Previously I have told you how my acquaintance with the so-called martial arts came about and it mayl be clear to the reader that by now I must have developed a somewhat more than superficial fascination for them. Still I wouldn't call myself a 'martial artist' or 'warrior' like some practitioners who seem to wear such names like a badge of honour. It should also be noted that my interest in the practice of these arts was initially and to a large extent fueled by the philosophical aspects of the internal arts such as aikido or tai chi. Thus we will rather soon stumble upon concepts such as the relationship between body and mind, (life) energy and/or internal power.
And it happened to be precisely that relationship between body and mind and the somewhat vague concepts of chi or (life) energy and internal strength that fascinated me. Wanting to obtain a deeper understanding of that by experiencing it personally (the two are inextricably linked in this case) was an important motivation for me to get involved in a certain type of martial art. And I am quite certain I am not the only one who does. In the previous episode, I mentioned that according to Wikipedia, hundreds of millions of people worldwide practice some form of martial art. Assuming that the main purpose for which people do so can be manyfold and taking in account what I see around me, I assume that there will also be tens if not hundreds of thousands among them with a similar drive or motivation as myself. Motivated by what?; or what are all these people actually looking for?; What is it they want to find or achieve? The common denominator here is what I would call, and what is usually described as 'internal power', 'internals' or 'internal work'. Just to give it a name, right?
Although most of what may be said about this theme will sound like abracadabra to most people, it is widely discussed and debated by a certain group of martial artists on forums such as reddit, aikiweb, many a blog and increasingly on various facebook groups. What may strike the interested layman mostly while reading discussions on such forums is that this subject can apparently be approached in different ways, described in different words and that complete agreement and unanimity among the experts is usually hard to find. But that just seems to be the nature of the beast.
To give just one example: in Yuinshinkai aikido we speak of the movement of the tanden balls and in Yan Shou Gong we speak of engaging the 'strings' (as in the ‘anatomy trains’ or the ‘movement chains’ according to Thomas Myers) Different words and models that will conjure up different images that at the same time end up provoking and producing an almost identical effect on the body and the internal state of the body. This immediately illustrates the great difficulty in talking about or describing this so-called internal power. According to many, it is rather a state of being that, by definition, cannot be captured in words. And language not only sheds light onto reality, but can also disguises and colours it through for instance implicit and ingrained ideas and judgments. But we happen to be linguistic creatures who simply feel the need to put everything into words.
Now, there are written sources to be found that are specifically about cultivating this internal force. A good example of this are the so-called Tai Chi Ch'uan Classics. An old collection of texts that is closely intertwined with Daoist worldview and philosophy. Susan Foe starts off the preface to The Essence of T'AI CHI CH'UAN - The Literary Tradition with:
“ Translations should be both poetic and literal, yet frequently one ideal must be sacrificed to the other. In translating literature like the T'ai Chi Ch'uan Classics, which is a collection of writings spanning almost one Thousand years, there are many problems. For one thing, classical Chinese is terse, even telegraphic. Many characters have both concrete and abstract meanings so even simple sentences resound with allusions and imagery. Each aphorism echoes in the readers mind, creating overtones which stimulate new ideas and amplify old ones. “
To conclude after a few pages with the words:
“It is the hope of the authors that readers will not only appreciate the Classics for its beauty and wisdom, but will be stimulated to continue the tradition of adding their own insights and commentaries. Susan Foe”
Eastern texts may often sound rather flowery and poetic to us Westerners, but I think that the reader of the classics will still be surprised at how much still resonates clearly and comprehensibly from these concise texts from so long ago.
There are of course also people who have no affinity texts and words like these and would rather prefer concrete descriptions and instructions based on Western parlance and logic. These days there is enough to be found in writing for them to get introduced to the matter. A good example of this might be the work of Paul Linden. His book It's All the Same Except for the Differences unfolds in Paul's own words:
"an analytical, linear and rational method to bring about the development of intuitive, graceful and holistic forms of movement".
That to me seems to capture and aptly summarize the great merit of his methodology as described in that book, namely, how to arrive at a certain intuitive and holistic state of consciousness without having to rely on esoteric or poetic language, but through linear and analytical thinking and empirical research. Which was sufficient reason for me to actually translate this book into Dutch. (see here)
So anyway I'm going to attempt to say a few things about this subject. My words here are not those of an expert or a master in this field, but those of an interested layman and amateur who wants to get a handle on things and trying hard to make it his own. In doing so, I draw on my limited knowledge and experience with this internal work and on what I have learned or heard from all those teachers I mentioned in episodes 4 and 6. I hope that in doing so I am not only serving myself, but it may also be of use to someone else with an interest in these matters.
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