Just doing it!

Lee Davis-Conchie - Face of the Anthony Nolan charity 

Just got back from visiting one of our school's instructors and good friend Lee Davis-Conchie. It was a good day to visit. Lee has been battling leukaemia for the last couple of years. Today he got the fantastic news that he is in remission and is set to have a life-saving bone marrow transplant. Usually people have a transplant after two lots of chemotherapy. This will be Lee's second transplant and he has just finished his ninth lot of chemo - the last lot being particularly hard. What's this got to do with Taijiquan?

Throughout his battle Lee has never stopped training. Staff in the Blackpool General hospital were dubious about him training his spear form after a day's chemotherapy! He has often come to class with a Hickman line sticking out of his chest - I confess to having been ignorant as to what this involved - its a line inserted into a large vein just above the heart, the other end hanging out of the chest, for drug administration etc... Last year he "broke out" of the cancer ward to come to Chen Ziqiang's seminar. In a reversal of the usual end of session photos Chen Ziqiang asked to have his picture taken with Lee, saying that his attitude was inspirational! 

If you looked at his Facebook page you wouldn't see any great fanfare - no breathless announcements

Just doing it!

"yaaaah I'm going out/I've just been out to do some Laojia". Just out with no excuses and doing it. Lee's attitude brings to mind a conversation we had with Tian Jingmiao, disciple of one of Chen Fake's most famous students Lei Muni. She compared Taijiquan training to brushing her teeth - just a normal part of her everyday routine - Nothing to make a big fanfare about.  Real achievement in Taijiquan, or any other martial art, comes from doggedness and consistency. We've all seen the flashes of blinding enthusiasm that have to be shared with everyone else - usually by beginners who shortly afterwards move on to the next thing. Or by those who desperately want others to know they are doing a bit of training. Serious practitioners have long since simply accepted training as part of their normal routine.

Lee is on his way to being a posterboy for the Anthony Nolan Charity, who recently took a series of photos highlighting his warrior spirit. The Anthony Nolan Charity was established in 1974 to create a register of donors willing to donate their bone marrow to people desperately needing a transplant. Since then over 10,000 people have been given another chance of life. The charity is always looking for new people to register as donors...

Is it possible to make a sudden leap forward in skill?

Gradual and systematic progression

"Practice quan a thousand times, the skill will transmit itself"

To learn Taijiquan one needs a gradual and systematic progression, from the elementary to the advanced level. Anyone who goes against this tenet will not succeed! We can't really be any clearer than that, can we? Zhuangzi's Daoist classic summarises the only really effective way to approach learning:: "Neither deviate from your instructions, nor hurry to finish. Do not force things. It is dangerous to deviate from instruction or push for completion. It takes a long time to do a thing properly". Likewise, there is a saying that is often repeated in Chenjiagou that "you should treat ten years as if it were one day". China's rural martial arts have long accepted the need for patience and the acceptance of  following the rules for an extended time.

People often talk excitedly about some breakthrough or other they've just experienced - some discovery or new realisation. These breakthroughs are a natural and normal part of the learning process. But this new understanding means little if it is not then relentlessly trained into your body.The advice left by successive generations of masters is very clear on this point: 

Chen Xin (16th Generation): "All idle talk does is to create a tide of black ink; actually putting it into practice is the real thing".

Chen Fake (17th Generation): "How much you accomplish depends entirely upon how much effort you put in..."

Chen Zhaopi (18th Generation): "Besides having the direction of a good teacher,the main criterion is whether the person himself is willing to put in the hard work".

Chen Xiaowang (19th Generation): "train diligently, ignore tiredness and accept the need for hard work".

"Train diligently and accept the need for hard work"

A few weeks ago, in response to the question as to whether progress is always incremental and gradual, or can it in certain instances also be sudden and fast? Chen Ziqiang's (20th Generation) answer left little room for doubt: 

"... a person should practice diligently and persevere unremittingly. It is not possible to have a quantum leap. This is wishful thinking, a pipe dream. There are no shortcuts".  

Becoming a part of the Chen Village story...

Signed - CTGB the Official UK Branch of the Chen Village School

On July 1^st 2013 Chen Ziqiang, Chief Instructor of the Chen Village Taijiquan School (Chen Taijiquan Xuexiao) and David Gaffney and Davidine Sim, founders of Chenjiagou Taijiquan GB (CTGB) signed an agreement making CTGB the official UK branch of the Chen Village Taijiquan School. This was a proud moment for the school and follows a relationship of nearly two decades.  

We first visited Chenjiagou in the mid 1990s. At that time it was a very different place than today. The two large roads that bisect the village had not yet been laid. The new family temple, the Taijiquan museum, the impressive façade at the entrance of the school were not yet built. There were no western-style toilets or showers. I vividly remember a blisteringly hot July day on that first visit when we walked through the fields to be shown the memorial tablets of some of the most venerated ancestors  - Chen Bu, Chen Wangting, Chen Fake, Chen Zhaopi…  The reverence in which the tombs were approached made it obvious that these were important figures in the history of Chen Taijiquan. But on that first visit they all seemed to blur into each other.  Today they are all comfortably familiar names.  

2003 - The first British group to train intensively in the Chen Village School. Back (L-R): Tim Drummond, 

Meko Parkinson David Gaffney, Neill Baker.Front: Gynn Williams, Mary Shah, Davidine Sim, Dave Ashby. 

After several more visits on our own, in the winter of 2003 we were ready to take the first British group to train intensively in the Chen Village School with GM Chen Xiaoxing.   During our stay Chen Xiaoxing closely supervised the group’s training. Every day the routine was the same - five hours formal instruction and then self-practice to consolidate the keypoints we covered that day. For nineteen days GM Chen worked slowly through the Laojia Yilu routine.   Chenjiagou can be very cold at the end of November. It is situated on flat, open farmland, so there’s little protection from the cold northern winds that regularly blow in. That year it was so cold that the group weren’t interested in buying souvenirs when we got the chance to go into the nearby Wenxian, but all got excited to see some thermal underwear. The largest pair I could get were about two sizes too small and for the next few weeks it felt like training with a spring-loaded crotch!     

Chenjiagou Winter 2003 - it was as cold as it looks!

The first group was eight strong and was joined by two Chinese guys who were in the school at the time – a Xingyi guy who soon picked up the colourful nickname of “Handsome Horse” and a Sanda practitioner.

Since then we have returned to the village just about every year, often twice a year, to study and learn from Chen Xiaoxing’s personal brand of old-school training. To date most of the students from our advanced class have been to the Chen Village School to train with him - some many times. As I write the next group is chomping at the bit for this year's trip in October.

Over the years each trip has had different characters and has left different memories.  One year we were

Training in Chen Dehu's garden

disturbed a few times during training by the regular groups of Taiji tourists who came to look around the village (before getting back in their buses to go to the next place of interest). Chen Xiaoxing was clearly losing patience with the interruptions when he simply said “follow me" and marched off. We followed him out of the school, down the street and into the house that belonged in the past to Chen Dehu. We went through the building into the garden where Yang Luchan had famously learned from Chen Changxing.  In a traditional martial art like Chen Taijiquan its vital that you appreciate the system’s history and your own part as a link between past and future generations. Training that afternoon one could feel a palpable sense of this history. This is the place that Chen Changxing, the fourteenth generation gatekeeper and famous “biaoshi” or merchant guard, trained. Lying on the floor was a stone that he is said to have used to sharpen his weapons and another that was used for strength training. Perhaps it was here that he synthesised the Laojia routines we practise today from the original forms of Chen Wangting?!  In another corner is a well into which Chen Zhaopi had thrown himself, unable to bear the persecution he suffered during the dark days of the Cultural Revolution. Chen Zhaopi is credited with reviving Taijiquan in its birthplace after decades of poverty and natural disaster had seen it almost disappear. 

Chen Xiaoxing - UK 2012

Over time these and many other stories of Chenjiagou have become personal, no longer feeling like legends from someone else’s history. At some point a mental switch took place when we were no longer outsiders looking in, but a part of the Chen village school. Over the years we've watched young students in the school mature into dynamic instructors in their own right. Walking into the Chenjiagou school now is going back to be met by friends.

The story of Chen Village Taijiquan can be traced back to Chen Bu, the first generation ancestor who founded the village at the beginning of the Ming dynasty in the fourteenth century.  In the ensuing years many people played their parts in the Chen Village story: there's Chen Wangting who created Taijiquan; Chen Fake who took the family art from the Village to Beijing; Chen Xioawang in the current generation who took Chen Taijiquan out of China on a global scale.  Our school has played its own part in the Chen Village School story. CTGB brought both Chen Xiaoxing and Chen Ziqiang to the UK for the first time.  Exciting events as they happened,but both of them are now familiar figures to all the students in the school!  At this watershed moment in our school's history I'd like to publicly thank all the people who have helped in our journey so far -and all those that have quietly supported the regular classes and workshops, the seminars with the teachers from Chenjiagou, training trips to Chenjiagou...  

2013 UK seminar with Chen Ziqiang

We're all part of the "martial forest"...

At the moment I'm travelling with Chen Ziqiang on part of his European workshop tour. After taking in France and Spain, we're currently in Poland with Slovenia and our own school in the UK to come in the next few weeks. During the down time between workshops its been interesting to hear his take on training, on attitude and on martial arts in general.

According to Chen Ziqiang, in the past the martial arts community as a whole was referred to as "wulin" or "the martial forest". Distinctions such as "internal" and "external" were not emphasised like they are today. The arts were practical by nature and it was accepted that all martial artists were ultimately looking for the same things: a strong and healthy body; the ability to defend oneself and one's community; and to be able to attack effectively if necessary. Regardless whether a practitioner of Taijiquan started from the training method of slowness and looseness, or a so-called external practitioner from speed and hardness - it was accepted that ultimately they would arrive at the

Valencia workshop hosted by
Paco & Montse Serrano

same place. That is at a point where the body was perfectly co-ordinated; using weapons, the weapon was an extension of the body; movements were completely devoid of stiffness and clumsiness; and the martial artist was powerful, agile and possessed a fully focused spirit.

Chen Ziqiang was quite clear that among high level practitioners there was little conflict as they all knew they were working towards the same goals. Those coming up through the ranks, though, incessantly questioned the methods of other styles and even others within the same style who did not follow exactly the same lineage as themselves. 

During one workshop someone asked why the students of one famous Chen style teacher seemed to lean forward more than the practitioners from Chenjiagou. Chen Ziqiang was clearly exasperated and said, in Chinese, "why do they have to ask questions like this? His answer was "Your teacher has told you what to do, do it". Afterwards he said that this kind of thinking and the need to keep looking at and comparing what others are doing revealed a lack of confidence in their own training. 

Once you have found a path you wish to follow, commit to it. This is the traditional way...

3 correct and 3 incorrect ways to train...

L-R David Gaffney, Wang Haijun, Chen Zhenglei, Davidine Sim - Manchester 2013

Had a chance to catch up with Grandmaster Chen Zhenglei yesterday during his UK visit. I first met Chen Zhenglei in 1997 when I spent several weeks training with him with a small group in Kaifeng. I remember that it was extraordinarily hot and the training was intense. Over the next few years I returned to train with him a number of times and, as well as training us very hard, he was keen that we caught the essence of Taijiquan. Looking back through my notes I see one entry where he spoke to us about the three correct ways and the three incorrect ways to train Taijiquan. Chen Zhenglei advised that we should:

• Train the principle not physical strength
• Train the source not the symptom
• Train the method not the manifestation

Training the principle not physical strength:   Simply training hard is not enough. We must understand and train in line with Taijiquan's principles and philosophy. For example if we are to develop effective fajin we should first learn to "fang song" or loosen our body. Taijiquan's unique brand of looseness allows us to use strength effectively.  We should also understand spiral force, the requirements for each part of the body, how to coordinate the crotch and waist, how to use the floor to employ the system's "rebounding force" ...

Training the source not the symptom: People are often attracted to one particular aspect of Taijiquan - it might be low postures, push hands, fajin, flowing movement... Then they focus exclusively on that aspect. It's all very well taking a low posture, but can you respond from that position? did you get down following the correct spiral path and can you get back up smoothly? Is the posture correct, or have all the body requirements been compromised to get down lower. We can compare this to Chinese medicine - when illness occurs it is not enough to treat a patient's symptoms, instead one must treat the root cause of the illness. In Taijiquan the source is silk reeling movement. We should learn and apply the basics in order to get to a high level. Silk reeling movement is achieved when all movements are circular with no straight lines or acute angles.

Kaifeng, 1997

Training the method not the manifestation:  We must train the whole body as a system rather than training individual techniques. Many learners become fixated on training applications rather than the underlying method. This is like a maths student trying to remember the answer of every possible computation rather than learning the formula to be able to find the solution to any problem. So we have to concentrate on the body as a whole rather than parts of the body. When we do think about any particular part, this should be understood as a process towards achieving the whole body as a system.

This is the traditional way and over the years I have tried to apply this advice. For sure, at first it was not easy to understand the importance of some aspects or requirements, but with time you come to realise that everything is there for a reason.  

Why do the teachers all do it differently?

Chen Xin

I've been asked many times why do the teachers all do it differently? One of the most puzzling things to many Taijiquan students is why the teachers from Chenjiagou all seem to be so different. After all they trained with, for the most part, the same teachers, how is it then that they come to look so different?

First lets be clear what we are looking at. Chen Taijiquan is an internal martial art where every movement is led by one's intention. Chen Xin used the analogy of a writer composing an essay to illustrate the use of intention: "As the pen moves it carries the intention of the writer, producing on paper what the writer intends. What the mind plans, the hand writes. The writing requires the full attention and complete focus of the writer".

Concentrating upon details during a workshop at the Embrace
the Moon Taijiquan School in Seattle, USA

As Taijiquan students begin training they have to concentrate very hard on what to do as they are doing it - where the weight is, the position of the hands, angle of the body etc etc... As a result, the mind can become tense and movements can become disjointed and not free flowing. It needs an extended period of persistent practice to become natural, unforced and uninhibited.

To go back to the writing analogy. If we think back to how we first learned to write. First we were shown the letters of the alphabet. We were taught the rules of what made an "a", what made a "b"... and so on. We would painstakingly copy out a letter over and over again until we fulfilled the rules for each particular letter.  Then we would begin to string the letters together to form words, spelling each out carefully. In time we would "suddenly" be writing fluently and effortlessly. Taijiquan follows the same process. First learning the rules for each part of the body, learning how to move in the required way. As the requirements become second nature and we are no longer concerned with where the hands should be, the angle or direction, where the weight should be, our movements become "internalised".

Learning Taijiquan's rules for each part of the body
- Lecture at the Taoist Sanctuary of San Diego

We are not surprised when each of our classmates develops their own distinctive handwriting. As long as they continue to stay within the principles we can understand what they write. The same should hold true when we see the differences between the Taijiquan masters. Anyone who finds it difficult to reconcile the variations between Chen Xiaowang, Zhu Tiancai, Chen Xiaoxing, Wang Xian, Chen Zhenglei  et al... is perhaps guilty of confusing the manifestation with the method.

...It's harder to find a good student?

Davidine Sim

Traditionally, in the world of Chinese martial arts, if students wanted their teacher to take an interest in their development it was understood that the onus was on the student to demonstrate their commitment. Not just in words, but in action - by invariably showing up and giving 100% - not just showing their face when it was convenient. In this post I'd like to share an extract from an article by Davidine Sim on the nature of the student teacher relationship:

...It's harder to find a good student?

I didn't understand this statement until I became a teacher myself. In the 15 years that I've taught the truth of this statement has become more apparent and valid.  The first part of this statement is " It's hard to find a good teacher".

My teachers must have been tired of seeing my face.  I was an ever present 'stalker'. I was indiscriminate in my attendance - the thirst for understanding this fascinating, complex and hugely misunderstood discipline meant that I went to all the classes I could go to, irrespective of what the teaching programmes were.  As I progressed 'up the rank', I continued to line up with the beginners and repeated what I've done countless numbers of times, always discovering some new aspects of the art as I did so.  I'd like to qualify that I didn't do this under duress.  I genuinely enjoyed, and still enjoy, the energy of being in a class, of  being guided  into postures that I would  hold until the legs scream for release and the body loses the essential quality of relaxation.  Or until the teacher tells me to move.  For me it was inconceivable that there would, indeed could, be a class without me!  

I've 'stalked' my teachers to over 20 cities in different parts of the  world.  I did not inform my teacher that I

Davidine Sim being guided by Grandmaster Chen Xiaowang - 1998

was coming, I just went. After all, when you go to school you don't inform your teacher each day that you're turning up.  Nor do you take time off whenever you feel like it.  I did not discuss my 'lesson plan', nor did I tell the teacher what to teach, or what I 'preferred' to learn. The teacher knows the curriculum!  There's always something new to learn.  Some aspect one can improve on.

A good student therefore is not the strongest, fittest, youngest, most intelligent.  But the most interested and committed.

The relationship between a teacher and a student develops over time.  Not in term of months, but years.   A student's commitment to training, in actions not in rhetoric, and his/her attendance, for self-development and not for association, earns a teacher's respect.  Yes, respect goes both ways, although it takes different forms.  This respect manifests in the teacher taking the student's progression seriously - by proper, appropriate and timely instruction and guidance.

The traditional way- harder to learn, but worth the effort!!!

The decline of traditional Chinese martial arts in China (including Taijiquan) was reported in a recent edition of the Economist magazine of all places. Not the usual place you would expect to find a critique of  the state of play in the motherland. An article titled "Ain't that a Kick in the Head" spoke of the rapid rise of modern forms of  martial arts like Brazilian Jujitsu and of the popularity of recently introduced MMA events and their effect upon the home-grown systems. The article stated that:

"Traditional kung fu, incorporating different styles such as Wing Chun, Shaolin and Tai Chi, though still popular, has been in decline for decades, because of a one-two to the head, first from Maoism and now from commercialism. Youths with smart phones and short attention spans have no time for breathing exercises and meditation". The article concluded that: "Many Chinese people still have a soft spot for the history and discipline of traditional kung fu. But, as in many areas of modern China, the new, the brash and the million-yuan cheque pack a bigger punch".

An 8 year old Chu En Sian (2nd from right) pictured about 1935

 I had an interesting conversation in Singapore a few weeks ago with 86 year old Chu En Sian who trained in traditional Chinese wushu at an early age. She was disappointed with the simplification of the old ways of training and was quite clear in her opinion (and I completely agree!):  "The traditional way is harder to learn, but it is worth learning. Everything in the traditional method is there for a reason and you can't get the full benefit by simplifiation and discarding pieces from it"!

People often justify this simplification with reasons like - "the more people who know about it the better",, "students are not able to do the traditional way", "in today's busy world people just don't have the time", "once they start doing the simple way they will realise how good it is and then get serious", etc etc. But honestly, how many people who are only prepared to do Taijiquan if it is simple ever go on to do the "real" thing - not many (IF ANY)!

As Mdm Chu said, every aspect of the traditional arts is there for a reason - following the rigorous traditional method a firm foundation is first laid down. When I first travelled to China in the 1990s to train with the Chenjiagou teachers I asked many of them what I needed to do to make the best progress. Invariably the teachers said "practice Yilu". That was what they and generations before them had done. With the establishment of a firm foundation the scope for improvement in all aspects of Taijiquan is unlimited. Done in the time-honoured way Taijiquan maximises the potential of the human body, increasing both the health and martial capabilities of those who really dedicate themselves to it.

Chen Zhenglei's 1st International Training Camp Hebei 1999 - 10 days of intensive training of Yilu and Tuishou                  L-R David Gaffney, Liu Yong, Gou Kongjie, Chen Zhenglei, Davidine Sim, Fang Xiangdong

Look at the sayings passed down for generations:

"Drink the water of Chenjiagou your legs will surely shake"

"You must be prepared to eat bitterness"

"One day's chill doesn't result in three feet of ice"

"One day of practice, one day's skill"

"Three years, small achievement;  five years medium achievement; ten years, great achievement"

"Don't go outside the door for ten years"...

So, no it is not easy! It is complicated, physically challenging and to get real benefits it needs long-term committment! But, for the reasons mentioned, I believe that the traditional way, with all its complexities and demanding requirements, is needed more today than ever.


 I'd like to plug the website of the Journal of Asian Martial Arts
This is a great resouce with a section dedicated to traditional Chen Taijiquan. Currently there are 15 articles about Chen Taijiquan:

Three Techniques of Dantian Rotation in Chen Taiji: Internal Energy Techniques and Their Relationship with the Body’s Meridians by Bosco Seung-Chul Baek

Tensegrity: Development of Dynamic Balance and Internal Power in Taijiquan by Michael Rosario-Graycar and Rachel Tomlinson

Chenjiagou: The History of the Taiji Village by David Gaffney

Overlapping Steps: Traditional Training Methods in Chen Village Taijiquan by David Gaffney

Dripping Oil onto Parchment: Traditional Taijiquan Form Training in Chen Village by David Gaffney

Comments on Selections from Chen Xin’s Illustrated Explanations of Chen Taijiquan with Commentary from Chen Xiaowang by Stephan Berwick

Going Beyond the Norm: An Interview with Chen Taiji Stylist Wang Xian by Asr Cordes

An Introduction to Seizing Techniques in Chen Style Taijiquan by Yaron Seidman

Chen Xiaowang on Learning, Practicing and Teaching Chen Taiji by Stephan Berwick

Taiji’s Chen Village: Under the Influence of Chen Xiaoxing by Stephan Berwick

The Nurturing Ways of Chen Taiji: An Interview with Yang Yang by Michael De Marco & A. Edwin Matthews

Mind-Body Connections in Chen Xin’s Illustrated Explanation of Chen Style Taijiquan by Miriam O'Conner

Internal Training: The Foundation for Chen Taiji’s Fighting Skills and Health Promotion by Adam Wallace

An Encounter with Chen Xiaowang: The Continuing Development of Chen style Taijiquan by Dietmar Stubenbaum

A Brief Description of Chen-style Master Du Yuzi by Wong Jiaxiang & Michael DeMarco

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting - Except for the Taiji Guys!!

martial arts pioneer E.W. Barton-Wright

Sat back to watch BBC4's - Timeshift, Series 12, "Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting: The Rise of Martial Arts in Britain" last night. Its promo looked promising - 

Ticky Donovan

"Timeshift, the black belt of the archive world, takes a look at the rise of martial arts in Britain. From the early days of bartitsu, through judo and karate to kung fu, Britain has had a long and illustrious involvement with the martial arts. Gold medals have been won, Sherlock Holmes's life has been saved and aftershave has been worn - all thanks to the martial arts".

 

Judo pioneer - Sarah Mayer

Over the course of an hour the programme documented the early days of "Bartitsu" a Victorian Ju Jitsu inspired self defence system for gentlemen introduced by martial arts pioneer E.W. Barton-Wright. Bartitsu was such a hit that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had his hero Sherlock Holmes use it to save himself in a fight to the death with his arch-enemy Moriarty. Sarah Mayer the first non-Japanese woman to get a judo black belt in famous Butokukai club in Japan- from Jigaro Kano the creator of Judo no less. The deadly skills of Captain W.E. Fairbairn used by the British special forces in the Second World War. Those who think that cross training is a new phenomenon had obviously never heard of Fairbairn -versed in Jiu-Jitsu, Kodokan Judo, French Savate, Cornish Wrestling, Western and Chinese Boxing. Ticky Donovan the coach who developed the British Karate team into a formidable force that won the world championships 5 consecutive times - a feat not even the Japanese could manage. You get the general idea...

Fairbairn's devastating combat techniques

Finally in the closing minutes it got to "Taiji". Panning into a group that looked as if they were on their last legs in some anonymous old people's home the narrator dismissively concluded: "But martial arts has also evolved in the opposite direction, towards methods that seem as far away from combat as possible...slow moving zen-like type of exercise...for those least inclined to want to know anything at all about fighting"! 

There it is, the martial heritage of Taijiquan dismissed in a sentence! So what happened to the legacy left by the great Taijiquan masters of the past - masters of all styles of Taijiquan:  Chen Fake who single-handedly stood against the "Red Spear" rebels; or Yang Luchan dubbed "Yang the Invincible" for his peerless fighting skills; or Sun Lutang, Wang Peisheng, Chen Zhaopi....

More people than ever are doing "Taiji" but obviously somewhere along the line the martial aspect of Taijiquan is being lost in transmission. It is great that people of all ages can train TaijiQUAN, but where is the QUAN. There is a danger that as more and more people accept the above perception it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.  

CTGB Cannon Fist training!

 

No internal without external...

The physical strength of Fu Zhengsong is evident. 

Fu was a famous master of Bagua who first learned

 Chen Tauijiquan under 16th Generation Chenjiagou 

master Chen Yanxi

To the average western Taijiquan student neigong or "internal training" can seem esoteric and is often over-emphasised. In Chinese Martial Arts: A Historical Survey Brian Kennedy and Elizabeth Guo describe internal training as follows: "Neigong includes exercises to train such qualities as coordination of muscle groups to act as a single "whole", the ability to coordinate the breathing along with movements and the ability to stay relaxed and responsive in a confrontation. These exercises are called "internal" because they do not involve any obvious external actions". 

In Chen Taijiquan the following are all critical parts of internal training: 

• Fang Song - loosening the body by relaxing the joints
• Peng Jin - an outward supportive strength
• Ding Jin - upright and straight
• Chen - rootedness
• Chansijin - reeling silk energy

But all traditional Chinese martial arts involve a balance of internal and external methods. Without an external basis this internal development is of limited value. ""Coordinated strength" means nothing if you don't have any strength to coordinate".

18th Generation Chen Taijiquan exponent Chen Zhaopi divided the training process into three distinct stages:

First training the body externally concentrating upon the extremities - this stage involved intense physical practice to "open up the joints". This stage, he said, should take about five years to accomplish - five years of daily training under the guidance of a knowledgeable teacher. This stage was deemed successful when:

Stamping the foot in Jin Gang Dao Dui should sound like thunder

Punching during Yang Shou Hong Quan should make a sound like the wind

Leaping up to do Er Ti Jiao, the kick should be able to reach seven or eight foot into the air...

While these past Chinese teachers did express themselves in flowery terms, I think we get the picture - at the end of this first stage a practitioner is strong and agile. While this probably sounds heretical to many Taijiquan practitioners today, Chen Zhaopi was adamant that: "If first you don't train this type of brute jin, the body's joints will not be opened up and flexible. As a result, the neijin (internal energy) cannot be stimulated".

Push hands training with Chen Ziqiang - Some basis of strength and conditioning is necessary to
successfully apply the qualities of rooting and sinking against a 110kg opponent! 

Only when the first stage was complete  were practitioners deemed ready to enter the second stage of working towards understanding neijin. Since he was responsible for training the current generation of Grandmasters from Chenjiagou his advice is probably worth listening to. This is in line with a previous post where Chen Ziqiang listed the four qualities necessary for success in traditional Chinese martial arts as: strength, constitution, technique and finally gong. 

Is calmness possible in the digital age

On the flight from the UK to Singapore yesterday I was browsing through the in-flight magazine and came across an interview with Nicholas Carr - Pulitzer Prize finalist, author of The Shallows:What the Internet is Doing to our Brains. The following quote from Carr struck me as very relevant to Taijiquan training/teaching/learning today:

Taiji in a digital age!!!

"The nature of the Internet and other digital media is to encourage us to take in as much information as quickly as possible. What the net doesn't encourage, and I think what it is stealing from us is the ability to engage in calmer, more attentive ways of thinking, the kind of thinking that requires us to screen out distractions rather than indulging them. It's not just deep reading, it's also contemplative and reflective kinds of thinking and introspection. As a society, I think we are devaluing calmer, more focused ways of using our brains".

This presents a serious challenge to today's Taijiquan players. Talking to the current grandmasters it is clear that they faced many challenges on their own journey - famine, political upheaval, poverty.... It is also clear that in better times, life in Chenjiagou had few distractions and a slow and calm lifestyle that lent itself to the prolonged steady training through which the real traditional skill could flourish. 

In the same magazine there was another article in the business section citing"mindfulness" programmes that had been successfully introduced. By Olympics athletes, US marines and large corporations such as Google, Shell, GlaxoSmithKline, KPMG, Carlsberg... With the likes of the Harvard Business Review reporting on a modern epidemic of ADT - attention deficit trait - in the workplace, the article suggested that the need for mindfulness was an idea whose time had come. The symptoms of ADT cited included: distractability, impatience and difficulty with organisation and prioritising. Not traits likely to help one's Taijiquan development!