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I have a passion for martial arts and fitness. I have a blog to discuss Chinese martial arts and wushu from a western perspective. I focus primarily on Liu He Ba Fa, Xing Yi, Ba Gua, tai chi, tong Bei and various weapon forms.
6 Harmonies, Liu He Ba Fa

Liu He Ba Fa 6 Harmonies: 5th Harmony — Combine Your Shen and Your Movement (Action)

The 5th Harmony is Combine  Shen and Movement (Action)

shen he yu dong神合于动

Have you ever had the hairs on the back of your neck stand-up?  Did you feel uncomfortable or anxious.  It’s a reflex within the body that few can explain.  One explanation Daoist like to use is its an experience with Shen or spirit.  You perceive something or feel something is bad or good yet there are no verbal or visual stimuli to truly backup this feeling.  Now if one can develop this action and harmonize with it, it can truly expand your mindfulness of the world.

You have re-ignited that fire and have raised your spirit to your upper dan tian.  The Shen follows the qi and spreads throughout your body, raising awareness and vitality.  You become…different.

What does one do with this? They must begin to focus back outward.  This whole time your have closed your senses inward and felt what was going on inside your body.  Your spirit radiates through you and shows through your eyes.  This is where internal martial arts becomes something even greater.  You send your spirit to every fiber of your body.  You combine it with every movement, every thought; coordinating action with detail with awareness.  The movements will become your own and become instantaneous.    You will begin to perceive things differently.  Your form will be look powerful as your movements begin to radiate feelings and energy yet be soft and have the ability to adapt at will.  It becomes instant and instinctive.

Li Nengran, the famous Xing Yi master, was called “Magic Fist Li” was able to develop his Shen to this level.  He defeated all challengers and his opponents often said they could not see when his hands struck outward.  Li had developed his Gong Fu to a level where he perceived on a different level.  He could instantaneously feel his opponents intention and move his hands to counter or strike, overcoming the will of his opponents every time.  It was said he could close his eyes and understand exactly where people and things were at.  He was truly gifted and his gong fu was special amongst even the greatest.  Why?  Because he systematically built to this level, not skipping or rushing anything.  He had constant dedication and focused effort and a true understanding of the Dao and his body.   He dedicated every effort, every thought, and every move to get to this level–something few can truly fathom and achieve in this day and age.

6 Harmonies, Liu He Ba Fa

Liu He Ba Fa 6 Harmonies: 4th Harmony — Combine Your Qi with Your Shen.

The 4th Harmony is combine Qi and Shen

qi he yu shen 气合于神

Now you have a powerful form!  Yet there is more.  Some martial artists stop here, their Qi abundant and their lives full of energy.  There is another level.  You must reignite that fire in your belly and change the energy into shen.   The spirit must follow the qi to the upper dan tian and build there.  You must allow your spirit to then touch every fiber of your being, every hair on your body.

Through this your awareness will become truly keen, you will experience things on a new level.  A spiritual power is a strong thing if developed.  Have you ever seen a truly intimidating person just stare another down, see a person cower in fear, knowing they are powerless against them — this is a very similar concept, it’s a subconscious event that one cannot explain.  If developed your shen can be a handy tool for health and combat.

 

This level is just the 4th but still few reach this level.  They do not make their Qi abundant and thus cannot mix and convert it into Shen.  They will pontificate on the finer point of hormones and vitality, describing Shen in terms that they can relate to.  Is it this, yes– but it is so much more.  Your spirit can expand beyond the physical limits of these things, expand upon your own body.  It is an awareness and vitality only few know.  How can you tell if a person has started down this path?  They will become calm and relaxed, their outward appearance will radiate their inward strength and vitality.  A person will start to develop yansheng (spirit from the eyes 眼神).  It’s a difficult level to perceive let alone master, but the journey towards this harmony will make one healthy, strong, and vibrant.

6 Harmonies, Liu He Ba Fa

Liu He Ba Fa 6 Harmonies: 3rd Harmony — Combine Intention with Qi

GM Wu Yi Hui – 20. Water Flows down the High Mountain

3rd Harmony: Combine your Intent and your Qi yi he yu qi意合于气

 

You have worked hard and you understand the movements internally and externally.  You have started to develop Nèiwài wéi yītǐ (内外为一体)!  Now the hard work comes in.  That intention must drive your internal energy throughout the form.  You must combine the inside with the outside and make it one.  Without your Qi there will be no true strength.  Now you may have some physical strength applied but that is not the intent with internal martial arts.  Physical strength can be strong but is considered a dead or stiff energy.  You need to develop that lively power; a person needs to relax their physical body, align it properly, and use internal principles to create Li (力).  Physical strength can decline quickly in older age (modern medicine and greater understanding of physical training has helped extend this to some extent though) but internal strength can stay with a person to the end of your days if properly maintained and practiced.  To be 90 years old but move like your 30 and hit like your 20 is possible.  It takes true dedication and understanding but yet still attainable.  It starts with this harmony.

Now a person must truly start to practice and dedicate themselves.  You have to make your energy abundant through diligent practice.  This can be accomplished in a myriad of ways, either through the form, zhan zhuang, silent meditation, other internal arts etc.  However the more you practice the one form (Liu He Ba Fa in this instance) and engrain the energy with it the better it will be.  Qi must be driven throughout your body; your 4 extremities filled evenly.  Your lower dan tian will become full and hard like a rock.  Once you have put the energy into thebank (so to speak) you can then withdrawal it, focus it throughout the form, and demonstrate true internal strength.  Once your internal energy combines with your external movements you will have true Fa li and your form will look relaxed yet very powerful.

6 Harmonies, Liu He Ba Fa

Liu He Ba Fa 6 Harmonies: 2nd Harmony– Heart (mind) Combines With Your Intention

2nd Harmony: Combine your Heart (Mind) with your Intention – xin he yu yi心合于意

Focus is important, but more importantly what are you focusing on?  Are you focusing on your day at work, your family, or the task at hand!   It takes 200 days of consistent practice to learn the external movements properly (according to some experts).  What does that movement really mean though?   What is happening both inside and out?   This understanding takes MUCH longer.  The intention of each movement  needs to be thoroughly understood to apply the correct energies and applications.  Without the focus your mind can be pulled away, causing hesitation, inconsistences, and ultimately bad habits.  You need to be fully in the moment of what you are doing and where you are at.  Without it you are mindlessly doing an external form (which can still get a person physical benefits but does not reach the full potential of the art).

 

Also this is where 10,000 repetitions can truly compound.  With intention– with focus, it will engrain in a person’s inner conscious;  it has the potential to become second nature.  To fully open to the intention of each movement; to open to the energy and animalistic nature (yes there are 12 animals within this art) of it has profound results.   You become one with the form and the form becomes one with you.  Liu He Ba Fa has many variants among the main form but if you look deeply into that practitioners inner intent you can see if they have the essence of it.  Are certain moves fierce like a tiger, does it coil like a dragon, and deeper still do they demonstrate the 8 methods such as follow and return.  If their intention and focus is engrained in them, they will display these principles thus demonstrate Liu He Ba Fa.

6 Harmonies, Liu He Ba Fa

Liu He Ba Fa 6 Harmonies: 1st Harmony – Body Combines with your Heart (mind)

Chen Tuan, Creator of Liu He Ba Fa

1st Harmony:  Combine your body with your heart (mind) –ti he yu xin体合于心

Your heart is wild–it can be courageous or scared; it can be scattered or focused.  It can be many things.  The heart (your wild thoughts) must be trained and honed.  This is accomplished through training and dedication.  With Liu He Ba Fa its accomplished by conducting the form and focusing this movement with your heart (mind).   Even though delayed, giving your mind action gives it purpose and training.  You train every muscle with the form and engrain it into you.  Every muscle, tendon, ligament works in alignment and in total unison in action.  The force of such a movement can be outstanding (Force =Mass X Acceleration).  By getting every fiber of your being behind your action it creates a tremendous amount of power.  But to do so requires an immense amount of training.  The old saying by Bruce Lee is I don’t fear a man you does 10,000 different kicks but I fear a man who has done one kick 10,000 times.  Michael Gladwell, in his book, Outliers, is quoted that studies show a similar number in a fact of hours, 10,000, is what is needed to perfect a technique.  Without concentrated dedication to your practice and constant effort, only average gains may be made.

Once engrained it will become subconscious and work towards the instantaneous.  These efforts can be hindered though if you do not train your mind to relax and be calm.  To accept things and understand them.  This, in turn, will relax your body and give its ability to react more quickly, more succinctly.  Fa Song is a great ability.   It is not lazy relaxation, where you become “noodly” and disconnected.  It’s a relaxation that creates harmony throughout your body that allows for your body to feel and adapt.  This starts with your ability for your mind to relax, to let go of the troubles of the day and have the ability to focus on the task at hand.   To feel inside and outside your body the event and work towards totality with it.  With harmony one: through focused movement , proper relaxed alignment, and continued effort, both on the inside and out,  great gains can be made to make the form apart of you.

16 Principles of Tai Chi

[16] The Issuing of Your Whole Body Reaches to Every Hair.

Ahh, the last principle and probably one of the most important of all.  To truly  reach a level within internal martial arts and kung fu it requires mastery beyond kicking, punching, applications, or even building a Dan Tian.  To have been a real master of internal martial arts back at the turn of the century a person had to demonstrate the capability to fill their 4 antennas or extremities (Si Shou). When your Qi is abundant, has filled your organs and Dan Tian, it will naturally express through your 4 extremities.  One such extremity is connected to your hair through your blood.  Energy attaches to your blood and follows it.  Once your blood and Qi are thoroughly connected you will feel enlivened.  You will tingle with sensations and even the lightest of touch may send your senses off the radar.  The first step of to all of this though is opening your microcosmic orbit (discussed in principle 2).  Once your gates are open and you can quickly send your energy to your headtop you will feel a tingle in your hairs.  That is natural and good – you are filling things up!  Eventually you want to make that energy shoot up and pop your hair up on your head.  Masters of old were able to wear a hat and pop it off with a thought!   Hey and  added benefit it slows down the greying process of your hair and helps male pattern baldness!

Once you have the microcosmic orbit you work on the macrocosmic orbit.  This is where your energy flows through your arms and legs.  This is when you can get the energy to every part of your body.  When all your meridians are full and energy courses through your body you will feel it in every hair.  My friend once talked to Master Yun Yin Sen (Liu He Ba Fa master in Shanghai).  Master Yun demo’d his ability to raise and lower his arm hair at will.  Now this wont fend off a dozen armed men (or even a single one really),  but it demonstrates his abundance of energy and filling of his Si Shou and thus demonstrates his mastery and dedication to neijia arts.

As with some of these principles there lies a deeper meaning.  Sure its great to be alive with energy but it’s a trap!  There is another level that one should aspire to.  You must allow that qi and shen to mix and convert.  This is the level (as discussed in several posts already) that will allow you to sense others without touch and feel.  By expressing Shen at every hair you will have reached a level that can predict and act before your opponent, sense intentions, find meaning.  Can you read someone’s mind?  No, but by sensing the energy in their movement you are in sense doing so as you can react at a subconscious level, immediate and faster than anything they can fathom.

You must be able to connect your inner and outer together.  The energy and spirit must flow with the strength of a surging river throughout your body with the ability to move like the wind at will, swirling and alive.  All of the previous steps get you to this finality, to this doorway of mastery.  Its not an easy process but through hard work and dedication; you will have obtained what few have and will have a peace only few know.

16 Principles of Tai Chi

[15] Simplify Things by Using Your Whole Body.

What’s one of the overarching themes I have explained throughout these principles?  Connectedness!  Now on surface level of this statement its pretty straight forward.  Your body–every fiber, muscle and joint– must be connected to accept and deliver the maximum amount energy.  When one part moves it all moves in some fashion (even at a very microscopic level) and when one part is still it all must be still.  External energy is maximized with this principle.  You can become truly fluid and move like the wind when all parts are truly connected.

But wait there is more!  Internal martial arts deals has an inside to deal with.  You must learn to connect all these parts together as well to generate and build energy then refine spirit.  Without these concepts your internal martial art is merely an external shell of a form.

Without unifying everything your results will be modest at best.  Some people learn to move well, and are truly beautiful and can generate decent amounts of power but they do not work internally so they can never break that glass ceiling of  power generation.  Others work only on internal aspects but let they body go to hell so they can barely move or are sluggish and slow.  This power generated is still modest and in most aspects worse than the external people.  Yin and Yang must balance.  It’s concept, like explained earlier, is easy to say but very hard to actually implement.  Your body, internally and externally, must be connected to generate the true potential of internal martial arts.

16 Principles of Tai Chi

[14] Springiness Lies with Your Knees.

Knees, the bane to most people’s existences.  As you get older your knees ache more and more.  It gets harder to move, harder to get up, and even eventually, harder to get down 😉  They are a main factor in the force you can take or deliver, depending on the depth of bend and alignment of structure.  Do not ignore your knee health!  Its critical to your way of life, the moment you stop moving is when you accelerate your death cycle (BOO!).

The important part of the knees in any internal martial arts is the amount of energy you can give and get with them (along with your other body parts – like your ankle, another part that is often ignored but can provide great effect).    Yang Chenfu was known for his delivery of energy and could launch people.  He had a great springiness within his legs that when connected to his large frame was able to deliver a massive amount of power.

Knees are crucial to leg power and stability.  They must bend, in proper alignment, and  get into a cocked (coiled) position.  The knee will sink into the foot and ground to create a strong root.   It is one of the key body parts to naturally lower your center of gravity; to get underneath someone else’s’ and beat their root. Like a large spring it will uncoil and deliver energy at an accelerated pace to dynamically increase your force.  Have you every just tried to push a large heavy object?  Do you just push your arms out and lean against it? No!  You get into a low position and push out through your legs into your arms.  Without that bend your force is significantly hindered.

Now when your knees are fluid and relaxed you can absorb a great deal of energy.  This is one of the main reasons you will see the big guys get pushed away by small little Chinese men and women,  they are stiff and have no idea how to absorb energy so the great amount of energy they give they cannot accept in return and are ‘thrown away like a rag doll in a wind storm.’

As your energy absorption and delivery gets better your bend can get less and less but it will never go away, and the springiness of your power, whether your 8 or 80, depends on your knees!

16 Principles of Tai Chi

[13] Breath is Expressed at Your Mouth.

Sifu you just said breath through your nose, why you talking about the mouth now? I know I know it’s difficult to understand cryptic messages and what they mean. Students spend years on these things and will always redevelop new answers once they gain a new level of insight.

The easiest answer is this statement has more to do with the lungs than the mouth. In the beginning 😉 lungs bring in the air and nourish the body. They must learn to properly expand (down) and fill with the maximum amount of air that they can comfortably hold (don’t over ventilate please — no Wim Holf method here but that has proven effects as well 😉   You must learn to strengthen your lungs and diaphragm muscle. It must be trained. By bringing in air you are bringing in a form of energy (not the pure stuff but still great stuff ;). It all must be maximized to get any true effect. Without training your breath you cannot get there.

There is also a deeper level in breath training. Some lineages do hen and ha sounds. Others have six different sounds. Monks love to chant. Xin Yi Liu He yells “YI!” Hell even karate people will “HIYA. ” There is something to this sound that if trained properly will help move energy to the correct places in your body. By expressing energy out through your mouth you are using a force to do so, this force, if trained correctly, can multiply your efforts in what you are doing. This occurs naturally, just follow me on this one. When a person lift something heavy, truly heavy, they do not usually remain calm; they strain and yell, it’s a natural reaction! Now if a person learns to harness this, trains it, it will provide even greater effect. I am not talking about doing anything weird or different, just magnifying what occurs natural to better affect your results!

One of my favorite stories comes from Gichin Funakoshi’s book,” Karate-do: My Way of Life ” (Yes a Japanese one, not even Chinese 😉 In it he discusses the great Master Matsumura , who is challenged by an engraver to a fight. Needless to say both challengers learned important lessons and Master Funakoshi was not discussing the ability of Shen and training one’s breath but the skills can be easily identified in this short excerpt:

The engraver suggested five o’clock the two men stood facing each other, a distance of some twelve yards between then. The engraver made the first move, closing the gap by about half, at which point the thrust out his left fist in a gedan position and held his right fist at his right hip. Matsumura, having risen from the rock on which he had been sitting, stood facing his opponent in a natural position (shizen tai), with his chin resting at his left shoulder.

Baffled by the posture his opponent had assumed, the engraver wondered if the man had taken leave of his senses. It was a fighting posture that seemed to offer no hope of defense, and the engraver prepared to launch his attack, just at that very moment, Matsumura opened his eyes wide and looked deep into the eyes of the other. Repelled by a force that felt like a bolt lighting, the engraver felt back. Matsumura had no moved a muscle; he stood where he had stood before, apparently defenseless.

Sweat beaded the engraver’s brow, and his armpits were already damp; he could feel his heart beating with unaccustomed rapidity. He sat down on a nearby rock. Matsumura did the same. “What happened?” the engraver muttered to himself. “Why all this sweat? Why is my heart beating so wildly? We haven’t yet exchanged a single blow!”

Then he heard Matsumura’s voice: “Hey! Come on! The sun is rising. Let’s get on with it!”

The Two men rose, and Matsumura once again assumed the same natural position ha had taken earlier. The engraver, for his part, was determined to complete the attack this time, and he advanced toward his opponent—from twelve yards to ten, then to eight…six…four. And there he stopped, unable to proceed any further, immobilized by the intangible force that flashed from Matsumura’s eyes. His own eyes lost their luster, and he stood entranced by radiance from Matsumura eyes. At the same time, he was quite unable to tear his glance away from that of his opponent; in his bones he knew that if he did, something very terrible would happen.

How was he to extricate himself from this predicament? Suddenly he gave voice to a great shout, a kiai, which sounded like “Yach!” and boomed across the cemetery and echoed back from the surrounding hills. But Matsumura still stood unmoved. At this sight, the engraver once again sprang back startled and dismayed.

Master Matsumura smiled. “What’s the matter?” he called. “Why don’t you attack? You can’t fight a match just by shouting!”

“I do not understand,” the engraver reply. “I’ve never before lost a bout. And now…” After a moment’s silence, he lifted his face and called quietly to Matsumura: “Yes, let’s go on! The result of the match has

already been decided, I know that, but let’s finish it. If we don’t, I’ll lose face—and I’d rather be dead. I warn you, I’m going to attack in Sutemi” (meaning he would fight to the finish).

“Good!” Matsumura called back. “Come on!”

“The forgive me if you will,” said the engraver as he launched his attack, but just then there issued from Matsumura’s throat a great cry that sounded to the engraver like a thunderbolt. As the lightning of Matsumura’s eyes had earlier immobilized him, so now did the thunder of Matsumura’s voice. The engraver found he could not move; he made one last feeble attempt to attack before falling in a defeated heap to the ground. A few feet away, Matsumura’s head was gilded by the rising sun: he seemed to the prostrate engraver like one of the ancient godly kings who slew demons and dragons.

 

To reach such a level as Master Matsumura one would have to train diligently for several years and follow other strict guidelines.   This type of level is legendary and is something not easily revealed; however you have to start at step one. Learning to expand your lungs in the correct direction and fill them with that much vital resource, AIR!

16 Principles of Tai Chi

[12] Breathing Occurs Through Your Nose.

The obviousness of these next two principles give misconceptions about their true understanding.  First off — DON’T BE A MOUTH BREATHER!  Honestly though if one breathes through their nose they can refine it to be long, smooth, and relaxed.  Why long, smooth and relaxed?  Qi follows the breath and this is the way to get the maximum amount of energy through your body coordinated with the breath.

Now there are two primary ways to breath through your nose in internal martial arts; natural breathing or reverse breathing (now there are other breathing methods but most of those are very esoteric and require a great deal of training and belief ;).  In natural breathing the stomach goes out on the inhale and in on the exhale.  In reverse breathing the stomach goes in on the inhale and out on the exhale (reverse the natural breathing- genius name).  Your lineage and master is usually what dictates the method used; no way is better or worse for longterm benefit.  Through most Wudang lineages reverse breathing is preferred as it helps “roll the ball” back up the spinal column and to your headtop on the inhale; then helps draw the energy down into the Dan Tian on the exhale.  The Key point though is the breathing is centered around the lower Dan Tian.   You must draw the breath in deep and build the area.   The diaphragm must pull down, not up and out like most people breath as they get older.  By pulling the diaphragm muscle down you get air and energy into the lower lobes where the most efficient gas exchanges occurs and activates somatic relaxing affects in your body.  This action, along with pushing your belly in, helps squeeze blood into the lower stomach, massaging and nourishing your internal organs and creating a much healthier inside.  Once your nourish the organs and make the energy abundant you can then focus your intent into pooling energy within the lower Dan Tian, creating a powerhouse for health and martial action!

This all starts with the breath though, if your breath is incorrect then your blood will not flow right and your energy will stagnant.  Without all this internal coordination you will not progress very far.  PRACTICE!  Practice constantly – your sitting down at the computer, practice, your walking around, practice, your playing with your kids practice!  This type of breathing MUST become second nature if you truly want to get into the deeper levels of internal martial arts.