A Natural Breath

呼吸往來，不及法禁

Exhaling and inhaling going and coming, never reaching what the system prohibits

呼 to breathe out, exhale

吸 to breathe in, inhale, absorb.

往 to go, towards, past

來 to come, to arrive, next

不 not, no

及 to reach, up to

法(灋) method, system, to punish, to force

禁 (jìn) to prohibit, to forbid, (jīn) to contain, to restrain oneself

Breathing is one of the cornerstones of old practices. If the first part of the quote seems quite clear, the second part is quite obscure, what is prohibited by the system isn’t explained further in the text.

A Moving Mould

動則法，靜則型

With Method when moving, a mould when still.

Moving is about the waist.

Closing the Doors

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.

As it has been mentioned in the previous post, one could compare training teenagers and adults to fixing new or already used cars. Hence, when training adults, one has to consider the body deterioration, a thing teenagers have not yet undergone. As far as internal alchemy is concerned, it is mainly about the organs and their capacity to generate heat. Hence, their place, size and insulation are important matters to deal with when training adults. Right place and size are determined by the capacity to keep the stomach flat and insulation is working on the sphincters so that the sex and the anus are kept as closed as possible most of the time. Both issues are mainly solved by working on the pelvis and the perinea.

Brainless

讀書要講，種地要耪，練拳要想

Studying needs explaining, tilling land weeding, training boxing pondering.

Ninety per cent training for ten per cent thinking when starting, the opposite when very advanced.

Short Length

打拳要长，发劲要短

Long when practising boxing, short when sending out power

This issue has been extensively described in this blog in Training vs Fighting

Bending the Bow

未学功夫，先学跌打

Before studying skills one shall study acrobatics

百折連腰盡無骨*

A hundred twists linking the waist, a boneless utmost

These two quotes are a perfect example of what kind of suppleness was required in the old days for Martists. Basically, one had to push flexibility to its utmost limits. Therefore, a great part of the basic training was extreme flexibility. Still, it was not the only basic training for internal arts, the other one was posture, learning a correct alignment. In a sense, those two trainings were not only made to complement each other but also as antidotes. Indeed, for the least, correct alignment locks the body in certain angles, restraining its movements and therefore diminishing its flexibility while extreme flexibility puts the body in detrimental angles which may, in term, lead to injuries.

Heaven and Earth

頭頂青天，脚抓地；懷抱嬰兒，手托腮

The head carries the blue sky, the feet grip the earth; hugging a child, resting the chin in the hands*

Stretching the fascia lines from top to bottom.

Firmly Elastic

魄門亦為五藏使*

The Mortal Soul Gate is also of use for the five organs  

下收穀道，上提玉樓**

Down holding the Grain Path, up lifting the Jade House

As it has been already mentioned many times in this blog, adapting professional training made for physically and mentally strong teenagers to leisurely adults raises a lot of issues. It is interesting to notice that one of the first issues is actually the basic training for any style focusing on fascia elasticity: flexibility. As it was mentioned in the posts concerning such elasticity, flexibility for those old practices is not meant to acquire acrobatic skills, even when the results seem quite similar. Indeed, as acrobatic postures may look, they still have to follow a set of rules concerning body alignment, like tucking in the butt for example.

A Fleeting Light

彷彿若光，影逐形追

Seemingly as if a light, shadows one by one chasing shapes

追 chase (or run) after; pursue

形 form; shape

逐 pursue; chase; one by one

影 shadow; reflection; vague impression

光 light; ray; brightness; naked; nothing left

若 as if, like

彿 seemingly

彷 seemingly,: resembling

When trying to expand the meaning of the quote, the first thing that strikes the reader is that maybe the second part is written in the wrong order*. Hence, the whole quote has been reversed in the present post. Since this text is relatively old, a lot of what seems to be part historically part of Chinese culture may actually not be relevant.