Maximize Internal Power
Written by Dr. Able Yuanxia Zhang, Master Chen's Disciple
What is the internal power (Nei Jing)?
In China, martial arts are divided into two styles: internal and external. Shaolin Kung Fu represents external martial arts, which are characterized as extravert speed, strength, and toughness. There are three styles of internal martial arts: Tai Chi (Taiji Quan), Pa Kua (Ba Gua Zhang), and Xing Yi (Xingyi Quan) which are characterized as introvert sensitivity, resilience, and explosion.
What Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and Jet Li demonstrate most often in their movies are external martial arts. It is difficult to visually show the secrets of internal martial arts. However, in a peaceful world, internal martial arts shall attract more and more people, because they shape beautiful tunnels for people to explore their inner strength and potential.
There is an apparent connection between internal martial arts and human health. Tai Chi, which is an internal martial art, has been so widely accepted as a health exercise, people almost forget that it is one of the most powerful martial arts in China.
For people who practice internal martial arts, attention should be turned to what happens inside of the body. It is more like a style of moving meditation. By only being aware of everything changing inside of your body, you are on the right track to practicing internal martial arts.
Everybody in China knows that Nei Jing (Internal Power) is critical to the practitioners of internal martial arts. If you only learn the external forms, you are able to practice a whole routine, but you do not know Nei Jing, you are not practicing internal martial arts. What you are doing is only a fancy way of doing body exercises.
Nei Jing is like a hidden secret of the human body. Before you practice internal martial arts, you do not even know where it exists. After you start to practice, you will gradually feel the growth of Nei Jing (internal power). A skillful internal martial artist is a master who wakes up and develops their Nei Jing. When they face a challenge from other strong opponents who also have good shapes based on other styles of body training, they may defeat their opponents easily, simply because they used Nei Jing. In China, an old grandmaster of internal martial arts may show much superior Nei Jing compared to their disciples. Therefore the grandmaster possesses invincible abilities compared to those who may be younger.
I learned Ba Gua, Tai Chi from several famous masters in China. However, none of them really showed me what Nei Jing was. After many years of practice, I could control my body better than ordinary people. When I fought with practitioners from other styles of martial arts, most of time, I demonstrated better skills and “defeated” them. However, deep in my mind, I knew that I might be just a little better than those people who were “defeated” by me. I never had the sense of dominating the situation. There was a big difference between my dream and reality.
It is weird that everybody talks about this Nei Jing, but nobody could really show it systematically and perfectly. We are like a group of blind people who are touching a huge elephant.
1. Most Tai Chi masters say that you can get Nei Jing if you relax enough.
2. Most Xing Yi masters say that you can get your Nei Jing if you practice well in Zhuang Gong (power from standing like a stake)
3. Most Ba Gua masters say that you can get your Nei Jing if you keep walking in a circle.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Xin Yi, “Maximize Internal Power”
Dr. Able Yuanxia Zhang
Phone Number: 718-666-7176
Email: zyxphd@gmail.com
I now see that these three styles of internal martial arts touch different parts of the elephant, but none of them see the whole picture. Therefore, people in China tend to learn all three styles to get the better picture of Nei Jing.
Only after I met Grandmaster Shoufu Chen, that I saw the whole picture the first time in my life. I was so excited to learn the ultimate secrets from him that I treated it as a mission for me to reveal the secrets of Nei Jing to the world.
Xinyi Liuhe is the mother form of Xingyi Quan. Because Xinyi Liuhe was secretly transmitted generation by generation in the Chinese Muslim world, it was not known by the majority of Chinese people until it was revealed to the public by Grandmaster Songgao Lu in the early 20th century.
After I systematically learned Xinyi Liuhe from Grandmaster Chen Shoufu, I first got insight that the basis of Nei Jing is from tendon power. Xinyi Liuhe actually is a systematically designed system for developing tendon power from every part of the body. If tendon power from the whole body is ideally developed, that person will become super strong and look like a super-being.
A master with full Nei Jing does not need to use their fists and feet, because every part of their body becomes a weapon. The whole body turns into a tough rubber ball. They can tolerate violent attacks, and can naturally assault their opponent by simply using their body’s natural reaction.
A master with full Nei Jing does not need any specific techniques for fighting. For a person reaching that high level, fighting is not fighting, so it is fighting.
