Tag Archives: IMA

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

[4] Energy sinks to your elixir field.

The elixir field; the cinnabar field; the lower Dan Tian.  Different names, same meanings depending on your lineage and tradition of learning.  The important part to developing true skill is gathering your qi or energy into this area for later use!  Why do I need Qi?  Well Qi is life, you use energy in all things and gather it from all places.   However, the pure stuff though is from your essence, that’s the stuff that can give you wings ;)!  Sure you can learn to relax, breath smoothly, and move perfectly; these skills alone will put you a step ahead of most and give you a very long and healthy life.  But there is more…

This more is why most people look towards internal martial arts, a deeper side that nurtures and improves the body into old age.  Lets be honest, kicking someone’s ass is actually relatively easy and can be learned through a variety of methods , i.e. jujitsu, boxing, wrestling, karate, tae kwon do, etc; in a relatively short amount of time (3 months to a year)…  What the enlightened few look for is that more intellectual method;  the method that involves building your Dain Tian into a powerhouse and finding health and happiness.

To do this you must focus your intent on your lower Dan Tian.  Its location is about 1.5-3 inches below the navel and 2-2.5 inches inside the body (depending on your shape and size ;).  You must put your mind into your lower Dan Tian and focus your energy there.  This not only helps you truly clear your mind and get you into a flow state, it provides numerous health benefits.  Your body relaxes, your breathing and heart rate will slow down, blood will flow there–nourishing organs, your senses will focus inside and you will find tranquility!  There the energy will build and develop, building the jade pill which can nourish the body and develop the spirit.  It must become second nature!  The more you devote your time and intent to it, the greater the benefit; even as you read this blog you should put your mind into your lower Dan Tian and breath into it!  Its not an easy process and neglecting it even for a day has set several masters back from true attainment.  Hell that’s why monks go into the mountains and face walls because developing this is a very important step into gaining immortality, without it no other step can be accomplished.  Every internal martial and qigong art has this concept of developing your lower Dan Tian.  Its theory is simple, but its practice is arduous and demanding!

16 Principles of Tai Chi

[3] Spirit courses through your spine.

Oh the spirit!  A level many enjoy talking about but few actually reach.  Shen or Spirit is a more esoteric level and dives into the stranger side of internal martial arts.  Some discuss Shen as your vigor, emotions, or hormones, but I believe they miss the mark.   The classics talk of very few people attaining such a great feat,  Masters like Li Nang Ren (Xing Yi), Dong Hai Chuan (Ba Gua), and Yang Lu Chuan (Tai Chi) were said to obtain such a level through diligent practice, concentrated effort, and humble ability.    Shen must be produced and nourished through our intention of raising Qi into the Upper Dan Tian.  This is where the magic will happen.  Now to accomplish such a feat a person needs to follow the protocol and work first to convert essence (jing) into Qi and store their Qi.  Once they have accumulated Qi in your lower Dan Tian and 5 organs (throughout your body); you can work towards developing your Qi into Shen and bringing it into your Upper Dan Tian through the Du meridian (GV vessel).

Now a person might ask me, “Sifu, can’t I just go right to Shen development?”

“NO!”  Without the proper buildup and accumulation of resources your Shen will be weak and frail, incapable of the abilities an internal martial artist truly desires.

Once your Shen is strong and vibrant your eyes will shine and your mind will be clear.  From here the deeper levels of joining the void can be explored in which you will know and see all things, thus allowing your movement to become without  intention and demonstrating uncanny abilities.

I will leave you with this final excerpt from Sun Lu Tang’s book “AUTHENTIC EXPLANATIONS OF MARTIAL ARTS CONCEPTS” (Translated by Paul Brennan in 2013) about Li Nang Ren:

“In the same county was a certain man who came top in the imperial military exams. His body was strong and he was an extraordinary man, also an expert in boxing arts. With Li he was simple and friendly, but of Li’s martial art he was secretly unconvinced. He always wanted to challenge others, but when he was on such friendly terms, he was too shy to say so. One day they were conversing in a room, talking and laughing like everything was normal. But he began to decide to test Li after all, and with the intention of catching him totally unprepared.

When he acted, he took advantage of the unexpectedness of it, sneaking up behind Li to clutch him and forcefully lift him up. And as he extended a hand, his body was already soaring diagonally upward, his head went into the ceiling, and then he fell back down with both feet standing on the ground rather than falling down.

He suspected Li of sorcery, but Li informed him: “It’s not sorcery, it’s just that at the highest level the boxing art is a spiritual skill. As it is unperceived, it seems miraculous and beyond your comprehension.” From that point, his contemporaries dubbed him “Magic Boxing” Li Nengran.”