Issue 6 £2.00 Qi Magazine November - December 1992 Qi MagazineQi Magazine is produced by the following team: Michael Tse Irmgard Niermann Darryl Tam Daniel Poon We encourage our readers to contribute articles, letters or questions for possible inclusion in future issues. We welcome any enquiries regarding advertising. The front cover shows the famous Qigong Master Yang Meijun. The rear cover shows the restored Western Han painting of Daoyin exercises, which are the earliest forms of what we call Qigong today. You can subscribe to Qi magazine. One years subscription (6 issues) costs £15. Write to. Tse Qigong Centre PO Box 116 South DO Manchester M20 9YN. Tel 061 434 5289. ©1992 Michael Tse. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means without the permission of Michacl Tse.efitorial Michael Tse very month, it seems you can find more and more books about Health, Qigong, or Taiji. For Qigong practitioners this is a good thing to sce. It means we have more information and a wider selection of choose from. At present, we receive many letters and phone calls wanting to know about books and videos. It seems many people are eager to study this way. Many of them already lea from various books and tell me they can feel their Qi flowing, feel warm and many other sensations. My personal opinion is: if you have not been studying Qigong with an experienced teacher, then you shouldn't study from books or videos. I say this because inexperienced people don't understand how the Qi flows inside and so how can they judge the quality of the book or video. If they practise incorrectly then they will suffer from side effects! Once when I was little, 1 bought a Qigong book. | knew Qigong was very good for the body, and assumed it was very easy to study. So I began to follow it. I lay on my bed, relaxed and concentrated on my breathing. Suddenly I heard some sounds. I could not work out where it was coming from and then realised it was from inside me! This scared me, so I stoppea. My teacher later told me: because I concentrated on my body, my brain reacted and created the sound. She also said there was nothing wrong with this, and if I relaxed more then it would not happen again. Maybe that book was good, but at that time how could I know? Qigong deals with the intemal body and Qi. You need a good teacher to guide you. It's not the same as a ‘technica! skill" such as fixing your washing machine. If you get it wrong you can't just stop and start again, Find a good teacher, then you can tell which books are good and which are not. Qi Magazine 1CONTENTS Qi Magazine Issue 6 Editorial 1 Qi News 4 Talk Back 9 Dayan Gong ..- 11 Wing Chun -_.- 15 Chinese Art 17 Michael Tse Chinese Internal Arts Festival Qigong Healing Day Letters & Questions answered Lesson 5 Wing Chun or Qigong? by Michael Tse Chinese Poems The Unfashionable Art by Glen GosslingFATE Dayan Gong - Yang Meijun The last lesson! Lesson 6 Shen- The Spirit of Training by Peter Newton Chen & The Centre Line Principle by Martin D Lavelle Primordial Mentality & Acquired Mentality by Lin Zhongpeng Seminars & Classes Contacts .-- Book Review 20 --- Taiji Qigong 22 --- Shen 24 --. Chen Taiji 26 .-- From China 30 Information 33Chinese Internal Arts ostival the 10th of 0 October 1992 the first Chinese Internal Arts Festival took place. The event, organised by Peter Young, was intended to promote all aspects of the internal arts. The day consisted of demonstrations and a series of open introductory seminars. Following an initial delay things got underway and ran very smoothly. All those attending the event were well treated, especially those who had come along to give demonstrations and seminars. I must thank Peter Young and all his students for_— their hospitality and a very enjoyable day. One running theme throughout the day seemed to emphasis the difference between practitioners of the same styles and how different teachers and their students interpreted their art. Clear examples of this could be found in the demonstrations of Bagua, given by Aarvo Tucker, Professor Ji and a rather intense demonstration by Richard Gillespe. If you were observant then these differences were clear, but it occurs to me that instead of just pointing out the differences why did no one also point out the similarities? IT know that many people are unclear about the differences between Taiji, Bagua and Hsing I, both, technically and in principle, never mind the differences between certain branches of the same art! Throughout the day emphasis was also given to the martial aspects of the internal arts. There were a great many demonstrations of pushing hands = and ~— martial applications, but very few mentioned how there art was of benefit to their health, Observing the audience it was clear to me that this is what many of them wanted. For a long time, many uninformed people only considered styles such as Qi Magazine 4Taiji as a slow health exercise, nowadays it seems that those who know otherwise wish to tell everyone else to a point where they begin to ignore the health side. So perhaps next time those demonstrating should consider this. It may etc was. Each individual style has its roots, its principals, its bene- fits, and for those who know nothing about the internal ‘ arts, why should we _ study them. If you _ want health why not do aerobics? If you * want a martial art sound strange, but many of the demon- strations were to my mind a little too “tough’. What I would have found of most interest would have been some explanation of what Taiji, Bagua, Hsing I then why not Karate? Of those demonst- rating: Professor Ji Jian Cheung (Hangzhou China), Aarvo Tucker (Taiwan), Richard Gillespe (London), and Peter Young (Newcastle) were particularly interesting. Small quibbles aside, the event was a very successful, as I've already said I had a_ very enjoyable day. Role on ‘The Second Chinese Internal Arts Festival't Qi Magazine $a great t jexPericnce for all | _Jattending the two day introduction. Michael Tse opened his ‘secret box’ and demonstrated the Chinese way of healing. He gave us an idea of what energy transmission is , how energy works in the body and how we can maintain the energy flow to stay healthy and full of vitality. Everybody was Jwas eM AV invited to experience Qi (energy) _ transmission. People came forward one by one and took this chance to find out about it. Michael stimulated some acupuncture points or slapped different parts of the body. Then he transmitted his energy through his hands and fingers to places in need: neck, shoulders, back, hips or legs, without touching them, When the energy ran through their bodies some _ people started to move slightly forwards and backwards, others just sat still. The whole room was quiet and filled with an atmosphere of concentration, stillness and harmony. Not only the person receiving Michael's _ transmission, but many could feel his energy radiating out. Qi Magazine 6Some even saw the energy as a blue metallic steam coming from Michael's hands. At the end of cach transmission people were asked to tell something about how they feel. An elder man with arthritis moved his arms and shoulders and found it was much easier and less painful. Another felt a warm cnergy — stream running along his spine coming to his shoulders and arms and making his fingers tingle. Other sensations were mentioned, even a change of emotions: "I feel fresh and energetic now!" a woman said and it was obvious in her face and in her shining eyes when she went back to her seat. Were there miracles going on? Michacl would not have us believe so. He said, Qigong Healing is quite common in China and has good results curing chronic diseases, nervous disorders, weight problems, skin problems orm and allergies, and even cancer is treated successfully with Qigong. “But you can't just rely on your doctor", he pointed out. "Qigong Healing is transmission of energy on one side, but on the other side involves exercises and continued Practise to get benefit." So he taught us some exercises . The chairs were removed and soon the hall was taken up by everybody to follow Michael's movements and explanations. Michael choose exercises from ‘Taiji Qigong’ and "Balancing Gong’: simple but effective movements. The energy began to tun through our bodies. Although some had Qi Magazine 7difficulties in the beginning...up-down...left cright..., after a while the whole group seemed to change into a ballet, moving and enjoying what Michael demonstrated. Michael continued: "In Qigong Healing we have Yin and Yang. So we have movement and meditation.” We formed a big circle, sat upright and relaxed..." Close your eyes, relax your face, relax your top of head”... and his voice led us into relaxation and meditation. It was calming and relaxing at the end of an exciting time. Michacl's demonstration made it obvious how powerful Qigong treatment is and how simple and effective it is to do, When we keep practising we benefit from a strong and healthy body, and are able to overcome and withstand illnesses. We feel fresh and energetic and enjoy life. Inmgard Nicrmann The time has gone by very quickly. Now our magazine is one year old! This success is due to team work, everyone has worked very hard to bring you, the supporters of Qi Magazine, information and knowledge, but we could not have done it without you. Tn future years, we will continue, improve and try to make our magazine world-wide! We will work hard, but we still need your support! Qi Magazine 8I recently read that to practise ‘deep breathing exercises’ between noon and midnight when the energy is Yang and ‘waning’ is of no benefit. Is this true? And that the best hours are 11pm to lam and from 3am to 7am. So are there really people that go to bed at one in the moming, sleep two hours only to rise again to Qigong at three? Any time is good for practising, because each hour is related to our internal organs and channels, Some people don't have much time to practise. They need to choose the best time, 11 o'dlock to 1 o'clock. From 11 am to 1 pm the sun is at its highest and is very Yang and from Il pm to 1 am the sun Send your letters, questions or coments to: Qi Magazine PO Box 116, South DO Manchester M20 9YN. és directly opposite and so is very Yin. So if you practise at both these times you can gather a lot Of Qi and get the balance. Some people like to choose 3.am to ? am as this is when the Oi is at the lungs, which makes the breathing stronger. The other reason is that if you can wake up and practise, not feeling sleepy, at the time when most other people are asleep in bed, then you can overcome the times when the body is at its weakest, so you will become very strong. However any time is good for practising. Good Qigong masters practise 24 hour a day. Is practising Qigong in places where energy is not so good, for example inside a building with no ventilation/open windows and plenty of air conditioning (killing all negative ions) or outside in a polluted city, actually worse for you than if you didn't practise at all i.e. pumping one's body with bad Qi? Qi Magazine 9The place where you practise is of course very important. In New York only Central Park is good for practising, Indoor is not as good as outside because Qj equals air, so opening the windows and letting in the fresh air is one option. But if you practise in an air conditioned room with no open windows for fresh air, or there there is a lot of pollution, you might take in negative Qi When you practise inside you twill feel tired In this situation I suggest you fax a time to go to a nice place to practise, maybe once a day or once every trvo days. Can a person ever do too much Qigong practise so that it is in fact detrimental to their health? No one who practises correctly can do too much Qigong and damage themselves. If you do too much movement, being too Yang, you might exhaust yourself, But for meditation there is no limit, you can do it for a month without ‘waking up’, Ifyou do movement you need to balance it with meditation, I remember reading in an article that you practise in all weathers except rain. Is light rain harmful and if so, why? Also how does wind affect the Qi while practising? Should practice be avoided in very blustery winds? Practising in the rain is not so good. You will get wet and cold. Light rain és OK. It really depends on bow strong your body is Ifyou are strong then maybe you can stand heavy rain. Of course the wind will affect your practise. It is the same as the rain: If it is too strong, avoid it, otherwise you can still practise Obviously it is difficult to practise in high temperatures, under a blazing sun, but what about low temperatures? At what point should Qigong be avoided out doors? The temperature will affect your practise, Very bigh temperatures, under the sun tic, are better avoided. Your body will become too bot and this is no good for practiz, Low temperatures, in the snow etc. It depends on your body: are you strong enough 10 stand it? You should make sure that you don't get cold practising. If your Qj is strong, in bot weather ‘you feel fresh and in cold weather you feel warm. These questions were sent in by Adam Wallace. One of our readers in New York. Qi Magazine 10Dayan’ Gong Lesson: 9” 22. Cloud Hands i. Shift all your weight on to iii, Rotate the palm so that it your left leg. Step forwards with faces backwards. Bring the hand your right leg and open the sole to the back so that the Hegu of the right foot. Keep all your point touches the right Shenshu weight on you left leg. point (kidney acupuncture point) ii. Cast the right hand out, in an iv. Close the sole of your right are, from the left of the waist, foot and shift all your weight with the palm facing up. At the forwards bending the right knee same time twist your waist to the and straightening the left leg. right. Qi Magazine 11v. Repeat for the left side. vi. Repeat one more time for the right. Cloud hands is a very common name in many different movements ¢.g. Taiji. In Dayan Gong extending the hand gathers Qi and brings it to the kidney acupuncture point. Tuming the waist smoothes the Belt Channel and stimulates the kidneys. Opening the Yong Guan point allows the negative energy to flow out of the foot. 23 Brush the Waist i, Step straight through with the left foot (no need to open the sole). Keep the weight on the right leg and the left leg straight. ii. Extend the left arm so that the Lao Gong point of the left hand faces the Dantien. iii. Extend the right hand backwards so that the Hegue point of the right hand faces the Ming Men point. iv. Shift your weight forwards ‘on to the left leg. The left leg should be straight and your right leg light. Qi Magazine 12v. Twist your waist to the left and look backwards. vi. At the same time as ‘Vv, swing your arms around your body, bringing the left hand round to your back and touch your Ming Men with your left Hegu point. Swing the right hand round so that the right Hegu point faces the Skyeye. This movement passes Qi to the Ming Men point and Skyeye. This stimulates the Xiao Zhou Tian (Micro-cosmic orbit) and the kidneys. 24 Drop arms i, Drop the left arm. ji. Extend the right arm straight upwards. |. Stand on your toes. iv. Tum the body to the right side. Qi Magazine 13The following should all be done simultaneously. v. Drop the right hand down, in an are to the waist. vi. Bring the left hand up so that it flicks Qi to the Skyeye & quickly drop back ‘onto the right foot (i.¢. stamp down the right heel) and relax the left leg. This movement stimulates the Skycye to open it. The stamping down the right hee! jerks the body and stimulates the Qi. Qi Magazine 14Wing Chun Or Qigong? rom time to time people ask me “Does Wing Chun have any Qigong?” Many of you may be surprised to learn that the answer is "Yes!" The problem is just that a lot of teachers and students concentrate only on fighting and miss the Qigong side. For example, did you know that the first form ‘Sui Lim Tao’ includes some Qigong? When practising the first part of the form, slowly pushing your Tan Sau out, try to forget everything. Relax your joints and muscles, just keep the thumb closed. From Tan Sau, you change to Wu Sau by performing Heun Sau. ‘Still relax but keep a slight tension in the wrist. Doing the form in this way your arm will become very sensitive and your elbow and wrist will become very strong. We do it this way because this part of the form trains our internal energy. If you do it quickly, then you miss the internal training of the form. When I was fourteen years old and was studying with my uncle, Tse Chiu-Hung, I was not allowed to finish the form quickly. It took me at least forty minutes to do. So, what is Wing Chun Qigong? First you must understand what Qigong is. Within the martial arts we concentrate on ‘internal training’. This is different from Qigong for health. We train the mind, the breathing, position and Many people are suprised when they are told Wing Chun is a Soft’ martial art. Well, this month more suprises are in store... movement, of course we also cover intemal Qi, acupuncture points and channels, Many martial arts have a Qigong side, but during their training they only consider breathing and miss the importance of relaxation. IT have watched many Karate Classes training and how they perform their Kata's. When they perform them they are all very tense. So they quickly become Qi Magazine 15Wing Chun's Standing Posture 1 Stand still. Lift up one leg and slightly bend the other. Keep the raised leg up so that the thigh Is horizontal. Relax the leg as much as possible. Ul Keep the two hands at the centre of your body and relax your shoulders and arms. lv Keep the back straight and look stralght forwards but don't focus and stare at anything. v. Stand as long as you can and then What we do is stand in the correct postures for as long as possible.When you hold @ posture in this way, you will find that your Qi will flow strongly through your whole body. You will become hot, you will sweat and your breathing will become . very deep. All you do is stand as long as you can and relax. Relax your eyes, don't focus and stare at anything. When you can stand no longer, change, e.g. change leg. The longer you can stand the stronger your internal energy . This then is Wing Chun Qigong. If you practise and build up your intemal energy you should be able to stand in the posture for half an hour, no problem! = ——— Michael Tse Qi Magazine 16Tt would seem, that Chinese poetry has drifted out of fashion in the commercial mores of the English litterary ‘scene’. In preparing this article I was shocked to find just how few of the really good translations of Witter Bynner, Amy Lowell, and FlorenceAyscough from the twenties, even Ezra Pound's "Cathy", the book that literally invented Chinese poctry in English, is only available as pat of his “Selected Poems”. More contemporary translators fare scarcely any better: most of Kenneth Rexroth's outstanding translations are out of print, and Gary Snyder's “Cold Mountain Poems”, Perhaps the most surprising of all is that the towering genius of Arthur Walcy, who has done more to bring Oriental literature to the English language than anyone Chinese Poems “Pictures tell a thousand words .” However Chinese characters are | pictures! and poems create pictures. Every movement of your Taiji or Qigong has a poem, so to understand @ movement you must know tls poem! Uf you can't read Chinese then someone must translate it for you. before since (it was Waley who first introduced the Tao Te Ching, the Analects of Confucius, the Monkey, to name but a few of the works that have gained the status of ‘classic’ even in English), has had his poctic translations reduced. to one or two volumes. A sorry state of affairs indeed. It may seem strange to introduce a series of essays on Chinese poetry by talking about translations, but most English speakers, (myself included) don't have a second European language let alone an Oricntal one; so translations for most of us are as close to the originals as we will get. By writing about the difficulties of translating from Chinese to English I hope to give an impression of the intensity, rigour and complexity of Chinese poetry. Hopefully the reader will thus gain a slightly better idea of what the original might have been like when reading a translation. There are many aspects to Chinese poetry that are difficult to translate into each individual poem, such as its wider role in Chinese culture. Chinese literature has an exceedingly long and uninterrupted history, over three thousand years. The Qi Magazine 17pictograms themselves are virtually a symbol of China, in that they have acted asa potent factor in maintaining the Chinese cultural identity, especi- ally during periods of invasion and occupation. ‘Their unique nature proved particularly resistant to appropriation by other languages, while the prolonged stability of the Chinese literary tradition has profoundly influenced all other Asian cultures. The pictograms have also had unique influence on the development of Chinese poetry. There is a great aesthetic consideration given to the beauty of the poem's visual appearance as well as its aural euphony and semantic unity. In China calligraphy has been a considered an art form in its own right, equal to that of painting, for the last sixteen centuries. — It should however, be borne in mind that although appearance was significant it was not a determining factor in the construction of the poem, and that many poems existed as songs prior to their being written ‘out. The pronunciation of the pictograms has also had an effect on Chinese Poctry. The fact that cach pictogram had a mono- phonic pronunciation within a given context, produced an _ incredible variety of homonyms “(words that sound the same: €.g. sea, sce: wear, where, ware ctc.). This created problems under- standing the poem when it was heard without seeing the actual text. One solution to this was the introduction of tones and pitches into pronunciation. Thus, metre in Chinese with syllabic Stresses in English, but with syllabic tones. This tonal aspect of the Chinese language has brought about a special, almost symbiotic relationship between poetry and music. All major types of Poetry were originally Sung to accompaniment. Even where the original musical scores have been lost the poetry is more often chanted in approx- imation of song rather than simply read. The closest comparable European tradition is the Celtic bard. Chinese Poetry is also extraordinary for its compactness. For instance most of the pocms in the Shih Ching (Classic of Songs), the oldest collection ofChinese poems, written in lines of only three or four syllables are long, that are four character words, This is achieved by generally omitting articles, pronouns and conjunctions, with only one or two particular words alluding to highly complex thoughts or situations. It is almost impossible to translate this kind of density into English without massive loss of flow and sense, The first attempt to make English poems out of Chinese originals was by Ezra Pound. Pound did not attempt to find metrical equivalents or thymes. He used the originals as springboards to recreate the poems in English instead of translating them. Pound invented Chinese Poetry in English. "Cathay" is a great success as poctry rather than being literal translations, Many others follow on from Pound's auspicious start. most influential has been Arthur Waley, whose translations are not only poetic but have the accuracy and erudition of a tne sinologist. The most frequent omissions from even the best English translations is the parallelism of the Chinese verses. Yin & Yang forms the nucleus of many Chinese poems: a unity that splits into duality to reunite and divide again. This can most clearly be seen in the Lu Shih form of the Tang Dynasty. These are poems of eight lines of five or seven syllables, the four central lines of which form two _ antithetical couplets: Yin & Yang. In this way the poems of China can comment on a variety of subjects while Tetaining a magical equipoise of philosophical balance. Philosophically , culturally and physically poetry occupies a position at the centre of the Chinese arts, linking literature, music, caligraphy and painting. Chinese poems are unique in that they are art in almost every sense of the word. a Glenn Gossling Qi Magazine 19New Dayan Qigong ecently one of my students gave me a book. To my surprise, there on the cover was my teacher, Yang Meijun. To be honest I didn't know that she had written a book about Wild Goose Qigong. in Engtish. Last-year when I went to visit her she never mentioned it. T remember in 1986, a book was published, in English, about the Wild Goose, Should you come across it , it has a brown cover, with the Chinese character for Qi written in red and it's publisher is ‘Peace Book Co. Ltd’. Also on the cover this book claims to be written by Yang Meijun, but inside on the first page it says it is written by ‘Zu Book Qi magazine 20‘Chang’. An interesting point about this book is that it has no copywright, even though the publishers are in Hong Kong! The fact is this book was not written or approved by my teacher! When she found this book had used her name without her permission she was not happy! Also this book does not explain the movements clearly and misses a lot of details. This is very confusing for its Teaders, Most of the ‘Wild Goose Books' I have seen claim to be written by her, but how many actually are? In 1985 she did write a book which was published only in Chinese. It contained a few photographs of her, one a head and shoulders picture, in which she look very strong and has a lot of ‘spirit’. In another she is practising the "Dayan Sword’ and another shows her healing someone. In this photograph the patient was very sick and is lying on a bed. The interesting thing about this photo is that my teachers palms are very red. This is because her Qi is so strong! This book is abundant in knowledge and not only covers all one hundred and twenty eight movements of the Wild Goose, but is also covers the ‘Kunlun Twining Hands Bagua Qigong’, Kunlun meditations and is rich in Chinese medical knowledge: acupuncture points and channels. This book is also very readable! Now there is an English version. Though not exactly the same as the Chinese version, it is very detailed and covers all the Wild Goose Qigong. It is also similar in that it covers in detail the acupuncture points and channels. This helps you to understand more about the Wild Goose. It also has the Chinese pronunciations of the acupuncture points, so you wont have any problems understanding them. This book shows Yang Meijun in some very beautiful postures and shows how Qigong can keep you healthy and prolong life. The main criticism I have is that the drawings of the movements are not as clear as they could be. The drawings used are actually taken from a Chinese Qigong magazine, which was released a long time ago. Next time I go to visit her I will ask her about this book, and I will let you know what she says a Wild Goose Qigong by Yang Meijun is published by China Science & Technology Press (ISBN 7-504601276IR31) Qi magazine 21OTOL 03) 16 Rotating The Wheel In A Circle. i Backache, ii Low blood pressure. iii Revitalising a tired body. 17 Marching whilst bouncing a ball . i Relaxing the body. ii Revitalising a tired body. Qi Magazine 2218 Balancing Qi (Shou Gong). i Calming down These are all the 18 movements of Taiji Qigong. If you have followed us through the previous movements then you will have benefited greatly. Taiji Qigong covers many aspects of your body. It strengthens the heart, lungs, kidneys, head, spine and even the blood circulation. These exercises are very popular in China, just practise everyday, and then your health will improve . When you do the exercises you will feel the Qi flowing inside the body. Eventually your Qi will be strong enough to keep you healthy and high spirited! Qi Magazine 23Those who begin new things’ are at Jirst very keen. Bul blven afew months, after their tittial COLRUSTASIA has dwindled, how many retaaln? Maybe this tack of saying Power is a cultural Ming. _ How often have you heard the comment “I packed it in because it was too much like hard work". Attitudestowards training differ greatly in the western world from those in other parts of the globe, for one simple reason: we have had it too easy. Britain has most certainly become a lazy nation. We don't have to sow seeds and work the land for our food, as this is all done for us in this pre-packaged ‘off the shelf society we live in. Transport, especially by car has diminished the basic human instinct of walking. I am sure that Shen “The Spirit Of tratning.” oy Peter Newton we all know someone who would rather drive in their car to the local shop even though it is only 100 yards from their home. The problem I wish to highlight is the Noticeable effect this is having on not only our health, but also on our spirit, our Shen. I once trained with a top Japanese Aikido sensei who was asked to draw a comparison between Japanese and _ British students. He said the British are good technically, but weaker in spirit. For reasons I have mentioned above, I Qi Magazine 24believe the famous British Bulldog spirit which has pulled us through so many wars, has become weakened. "Developing spirit- -ual strength (Shen), one of the three Taoist treasures leads us to a healthy mind and body". A person with strong Shen tends to be more an achiever, physic- -ally and emotion- cally stronger, with more patience and durability. Keep this in mind when attending your first Taiji or Qigong lesson. The sifu may tell you that it might take ten years before you fully grasp the principles of the art. This may seem a daunting prospect. In China a student told the same, graciously accepts and sets about training with patience and understanding. Whilst in Britain we would be looking for possible short cuts and expect to become an expert in two years without even taising a sweat. “What we lack is discipline as discipline is feed by Shen. To be the best, better than all the Test, you must try again and again and again.” However lets not be too critical of ourselves, for there are a high number of dedicated students who do accept the doctrine “Those who lack in effort will lack in reward". These _—_ enlightened students do make the sacrifices that are necessary to reach the higher ground from where you look down onto the blinked masses and say to yourself "If only they knew", Chou Shou-hsien a Taoist immortal Stated : "When inordinate desire is banished, no errant thoughts arise. The mind is stilled, the spirit becomes radiant and its brilliance _ illumines all the mysteries of the universe. Then there is no limit to the marvellous powers attained”. So help the uninitiated to find the path to enlighten their Shen, for without our assistance they may drift past and miss the experience. : Qi Magazine 25(Fran Chen & the Centre Line Principle aiji is frequently described as a form of 'm ig meditation’, because when practising the forms we should attempt The centre line principle is a way in to become one with our movements. This which techniques can allows our imagination to place us in be performed more compromising situations in which the efficiently, but it’s not movements we are making will free us from. a movement in its self, Performing the movements while trying to imagine applications for them gives a large . element of realism to the movements, and helps anyone fo improve to promote a strong level of awareness. This their movements. So brings us back to the question, why is the why should it be centre line principle important? important to us? Without an element of realism, we might find ourselves imagining some very infeasible applications for our movements. Imagination is a powerful tool, but experience and realism have to guide it. This is were the centre line principle will help, because it will allow you to make your form movements more realistic and therefore beautiful, This is the only way to reach a high level with your forms, because the Taiji forms contain only very efficient and direct movements. They only seem indirect and flowery to people who don't yet understand their real applications. Centre line awareness is developed during push hands practise, which is also were the ideas we think of during form practice are tested for real. Practical experience reenforces our push hands abilitics, complements our theoretical background, and supplements our practical experience. The whole process Directly it wont help Qi Magazine 26continues again and again, each time bringing us a little closer to our final goals, Without cach other, these elements would remain weak, and a great many things would never make sense. The Centre Line Principle The centre line principle is a feature of many high level Chinese martial arts, because of it's versatility and power. It easily lends its self to grappling and striking arts alike, because centre line awareness improves virtually all types of applications. It can be argued that the most succesful Chinese martial arts invest the most time and care in fem a =_ towards a higher level of skill. (Above, Learning process in Taiji, involving practical] experience, form work, pushing hands and theory: These factors complement each other, developing us sensitising practitioners to this principle, but the centre line principle does not make a fighting art in its self. Many more factors affect the success of a system and an individual. The basic idea is that forces that are directed along the centre lines of our bodies (see diagrams) are more efficient at moving other objects (and therefore stronger) than those which are not. As an example, imagine you are holding a shopping trolley with one hand. You will find that it is easier to move your hand directly towards and away from yourself than to move your hand across your body. When your hand is moving directly towards or away from yourself, it is on one of your centre lines, and it does not cause a twisting reaction against your own body. Conversely, the trolley has centre lines of it's own, and when the trolley is being pushed by your hand, along it's own centre lines, the trolley will move without tuning off to the side, Otherwise the trolley will twist and tum, and you Qi Magazine 27will have to fight (apply much more energy) to direct it. The more able you become at steering the trolley (without resorting to two hands and the use of too much strength), the better is your sensitivity and awareness, both of your own and the trolley's centre lines. In a sense, this is what is meant in martial art SHOULDERS HEAD circles as centre line training, though of course human beings have their own centre lines and characteristics. The philosophy of a martial arts system determines how the centre line principle is exploited. Two relatively clear examples of this are Wing Chun and Chen Taiji. The undoctored Wing Chun system, adopts a largely direct striking approach, and does not tend towards grabbing, [Above, pin diagram of a man holding a shopping) troltey. locking or holding opponents for more than short instances. This is because it is a'Yin' style originating from a woman, and so it favours the soft and efficient use of force. This philosophy has lead to some very direct blocks and parries, which occur very close to the centre line. In many ways it exemplifies the centre line principle. Taiji on the other hand, has a grabbing, throwing, _ rolling, locking and striking approach, and these techniques require very energetic, circular movements to generate them. So how do Taiji's circular movements take advantage of centre line mechanics? The answer partly lies in the principles of torque. In our case that means that if someone is holding something like a shopping trolley (or a human body), it will get easier for them to tum with that weight the closer it is to their body. In other words, suppose you wish to move the trolley in the picture around yourself, so that it faces another direction, you will find that it is easiest to tum the trolley when your arms are fully bent, and hardest to tum when your arms are straight out. It has already been said that the centre line principle is about how to bring forces towards and away from one's self, and so by using centre line control to vary the range, objects and people can be positioned for circular applications. Qi Magazine 28Twinning When circular movements are combined with linear ones, spirals are generated. The spiralling principle in Taiji is a combination of the centre line principle and circular body and arm movements. The circular movements should originate by tuming the body trunk, which mainly involves the strong waist and leg muscles. These inner circles are used by the arms to assist them in their own ouler circular movements. Body trunk movement give a great deal of assistance to arm movements, and in this way more torque is generated at hands Sa > c= and arms. The body trunk assists the shoulders, the shoulders assist the elbow, the elbow assists the wrist and the wrist assists the fingers. This is what the Taiji classics mean when they say ‘the hands follow the body’ (the same is also true for the legs). These circular movements should wavel directly towards their target, using the centre line principles previously discussed, and they should conclude at a point. The most circular part of the spiral should occur closest to the body, because that is were the most torque can be generated, as the arms become further away from the body less torque is possible, and so the circles must become smaller and smaller, finally converging to a focal point. The energy from a twinning movement should travel from the body trunk along your arms (or legs), like a whip's energy wavels to its tip. Only through careful attention to a 7 fundamental (basic) elements, like the centre line principle, can any student become a great master. There are no advanced techniques, only basic techniques done well. Martin D Lavelle Qi Magazine 29ccording to "Miraculous Pivot." one of the two pans of the ‘Yellow Emperor's Cannon of Intemal Medicine, "What comes with life is ‘jing’, and what comes ith two warring kinds of ‘jing’ is called ‘shen’, Here ‘jing’ means “essence”, or the essential materials on which life is built, while ‘shen’ is a general term for mental activities caused by mutual reactions of these materials. This coincides with the philosophic view that consciousness comes from matter, Traditional Chinese Medicine holds that man's mental activities have a dual character. They refer not only to consciousness, ideas, willpower, etc., Primordial Mentality Acquired Mentality and which fall into the category of “acquired mentality,” but also to a system of self-regulation of health which exists in the human body independently of the “acquired mentality" and falls into the category of “primordial mentality.” This is a theory not to be found in Westem schools of medicine. A man's “acquired mentality” is postnatal, referring to the faculties accumulated after his birth and closely related to his intellectual and educational levels as well as to the social circumstances he is in. What is more important is a man's “primordial mentality" which is prenatal, not to be determined by the education he receives or the social experiences he undergoes after he comes into the world. A study on human beings’ blood pressure shows that there are some 900 factors for keeping it at the normal rate of 110- 140/60-90 mmHg. It can be imagined that there must be a self- control system in operation in the human body to co-ordinate these factors, a system that is by far superior to the most sophisticated Qi Magazine 30computer available and works according to a programme. In a certain sense, this human computer and programme are prenatal intellectual powers, which will neither be weakened by literacy nor be strengthened by a doctor's degree. In the human body there are many other perceptible forms of “primordial mentality,” such as body temperature and heart rate, as well as imperceptible forms, such as the internal secretion and immunity systems, which are all self-controlled in regard to their own Re (ie functions, to feedback to probe the mysterious self-control system in the human body, but with little and slow progress. There is still a long way to go to gain full knowledge of the “primordial mentality” as understood in traditional Chinese medicine and science of Qigong. It was held by our ancients that the “primordial vitality” is a guarantee for longevity, for one's fitness level in all stages of life, which is expected to last 120 years. that is to say, everybody can be a centenarian if he gives full play to his “primordial mentality." Yet human beings’ life span, on average is only 40-80 years, which is far below 120. There are numerous causes for this, which can be summed up as external and intemal causes. The latter refers toa man's mentality, both primordial and acquired. As long as the “primordial mentality” is kept in good order, the “acquired mentality” will function on the right track. Sometimes, however, it will go on the wrong track when a person is gripped by onc of the "seven emotions,” namely, ecstasy, anger, melancholy, anxiety, grief, fear and terror. This will in tum interfere with the normal functioning of "primordial mentality" as aself-control system for the maintenance and improvement of physical and mental health, as has been proved by psychological studies in modem times. A person in anxiety invariably shows a — Qi Magazine 31high blood pressure, a fast heart rate and abnormal EEG waves. A professor at Howard Medical School has cited 17 diseases including hypertension, cerebral haemorrhage and cancer as obviously related to mental factors, or to something going wrong with -in the phraseology of traditional Chinese Medicine the ‘Acquired Mentality’ of the human body. In Ancient times, some Qigong experts in religious circles held the extremist view of “removal of intellect,” which actually means the removal of the “acquired mentality" for the full development of the — "primordial mentality"- a view counter to the laws of development of human society and devoid of social values. For the majority of Qigong masters, their goal is to achieve a harmonious union of the “primordial mentality" and "acquired mentality" by reducing the lather's interference with the former. Yet this interference may vary in degree from person to person owing to different social backgrounds. So a great variety of training methods have been worked out through the ages to suit different cases and answer different purposes. Interference is only one side of the picture. On the other side, the “acquired mentality,” if properly guided, will greatly benefit the "primordial mentality.” As a matter of fact, it has a leading role to play in all Qigong exercises, which involves concentration of consciousness, movements of different parts of the body, regulating of breathing in different ways. In the final analysis, all forms of Qigong are meant to mobilise the “acquired mentality" for full release of the “primordial mentality" from bondages. by Lin Zhongpeng Qi Magazine 32