Since the 1970s there has been a common dichotomy of martial arts practitioners presented to the public. On the one hand you have the big, tough, often brutish type- a well muscled guy who maybe yells and moves with lots of speed and intensity. On the other hand you have the gentle, leaner type who moves with grace. He is thoughtful and probably meditates. This latter has “internal power” that is much stronger than the muscular strength of the big man. But does one type of energy necessarily exclude the other? Can they not co-exist or even facilitate one another?
chi 101
If you study Chinese martial arts you’ve invariably been exposed to the concept of chi. Japanese call it ki, Indians pranna and ancient Greeks ether. While there is some cultural variation in the concept the idea is more or less the same. Our physical selves are regulated by an inherent, internal energy flow. It is omnipresent and ever moving, until we die. Balance or imbalance of this energy force is the cause of health and/or disease. When you are injured there is a chi blockage or stagnation in a specific area. Practices such as acupuncture, reiki and certain types of massage seek to externally stimulate this internal force in order to return a body to balance and/or optimize its function. Internal work such as chi kung and certain types of yoga or meditation seek to stimulate and/or regulate this force from the inside. If chi exists everywhere at all times, wouldn’t all types of physical endeavor stimulate it? At least marginally?
harmonizing eastern and western concepts
Chi is a tricky concept to define, much the less understand the nature of. This becomes doubly tricky for a Western mind. If you think about it logically however, it is not that far out of synch with the modern Western conception of medicine. We are beings in constant internal movement; even when we sleep. Breathe, digestion, thought, blood flow all occur non-stop until the moment we die. If a part of our body is shut off from these processes for too long it dies- lack of blood to a limb for example will result in tissue death. All of these processes are regulated by a complex system of bio-chemical and electrical impulses sent through the central nervous system. The better health we are in, the more efficiently these function which in turn increase our health further and enables our bodies to do different, more complex and precise actions. When you do external training- running, strength training, swimming, kicking and punching drills, et cetera- you stimulate your muscles and cardiovascular system directly. This in turn stimulates your skeletal structure and your central nervous system. Study after study have shown that intense physical exercise is beneficial for circulation, lung function, bone density, range of motion and among many other things, cognitive function. So if chi regulates all these things and is intimately involved in their function, doesn’t it stand to reason that the causal factor in their improvement would also impact chi’s circulation and strength?
final thoughts
It seems to me that if chi is involved in all life activity, then all life activity should in turn affect chi. It is your energy source, it cannot exist in a vacuum from all other activity. Even if it is a form of exercise not traditionally associated with chi, chi still must be present and used to perform it. As well, when the outcome of that exercise permits increased physical function, chi is able to better move. Still, external work must be imprecise in this outcome. It works “from the outside in” in a sense- developing the physical structures through which chi moves. Internal practice on the other hand works implicitly with chi, regulating it’s movement and strength. Also, certain internal practice will allow the practitioner to have increased awareness and control of her chi. The next question is, if external training increases internal strength does internal training increase external strength? In the next installment, we will look at this question as well as how to harmonize the two sources.
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