Flat Stomach Improved Vitality, The Method Behind It, Intertwined But Body Comes First

玲瓏變化布周身

Exquisite changes arrange the whole body.

法是功能之基

Method is the foundation of capability.

脾藏營，營舍意，脾氣虛則四肢不用，五臟不安，實則腹脹經溲不利

The spleen stores the reconstruction, in which abides the will. When the vapours of the spleen are empty, the four limbs are then of no use. When the five organs are not at ease, it makes the stomach distended and inhibits urine and defecation¹.

As far as the machine, the body, was concerned, deep transformations were sought after in internal practices. The goal was to make it more efficient and better suited to the needs of combat. The nurturing of vitality targeted the former. The method acknowledged the fundamental intertwinement between the body and the mind, the former actually being the lead. 

Furthermore, it followed the natural principle of continuous changes. Finally, endurance was the priority, which meant the goals of training were aiming at a long-term daily use, not a one time once a while performance. This post will deal with the first issue.

Most of training always take both the mental and the body in consideration. Old practices stand a bit out in the sense that they consider the two to be deeply intertwined. Furthermore, if there is a leader, it is the body as far as they are concerned. Finally, one has to realise that the more the practice is advanced, the more it targets tiny details inside one’s body (internal it is), the harder they are to find.

I. Intertwined

For old practices mind and body are more than just linked, they are deeply and strongly intertwined. Basically, they dance a tango, they are not just separate dancers in choreography.

In this relation close to total symbiosis, there are maybe training which stresses more on one side or the other, but it all targets both sides at the same time. Therefore posture is a physical exercise, stretching, as well as a mental one, resistance. For this, any training which does not encompass both sides is considered incomplete or misunderstood. It is thereby necessary to search for the missing goal if only one side is described. In other and simpler words, what’s the impact on the mental of being able to lift one’s leg as high as possible, or what is the impact on the body of the Beserk state? Realising the deep inner relation² that links the body and the mind is a step torwards understanding the method.

Once intertwinement is acknowledged, it becomes at first a search of how and where an emotion modifies the body structure or vice versa. Without even practising, almost everyone knows and has experienced how straightening the upper part of the spine can rouse the spirit and revive one’s vitality. On the other side, crying, pain in the stomach, sudden need to urinate … coming from a strong emotion are also a common knowledge. 

Internalists will look for even smaller reactions and try to change for the better or maintain posture, because they consider that, in this dance, the body leads.

II. Body Comes First

Why regard the body as a lead? A simple consideration can help understand. Our mind is very powerful and our imagination can lead us to anything, create whole universes. Still, the mind cannot will the body to regrow a missing arm. On the other hand, if one loses an arm, it has a deep effect on his/her psyche and therefore inevitably influences one’s spirit. Even less noted is the impact that every change, from posture to skin quality, from injury to hair loss, has on our mental state. This is even more true with the organs, centre of one’s emotions according to the old ways. Not to mention the link between the organs general health and our mood swings, one can hardly survive without one of the main organs missing (or two if they are a pair), the mind cannot, again, will to stay alive.  

Hence, for old practices, since the mind does not mechanically impact the body while the reverse is inevitable, the leader is generally the body. This still does not mean that the body imposes itself automatically on the mind, leading and imposing are two different matters. Indeed, one has to remember it is a tango and if the follower, for whatever reason, goes off script, it then brings chaos, where the lead and the follower become even more blurred in this deeply intertwined relation. 

What makes it even more complicated is that, in the end, the search is about really tiny parts located in one’s body, hence invisible.

III. Hijacking the Arcane Truth

There is a term from the Chinese philosophy, 玄機, too tempting not to be hijacked by old practices. If its common meaning is mysterious, mysterious principles, the mystery of life and the universe …, old practices use it also as a term to describe hard to understand, 玄, mechanism(s), 機. Indeed, there is a search for the internalists of some tiny part(s) inside the body and the understanding of their use as means to improve vitality.

To simplify and avoid going off topic, as far as the flat stomach is concerned, the search is primary around the pelvic area and then along a line all the way up to the skull. The idea is to locate what can be used as a lock and find out how they open and close. One of them, the biggest and most noticeable, the perineum, is quite known. Furthermore, some parts will have to lock while others to open. This is mainly dictated by learning how to pressure the organs and where to release in priority the heat and the added pressure it creates. Finally, the ‘S’ inside the Yin Yang symbol is actually used as a hint for a proper internal posture.

Beyond, one has to understand two things. First, that some small changes inside the body can have a deep impact on one’s posture and vitality. Second, that one needs to really understand fascias and how to work with them to be able to reach and use those tiny mechanisms.

Clear about the body/mind relation, one also has to recognise that deep changes in the body have to be adapted to the training. Hence everything from simple routine to breathing exercises never remain the same, they follow the new capacities the body has achieved, the next post. 

1.  黃帝內經 靈樞經 本神 Yellow Emperor Inner Classics, Divine Pivot, Rooting the Spirit. For those not familiar with the concepts developed in Traditional Chinese Medicine, this quote can seem quite obscure. Still, one can notice the link made between an organ and physical force (the four limbs becoming useless), as well as bringing into play the appearance to decipher an internal issue (the distended stomach).

2. This would be in Chinese a reference to 理, theory. Where there is method, 法, there is always theory. There is a useful riddle attached to this character, which will be described later on. Furthermore, one would also use in this instance the ‘vein lines’ meaning of such character. A search on how the concept is viewed in Traditional Chinese Medicine may also be interesting as far as this subject is concerned.