中，至矣***

Further still, let your mind find its enjoyment in the circumstances of your position, nourish the central course which you pursue, by a reference to your unavoidable obligations. 

Once one's form and heart were fixed through stillness, moving could be contemplated, normal speed being the first step since it allowed the student to remain relaxed. Deep and uninterrupted relaxation being one of the most important principles in internal practices, adding any kind of pressure had to be done with method and in a progressive way. Therefore, learning motion by beginning at a normal and relaxed pace was the preferred method for internal practices. Normal speed was not only a way to going beyond just memory but also to learn how to use one's vitality.

Still, Keeping at Bay

神寧氣靜

A mind at ease and calm vapours

神非其所宜而行之，則昧*

If one's spirit does not operate properly, it looses its clarity

Following the feminine and masculine principles theory**, the body (the external), and the mind (the internal), should compensate each other, meaning if one is fast, the other should be slow. If this seems quite easy, it gets complex if the concept of vitality and its materialisation (vapours) and the issue of the organs are added.

The Sleeper Must Awaken

心平氣和

A stable heart for harmonised vapours

擊敵有用形，用氣，用神之遲速*
The speeds of one's body, vapours and spirit, all have to be considered when fighting an opponent 

故每一勢之操縱手法，心先，命門為次，頭又次之，手足之次而又次之**

Therefore, when executing each posture technique(s), the heart comes first, the Life Gate (Mingmen) second, then, after, the head, hands and feet being even more ancillary

If one's body speed issues seem complex, the internal part, organs, vitality, mind and their relation to the body is even more challenging in internal arts. Before explaining the impact of the different training speeds on the internal side, it may be useful to first explain, or recall, how the mind and the vitality can influence speed. Indeed, speed is not only a question of going fast in martial arts, it is also a question of having swift reactions. Hence, mind, through its clarity, improves one's reflexes while vitality makes someone more reactive.

Shake Your Body

快而不亂，慢而不斷

Fast but not messy, slow but with no break

快則適時，慢在得位*

Quick then timely, slow for gaining position

凡一身之進退動靜，一心為主**

Forwards and backwards, movement or stillness of one's body are all decided by the heart

Speed is a more complex notion in training, and more especially when the organs, the vapours and the mind are combined with body motion. Hence, the opposition between what you do while fighting (the faster the better) and training does not apply for speed. Indeed, while training, normal, fast and slow speed are all applied, each having their own purpose, the skills obtained through each type of speed being all useful while fighting. 

Don't Come Empty Handed

技巧者，習手足，便器械，積機關，以立攻守之勝者也。*

To become skilled, one shall study hands and feet, which is useful for weapons, accumulating gears, to establish victory in attack as well as in defence.

刀隨身轉，身隨刀行

The single-edged sword shifts following the body, the body moves following the single-edged sword

身不離槍，槍不離身，槍隨身走，身隨槍動

The spear does not leave the body, the body does not leave the spear, the spear goes following the body, the body moves following the spear

槍紥一條線，棍掃一大片

The spear pierces a line, the staff sweeps a wide expanse

In most of the old schools in China, empty handed and with weapons are both trained. If training weapons seems totally logic, It can be useful to dispel the confusion surrounding the notion of empty hands. In the old days, a martist could sleep naked, but certainly not without his/her weapon. Warfare and combat was, in the old world as it is now, mainly a question of weaponry. The weapons have changed with technology, but they always have been a part of human conflicts.

Light Heavyweight

無力優力

No force is the better force

重裏觀輕勿梢留*

Watching lightness inside heaviness, leaving no extremities

練重不如練輕

Training heavy cannot match training light

Weights used to be a very important part of martial trainings, it was, after all, already part of the military exams during the reign of the first Chinese female emperor, Wu Zetian (AD 624–705), as well as later for higher levels examinations when military exams were taken seriously. Therefore, in the old days, training with weights would never have been an issue, just regular practice. Furthermore, it was also a way to further understand some of the meanings of the oxymoron of the first quote, being powerful without using force.

Going Deep, Flying High

練重使輕

Training heavy, using light

練低使高*

Training low, using high

輕則靈敏，重則穩健**

Light then agile and quick-witted, heavy then stable and steady

逍遙遊***

Enjoyment in untroubled ease

While fighting with sharp blades, speed seems to be a major issue, and the lighter the faster. Regardless of the needs of specialised professions, It would seem then natural to train high postures for faster mobility and lightness to be swifter. Still, training the body to become faster and moving fast are actually two different things, and especially when both speed and strength are coming from the connective tissues elasticity.

Tiny Dancer

練長使短

Training in length, using short

練高使低

Training high, using low

大動不如小動，小動不如不動，不動之動乃生生不息之動！*

Large motion does not match small gestures, small gestures do not match stillness, moving within stillness brings the never ending motion

磨轉千遭臍不動

The millstone turns a thousand times, its pivot remains still

Fighting with old weapons, i.e before firearms, was all about not giving anything away and using as little energy as possible in order to last as long as possible, hence short movements. One would think that, then, it is pure logic to also train short movements in order to prepare oneself for combat, programming the body to move as it will need to do so in battlefield. If training was only aiming at motion while fighting, it would be so, but it was also a means to improve one's body and its skills (see previous post), a different trend with different objectives and ruling principles**.

Dark Side of the Moon

拳有勢者，所以為變化也。横斜側面，起立走伏，皆有墙戶，可以攻，故謂之勢。拳有定勢，而用時無定勢。然當其用也，變無定勢，而實不失勢，故謂之把勢*

Fists have a posture, which implies changes. Transversal, oblique, sideways or frontal, getting up, standing, moving or lying prostrate, everything has walls and doors, attack being then possible, therefore we talk about posture. Fists have fixed postures, but when boxing there is no fixed posture. So that it undertakes its own usefulness, changes knowing no determined posture and yet one actually not losing posture, which is the way to be skilful in the art.

戚繼光曰：“操手足之號令易，而操心之號令難；有形之操易，而不操之操難”**

Qiji Guang said: " The command to practice the hands and feet is easy, but the one to train the heart hard; practicing form is easy, but the drill with no drill hard"

For old internal practices, fighting was chaos, hence no rule, while training, to compensate, had to be made with method, hence rules and order. Training with rules for the chaos was another oxymoron to be solved. Indeed, because fighting was chaos, one would aim to reach the formless even though training was ruled by form. There are therefore a lot of sayings in Chinese martial arts that, as oxymorons, ask the students to do the opposite in fighting of what was done while training.

Talking to Your Heart

教拳不教步，教步打師傅

Teaching boxing but not stepping, teaching stepping beats the master (the master enables the student to be able to beat him)

教一手，不教一口，教一口不教一走

Teaching a technique but not telling, telling but not teaching how to move

Books and writings are a very good help, especially when doing researches, but they are hardly a way to really learn, and especially at the very beginning, so are videos. This is even more true for old practices which were not a product for the masses but a tool customised for each and every student. Hence, this blog, like any other writing, is totally useless for any person willing to study the arts, it can only be a means of reflexion.

Hold On

心為令，氣為旗，腰為纛
The heart commands, vapours are the flag and the waist the banner

肛門不提，丹田氣散，内中空虚，元氣*虧損
When the anus is not pulled up, the vapours around the cinnabar field disperse, the inside becomes empty and one's vitality depletes

A lot of Chinese practices consider the waist to be the most important part of the body, 腰为主宰, the waist dictates. For those practices, the waist refers not only to the anatomical part of the body, but can also point out specific vertebras or extend to the whole part below the navel to the crotch, the pelvic area. Since it is not only the centre of one's body, where the legs and the chest connect, but also the most important place for vitality, most of the organs being more or less located around it, keeping a correct structure in the area is key to a fruitful training. Among the many requirements one stands out, the necessity to literally pull up the anus that you find in a lot of practices (or its symmetrical version, to pull up the bladder) and hang the stomach (or its symmetrical version, to pinch the sacrum vertebras).

Rock the Cinnabar

內有丹田，氣之歸宿*

Inside are the Cinnabar Fields, the place vapours return to

勁從足下起，還得丹田足

The strength raises from the feet on the prerequisite the cinnabar field is sufficient enough

掌心力從足心印

The force from the centre of the palms comes from the mark in the centre of the feet

Working on one's vitality flow, as it was explained in the two previous posts, was one of the objectives in the old practices. To do so, apart from mobilising one's organs, one could work on, or enhance, certain parts of the body having an impact on such flow. Of the numerous parts, the most famous are the cinnabar fields, 丹田.

Vitality and Strength

眼無神, 拳無魂

Eyes with no expression, boxing without spirit

氣發若風行, 氣納吞百川*

Vapours are emitted like the wind, vapours receive, swallowing a hundred rivers

夫內勁寓於無形之中，接於有形之表，而難以言傳**

The inside strength is in the incorporeal, connecting with a corporeal expression, thus very hard to convey in words

Chinese arts differentiate strength from just body force. In Chinese, force is 力, which originally was a representation of human tendons or connective tissues***, "筋也。象人筋之形". Strength is 勁, the "underground river", 巠, of force, 力.

Vitality and Force

全神貫注

To concentrate one's attention on

神清氣爽

A clear mind in a calm state

聚精會神

To concentrate one's attention on

心馳神往

One thoughts fly to (a place or a person)

Similarly as to the difference between fascias elasticity and muscle contraction, it may be interesting to try to first determine what belongs more to vitality. Of course, since vitality is mainly invisible, contrary to muscle mass, the noticeable differences lie more in effects than on visible or touchable things on one's body.

The Cross and the Six Directions

沉肩墜肘，含胸拔背

Sink the shoulders and drop the elbows; contain the chest and pull up the back

鬆腰坐胯，開襠膝撐

Relax the waist and sit the hips; open the crotch and have the knee brace

Once the evolutive principles behind the figure of the bow are understood, one has to expand the connectivity of the fascias by connecting different lines together, and their elasticity by going beyond lines into surfaces and volumes.