Nei Gong
Qigong and Martial Arts
There are three main reasons why most practitioners of Chinese martial arts include at least some Qigong in their training:
1. Many of them believe that it will enhance their overall health, fitness and well-being, which are obviously desirable attributes for anyone cultivating the skills of self-protection.
2. Sets of Qigong exercises can provide very useful warm-ups at the start of a class or training session, stretching and invigorating the body while calming and focussing the mind so that the practitioner is able to let go of outside concerns and give full attention to their training.
3. Qigong exercises can assist in the development of martial skills
How Qigong exercises can improve martial skills:
The whole-body awareness and sensitivity developed during Qigong practice allows Tai Chi practitioners to sense their opponent's intention and anticipate their moves. Improvements in flexibility can help them to flow around an opponent and evade blows and grabs.
The cultivation of a calm mind can also be useful in a fighting situation in order to think rationally, to remain relaxed, alert and in control and to avoid the pitfalls of fear and anger (both of which produce tension, interfere with martial skills and make us do stupid things!)
The control of breathing is very important in martial arts and there are specific Qigong exercises which can help to develop this control. The most useful of these are the Nei Gong exercises, or "iron shirt" techniques, which are designed to increase internal power and make the body strong and more resiliant to blows.
In Chinese martial arts, the kind of breathing used should be Taoist breathing or "reverse breathing". One snag we have found is that many martial artists and their teachers have no idea what that is. Many people just interpret it as the opposite of abdominal breathing or Buddhist breathing (whole tummy in as you breathe out, whole tummy out as you breathe in, which is how babies breathe and is also great for use in some types of meditiation).
However, this is not only a misconception; it is dangerous, particularly when used during explosive Fa Jing movements. If your whole abdomen is forced out during exhalation, it can result in umbilical hernias, heamorrhoids or prolapse of the uterus or bowel. Sadly, a lot of supposed masters have DVDs out showing exactly this and some have famously sustained one or more of the above injuries themselves as a result.
Actual reverse breathing, when done properly, does not have these risks. It is useful for generating power, protecting the body (especially the abdomen) from incoming blows, and it allows precision when delivering a strike or when using a sword in combat.
It is also extremely useful in childbirth during the second stage of labour and it is an aid to mastery of many practical skills and Zen disciplines from painting, drawing and calligraphy to golf, archery, brain surgery or anything else that requires a calm mind and a steady hand. For a detailed explanation of reverse breathing and its applications, see The Yiheyuan Guide to Internal Power - coming soon.
Some Nei Gong training also involves receiving blows to the body, which is invaluable preparation for the fighting arts since it helps to overcome the psychological fear of being hit. This is obviously only done in the very advanced classes and is not currently standard practice in our recreational classes attended by older people!
What to Avoid
1. Overdoing the fa jing.
Even when done properly, it should be practiced in moderation and with all appropriate precautions.
2. Showing off
We are not great believers in the need to prove the efficacy of one's iron shirt techniques by having blocks of concrete smashed over one's head or lorries rolled over one's abdomen. Neat tricks if you know how they work and can pull them off but, apart from the risk of injury or worse, what does any of this prove? If circus performers and Shaolin monks are into this stuff, let them do it while we all get on with some serious training.
3. Empty Force Gurus
There are some people around who claim, for whatever reason, that there is a thing called "empty force". This is the alleged ability to project one's chi out of one's body and issue it through the air, or even through a wall, to hit someone at a distance, to injure them or knock them over without actually touching them.
Now this may or may not be true. We are still open to receiving a shred of scientific evidence to support this claim, if it ever emerges. Many people have provided seemingly spectacular demonstrations of such feats at public events (some of which we have attended) and on You Tube. Some of these people have large numbers of followers and may well be amassing a fair amount of wealth on the strength of this reputation.
However, you may have seen a similar demonstration provided by non-martial artist Derren Brown, on his TV show "The Heist" in which, prior to causing a group of sensible, respectable buisiness professionals (also non-martial artists as far as we know) to rob a security van, he put them in a room, performed a hypnotic induction and convinced half of them that they could issue empty force and the other half that they would feel this force and be knocked over by it. So half of them duly waved their arms around in a fairly menacing manner and the other half obligingly went down like a row of skittles.
Amazing? Not really. Showmen, charlatans and self-appointed "Sifus" have been doing similar stuff for years, usually with their own students who are already under the thrall of their undoubted charisma, or with good hypnotic subjects from the audience.
A famous trick is the domino effect in which you stand people in a line, one behind the other and each with their hands on the shoulders of the person in front of them, and then startle the impressionable person at the front (usually female, frail and easily intimidated) and watch the ripple effect as each person "feels something" and jumps back a bit and the person at the back falls on their bottom.
We have yet to see a convincing demonstration which did not involve the blatant use of hypnotic trance states. One demonstrator we saw had his students so deeply in trance to start with that they looked like zombies hung out on an invisible coat rail. In their daily lives, these students were not only in awe of their teacher but genuinely scared of him and would willingly do the "Yes master, I will bounce for you" thing.
If you have not seen them already, you will find some interesting clips on You Tube in which such individuals are challenged to perform their feats with subjects other than their own students and with insufficient time to induce suitable hypnotic trance states. You can then observe them as they proceed to get beaten up or have glasses of water poured over their heads.
Sorry but, so far, we are generally unimpressed.