More Humiliation

I just finished reading Paul A. Cohen's book, History in Three Keys, The Boxers as Event, Experience, and Myth.  Expect a positive review in the next week.   I mention it now because some quotes from the book are included in the review below.

I bought a copy of, The Xingyi Quan of the Chinese Army, Huang Bo Nien's Xingyi Fist and Weapon Instruction, by Dennis Rovere, with translation by Chow Hon Huen.  It's published by Blue Snake Books, Berkeley, California.  It's a waste of money.  I bought it because Dojo Rat gave it a positive review. I realize now that he gave it a positive review because he thought it might be of interest to those of us who like history.  Well--I'll be damned--I'm going to get my money's worth by having some fun reviewing it!

The book is a translation of a short manual about Xingyi training from the 1920's, supposedly used by Chang Kai-sheik's army and the KMT.  It would have been a pamphlet except that Dennis Rovere added a lot of his own useless material, explanations and pictures.  With the exception of a section on Bayonet Fighting, which we will address shortly, the original manual is nearly identical to material already published in nearly every Xingyi book.  Take for example this translation by John Groschwitz, The Xingyi Boxing Manual.  This kind of manual is meant to be memorized and contemplated, but every single detail needs to be taught and digested over years.  They all read like a teacher's lecture notes.  (That's OK, I guess, but did we need another one?)

Why was the manual published in the first place?  Dennis Rovere doesn't seem to know.  The answer is that it was a salvo in a political debate of the 1920's.  Take for instance this satirical note by Lu Xun (probably the best known intellectual of the "New Culture" movement) comparing Kungfu guys to the Boxer Uprising, published in New Youth, 1918:

Recently, there have been a fair number of people scattered about who have been energetically promoting boxing [quan].  I seem to recall this having happened once before.  But at that time the promoters were the Manchu court and high officials, where as now they are Republican educators--people occupying a quite different place in society.  I have no way of telling, as an outsider, whether their goals are the same or different.

These educators have now renamed the old methods "that the Goddess of the Ninth Heaven transmitted to the Yellow Emperor"..."the new martial arts" or "Chinese-style gymnastics" and they make young people practice them.  I've heard there are a lot of benefits to be had from them.  Two of the more important may be listed here:

(1)  They have a physical education function.  It's said that when Chinese take instruction in foreign gymnastics it isn't effective;  the only thing that works for them is native-style gymnastics (that is, boxing).  I would have thought that if one spread one's arms and legs apart and picked up a foreign bronze hammer or wooden club in one's hands, it ought probably to have some "efficacy" as far as one's muscular development was concerned.  But it turns out this isn't so!  Naturally, therefore, the only course left to them is to switch to learning such tricks as "Wu Song disengaging himself from his manacles."  No doubt this is because Chinese are different from foreigners physiologically.

(2)  They have a military function.  The Chinese know how to box; the foreigners don't know how to box.  So if one day the two meet and start fighting it goes without saying the Chinese will win.... The only thing is that nowadays people always use firearms when they fight.  Although China "had firearms too in ancient times" it doesn't have them any more.  So if the Chinese don't learn the military art of using rattan shields, how can they protect themselves against firearms?  I think--since they don't elaborate on this, this reflects "my own very limited and shallow understanding"--I think that if they keep at it with their boxing they are bound to reach a point where they become "invulnerable to firearms."  (I presume by doing exercises to benefit their internal organs?)  Boxing was tried once before--in 1900.  Unfortunately on that occasion its reputation may be considered to have suffered a decisive setback.  We'll see how it fares this time around.  (This is from p. 230-231 of Paul A. Cohen's, History in Three Keys.)

The introduction of Rovere's book claims that the famous martial artist's Sun Lutang and Wang Xiangzhai both taught for the KMT. The question however, is not who taught there, but what was being taught.  If you pick up a copy of Marrow of the Nation and read chapter 7, you'll see that the Guo Shu (national martial arts) movement was wide spread in the 20's.  No doubt xingyi was part of the curriculum.  But I've yet to see any evidence that students of the military academy actually developed into top level martial artists-- perhaps they did--but that would be beside the point.  The point being that what mattered was organization, leadership, machine gun practice, strategic thinking, etc.  Bayonet training was the one form of hand-to-hand combat training that had some significance for modern warfare.  And that training came directly from the West where it was well developed.

Quoting from History in Three Keys again:

In a letter to his sister, Pvt. Harold Kinman of the First Marine Battalion, who initially saw combat in the Philippines, then in China, and after recovering from a wound in the U.S. Naval Hospital in Yokohama, again in the Philippines, provided an American perspective on the march from Tianjin to Beijing [this of course during the Boxer Rebellion, 1900]:  "That march is imprinted on my memory that nothing can efface.  It was full of terrible experiences, short of water, and forced to march after you were almost unable to walk.  Fighting for your life every day, surrounded by Chinese Imperial troops numbering from 30,000 to 40,000 strong.  Cutting your way out at the point of a bayonet while the shot and shell were flying all around you."  On one occasion, after "putting the Chinese to utter rout," the marines watched as the crack British cavalry, composed of Sikhs, turned and fled in the face of a Chinese charge.  Appalled at the "cowardice" of the Sikhs, the Americans, according to Kinman, sprang to their feet and charged the Chinese cavalry with fixed bayonets:  "There were hundreds killed and wounded we gave no quarter nor asked for any so you see we took no prisoners we killed them all that fell into our hands.  I will now close by wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year."

Nearly half of The Xingyi Quan of the Chinese Army, is dedicated to Bayonet Fighting.  It makes the claim that Xingyi is used to teach bayonet fighting, that the techniques originally come from spear fighting.  It is obvious to anyone looking at the pictures that this is just a political claim, meant to give xenophobic cover to what was essentially a humiliating imitation of "Foreign Imperialist" training methods.  All the techniques pictured in the book can be found in any army manual, anywhere.  The book makes four claims for the uniqueness of Xingyi Bayonet training; 1) the back heel is down, 2) stick to the threat's weapon rather than knock it, 3) don't hit with the butt of the gun, 4) don't lunge.  All of these claims are obviously absurd.  Just look at the pictures I pulled off of Google Images.  They also have nothing to do with Xingyi.

Needless to say, I do not recommend the book.  I don't know what Blue Snake Books was thinking when they published it.  However, I did get a good laugh out of this bio:

Dennis Rovere is an internationally recognized expert in military, close combat and Chinese military strategy.  He is the first non-Asian to receive special recognition as a martial arts instructor from the Government of the Republic of China, and the first civilian to train with the Bodyguards Instructors' Unit of the Chinese Special Military Police (Wu Jing).  Since receiving his instructor's certification in 1974, Mr. Rovere has taught martial arts to both civilians and military units, including reconnaissance instructors and UN peacekeepers....

Them's some pretty heady credentials I've never heard of, and what is an architect from Calgary teaching those UN peacekeepers anyway?

UPDATE:  A link to this post got a whopping 36 Comments on a Forum called Rum Soaked Fist! My Youtube Videos African Bagua 1 & 2 and  Pure Internal all jumped up about 600 views in the last day.  I'll put my response to all the controversy in the comments section below, and on the forum.   Join the fray!

Muscle Training Questions

Below I have answered some questions that were sent to me via email about the post I wrote last week, 5 Levels of Internal Muscle Training.   I love getting emails.  For reference the 5 levels are:

1. Moving and Coordinating


2. Static Structure


3. Continuous Structure with Movement


4. Empty and Full at the Same Time


5. Whole Body Becomes a Ball

Why do the steps laid out in the "5 steps of muscular training" post seem so rigid and schematic?

You are correct that the "5 Steps" are schematic and rigid.  They are part of a larger project in which I am developing ways to communicate with people who have some physical training background other than martial arts.  Martial artists rarely frame what they do entirely by the muscles;  However, weight-lifters, Pilates, and many athletes do frame their understanding of activity in terms of muscle development.
The whole truth is a much fuzzier type of logic.  I will stand by the notion that muscle training must follow the 5 level progression.  However, there are many other aspects of martial development which transcend and traverse these levels.  I tried to make that clear in the "notes."  Also, it's always possible to go back and fill in gaps in one's development later.

At which point does one start "grounding force?"

At level 2, you practice transferring your opponent's force directly into the ground.  This must be done for the entire surface of the body and with forces going in every direction.  It requires the aid of a teacher or partner.

At which point in the five level progression does a person touching you--give you the feeling that his/her force is directly going to the floor through your body?

Your opponent is not doing that, you are.  If I make my body very stiff and rigid, my opponent's force will move me like it would move a piece of heavy furniture.  If  I make my body very soft and mushy, my opponent's force will plow right through me.  If there are stiff places in a soft body, they will be broken--they will not transfer force to the ground.  The only way your opponent's force will go to the ground is if you direct it there (however, the process may be unconscious).

This is a common problem for students beginning level 3 training.  Level 3 is essentially level 2 in continuous motion.  In Aikido, for instance, this falls under "blending with the opponent."  At level 3 our body has superb structural integrity but we use sensitivity to avoid ever using that structure against any direct force.

If I try to push directly on someone who has good level 3 skills they will blend (or connect) with me, move out of the way of my force, and then "position" their structure so that I have no leverage or momentum for an attack.  If they are fighting they will use that "position" to injure, disarm, or throw me.

In Taijiquan, this is the continuous and spontaneous linking of the four jin: peng, ji, lu, & an.  If there is a break in the execution of jin-- a sensitive opponent and a strong opponent will both be able to "find it" and exploit it.

I'm totally losing my muscular strength, as well as my weight... in your training did you experience weight loss? I'm 12 pounds less than I used to be when I started training taiji one year ago, and this is not necessarily going to stop. Teacher said, oh, you'll replace that with taiji strength, don't worry?

Did I experience weight loss?  Yes, there was a period long ago where I lost some weight but not 12 lbs.  Weight gain or loss can vary a lot from person to person; however, the practice of internal martial arts will make your digestion more efficient and your appetite more sensitive! Ignore this at your own peril.  Many martial artists have gotten fat because they responded to improved digestion by eating more instead of less.

If you are paying attention to your appetite, you will simply want to eat less.  It's also a good idea to experiment with different types of food, and different styles of cooking.  I'll go even farther, if you are under 35 and having this experience, you need to learn how to cook.  It's not necessary to learn how to cook with Chinese herbs, but if you are in a place where that is easy, I do recommend it.  Learning how to cook any tranditional cuisine will include in-depth knowledge about ingredients and cooking methods.  Without this part of the practice all that appetite sensitivity training that the Daoist tradition infused in the martial arts will be wasted.

(Of course, make sure you are not losing weight because of some disease or parasite.)

While it isn't popular to say it, you are actually getting weaker and no, it will not be replaced by strength.  We don't need strength; humans are strong enough as we are.  That being said, if you have a big "appetite" for movement, if you like to practice a lot, you will develop superior integration, denser bones and sinew, more efficient dynamic muscles, new types of power, and the second of Laozi's treasures: Conservation.

Training with my Chinese "uncles" is at times pretty much not funny.  Sometimes I think their biggest goal is not losing face.  Their understanding of cooperative training seems quite different from mine.  I mean, I don't have to use muscular strength, but  this Chinese man in his 60's is stiff as hell, and strong too, so the natural reaction would be to use more strength than him. I see these gentleman (and ladies as well) who have been training for years but still rely on muscular, stiff strength, and I guess they are happy like that.  How should  the transition from muscular strength to a more song, tongtou, strength feel?  How does it work?

That's a tough one.  Your question is more about intimacy than method.  Intimacy and betrayal are kissing cousins.  My advice?  Make yourself more vulnerable.  Forget about trying to learn and just hang out.  The fruition of weakness is sensitivity.  The fruition of stillness is freedom of movement.  The fruition of not controlling the future is spontaneity.  The fruition of  trusting your body's "appetites" is that life no longer feels like a struggle.

My Chinese "uncles" seem to have only "success/fail" exercises.  I'm not getting "learn to feel" or "get more sensitive" exercises.  Am I just too un-sensitive or are they giving me inappropriate exercises for that type of development?

Another tough one.  Being un-sensitive is often just using a yard stick where a micrometer is called for.  Most of us have the "tools," it's just figuring out which one to use.  Chinese culture is big on "Hao, Bu hao," types of learning.  It's easy for someone from a Western culture to get frustrated.  Remember there is no moral content, failure says nothing what-so-ever about your character, you are just doing it wrong.  The more you enjoy your failures, the faster you will learn. Yes, learning methods can always be improved, sometimes you have to teach your teachers how to teach.

Yes, it is possible your "uncles" are teasing you, or patronizing you, or even intentionally screwing you up.  It's possible they themselves are confused and it is also possible that they are jealousy guarding what took them decades to learn.  None of that would be surprising.  But honestly I don't know.

Heart Health

I just want to say something simple about the heart.  The heart needs enough space to operate.
If the heart is competing for space with the lungs, it’s going to have problems.
Fortunately this rarely happens because the lungs can expand downward with the movement of the diaphragm muscle.  The diaphragm moves with the expansion of the belly, the expansion of the lower back, and the expansion of the diaphragm-like structure on the floor of the pelvis.  If the gates of the legs are open the experience of breathing will continue down into the feet.
Likewise if the lower back expands, the upper back will follow it, expanding the ribs out to the sides and, if the gates of the arms are open, the experience of breathing will continue out into the arms from the back.  It will also travel up the back of the neck over the top of the head.

This is a simple description of health.  It is an anatomical description of what is called “pre-natal breathing.”  It is probably what happens during sleep, and during rejuvenate rest.  It is also a common base practice for most types of qigong.  It is a description of the dynamic structural alignment which gives the heart the largest possible space to live in.  [It is not a description of neidan (elixir) practice.  It is not a power gathering method.  It is not some cosmic sexual orbit.]

Constricted Belly & Lower Back

The rib cage can expand and condense quite a lot. If the abdominal muscles are constricted the expansion of the lower back and pelvic floor will be restricted too, and the gates to the legs will surely be closed during activity.  The body easily makes up for this by lifting the front of the rib cage.  This works fine, it will create plenty of space for the heart and lungs to operate optimally.  However, it will create some compression between the shoulder blades where the ribs insert into the spine.
The rib cage is structured such that the largest expansion happens by lifting the ribs out to the sides, expanding under the armpits, which also expands the upper back.  The full expansion of the rib cage creates some expansion in the chest as well but not lifting.

Exercises which tighten the abdominal muscles, or the space between the shoulder blades don’t seem to cause any short term problems.  However, over the long term if other factors like stiffness in the chest, spine degeneration, or pour circulation appear--these sorts of exercises will simply give the heart less room.  And that is a serious problem.

The space between the shoulder blades should be loose and lively.  Feel the skin between a cat’s shoulder blades and you’ll see what I mean.  The area behind the heart should be loose-- tiger skin loose.

Update:  I've been looking around google images for a normal CT scan of the abdomin and you wouldn't believe how many images of really messed up people they have up there.  Yikes.

Are the Gods Real?

The World in an Incense Burner

Are the Gods real? This is simply not an important question.  A horror movie, no matter how fake, can still make your skin crawl.

As a teacher of internal martial arts and qigong I often give instructions to students which they find incredible.  For instance I might say, "Move your skin up but your body down."  Or I might say, "Spiral the bones inside the tissue."  Sometimes I'll describe a feeling outside of the body, as if the we were moving in water or mist.  People often ask me, "Should I visualize what you are telling me?"  Or, "Should I just try to imagine what you are telling me? because I don't know how to do that."

What will "work" for the student at this point varies a lot from student to student.  Sometimes it helps if I have a student put their hands on me while I do the movement.  Some students will learn by watching closely.  Some students will simply figure it out with time.  Some students will require a different exercise, or a different description, or a different metaphor, or a different context, or a different type of pickle in their porridge (yes, I do make these sorts of suggestions).  Some may even get it and not realize they have gotten it.

But the answer to the question, "Should I visualize? should I imagine?" is simple.  Yes, you should imagine to the exact extent that imagining actually makes your skin crawl.  We tend to think, in our "agency driven universe," that imagination is not real.  Imagination is real.  No movement happens without imagination.

Here are two posts I wrote in 2007 which deal with this question as philosophy and cosmology:

Understanding Chinese Culture (Part 1)

Understanding Chinese Culture (Part 2)

Five Levels of Muscle Training

This is a description of internal martial arts from the point of view of muscles.  These five levels apply to taijiquan, baguazhang, xingyiquan and (applied) qigong:

1. Moving and Coordinating; running, jumping, rolling, lifting, stretching, etc.


2. Static Structure; The ability to hold a static shape for a long period of time, and transfer force applied on any part of the body to the feet, the back or another limb.


3. Continuous Structure with Movement;  All muscles must move in twists and spirals following the flow of the bones and ligaments.  Muscles weaken and become sensitive.  Force can be applied in motion at any angle from any part of the body.  Force can be avoided without losing whole body integration.


4. Empty and Full at the Same Time;  All muscle tension must be discarded along with all intention to move.   Any solid concept of body structure must be discarded or melted away.  Muscles function like liquid and air.  (Power becomes unstoppable but unfocused and difficult to direct.)


5. Whole Body Becomes a Ball.  Resistance training for big muscles only.  Small muscles are used mainly for sensitivity and force transfer (ligament support).  Muscles move only by "ten directions breathing," they move in all directions using expansion and condensation, not lengthening and shortening.

Notes:

The separation of jing and qi, which happens automatically in stillness, needs to be available in motion to enter level 4.

In order to act through a body, that body must be felt as a dream.  Dreaming is not like the conscious mind.  If you think about running, you are likely to stumble.  In order to run, speak, or do any of these types of muscle training, you must first dream it.  In order to reach level 5, levels 1 through 4 must be felt as dream.  In other words, they can be done spontaneously by feeling, without thinking, or willing.

______________________

Thoughts:

From my experience, this order is essential.  Each level takes a minimum of two years training.  Some internal traditions attempt to start their training at level 4 and then go back and fill in gaps in levels 1 and 2 through diligent forms practice.  The attempt to fill gaps in level 3 through push-hands training.  That seems like a mistake.

The quickest way to get level one skills is through rough play or dance (forms with speed and rhythm).

Level 2 can only be learned through a teacher/partner who tests your structure.

Levels 3 and 4 will be inhibited by strength training.

The key to transitioning from level 3 to level 4 is non-aggression, wuwei.  Aggression is refined to perfection and then discarded.  This transition probably requires working with emotionally mature partners.

Applications do not work at level 4.  Period. But paradoxically, the ability to use weight and momentum improves.

The good news! Yes, it takes at least ten years (two years for each level, and a minimum of three hours everyday), but levels 2 through 5 can be practiced at any age.  Levels 2 through 5 actually get easier with age because muscles become weaker and skin becomes looser!

Internal Stretching vs. External Stretching

I wish there was a simple way to explain this.

I'm not genetically flexible and although I did train martial arts before puberty, I didn't do enough to make me significantly more flexible than an average guy you might meet on the street. So at seventeen when I really got into dance for the first time, I started stretching a lot, everyday. And when I say everyday, I mean, everyday--I didn't miss a day of stretching for probably 5 years.

All that yoga prop junk is just for people who are short on time, if you have the time to stretch you don't need a prop. (There is one exception; sometimes a coach will advise a prop because someone is stretching unevenly, for that it is an extremely good idea.)

Stretching the same muscles day after day while doing kicks and jumps that use your maximum range of motion is painful, but it's muscle pain, it's the kind of 'hurts so good' pain that all athletes love. It's not debilitating pain, it's not nagging pain. Who am I to tell people not to do it?

I'm nobody. If you do it and you like it, keep doing it. But I have a duty of another order. I'm here to be a voice for another way of thinking and experiencing life. I'm here to represent the unique study of Chinese Internal Martial Arts and their relation to a Daoist view of what a human being is.

About 13 years ago, the idea of internal flexibility started to take root in my body. It did not come from stretching, nor did it come from standing still or meditation. It came from doing what most people these days would call qigong. Specifically I was doing Tiandifu (Heaven Earth Contract) style of qigong. Most Taijiquan classes include this type of movement; expanding the dantian in all directions while extending the arms over the head and then drawing everything back in. The thing is I did more than most people do and I was really focused on lengthening the spine.

At this time in my practice I could do what they call in gymnastics a back walkover. But in order to do it I needed to do a lot of stretching, especially bridges. From doing the internal spine lengthening, the quality of my flexibility totally changed, I was able to do a back walkover cold. Cold means without warming up, without stretching out first.

Then about ten years ago I was on a backpacking trip and I fell with a heavy backpack on. I really hurt my arm and my back. For the first time in my life I was waking up in the middle of the night in pain. It took a long time to heal and I've never gotten back to the point where I could do a back walkover cold. Bummer huh?

The plus side is that now I have a lot of expertise about spine injuries. Also I've thought about and tried a really wide range of stretching routines.

So what is the difference between internal stretching and external stretching?

External stretching is when you put pressure on a joint or a muscle or a muscle group in order to get it to relax and/or lengthen. When we do this type of stretching we cut off the connection between our dantian and our limbs. If we do this kind of stretching we have to do the same stretches everyday because the dantian will automatically try to suck our limbs back into itself while we are sleeping. (If you don't sleep for 24 hours you will likely be really flexible but also at higher risk of muscle/tendon/ligament tears.)

Internal stretching may not look like stretching. To stretch internally our arms and legs have to be a part of the dantian. Once a person has this feeling in motion, the stretches are easy to find or invent.

The dantian expands, condenses, rolls and twists. As it moves, so must the limbs move with it, as one continuous whole. You've probably heard that before, but are you doing it? Is the movement of your thigh the same movement as the movement of your belly? Is it simultaneous? Does it have the same quality?

This is one of those things which is so simple most people miss it. In order for a person who is flexible by training to develop internal stretching, he or she will have to give up what they are already good at.