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.