Innere Kampfkunst - Ein Statement
What is Internal Martial Arts?
In my search for Internal Martial Arts, I met many fake Masters! Many did tricks to try and impress with with their Qi power, and more and more nonsense. I was very dissapointed that many of these Masters would not "touch hands" and show how their wonderful Qi power was expressed in the real world. Some of these masters had some good skill, and you could tell they were legitimate martial artist, however it was no different from any external martial arts I had seen. I had heard of all the extra ordinary things these masters could do, and when put on the spot, their tricks only worked on there students.
Internal arts were REALLY shown to me by maybe one or two good guys that I met during my search in both New York, and my trips to Los Angeles. Of course I have a bias toward my own teacher, but I must give credit to the few others. I highly advise people searching out Internal Arts, not to be fooled, or consumed by things read in books, or seen in movies. Internal Arts are about hard work, not just sitting in meditation, and being a superhuman. I have seen more than enough so called Internal teachers get embarrassed by a western boxer!
My opinion on Internal Arts is different from most people I have talked with. I believe that Internal training is about using your body to it's maximum potential. You must lose the tension in the body that has been accumilated through life, from work, injury, stress, bad posture, etc, in order to use your maximum power and elastic power. This can take many years, and very few people ever do it. I am working on it myself, and it is not easy. I had many injuries from grappling, causing muscle spasms and knots, which caused other muscles to compensate for the injured area,which in turn lessened my maximum power. You really have no idea how misaligned your body structure is, unless you get it evaluated. In order to use you maximum power, the mind and the body must be aligned, and there can be no hesitation, the heart and mind(xin yi) must be in order! The proper muscles must be trained over many years to develope power from the core!
I do not believe in standing in one posture for long periods of time, as many other internal branches teach. I believe that no more than 15 minutes of holding one posture is neccessary. Many branches teach one posture, and say that you need to stand there for up to one hour. This is great for rooting, however every student has a different negative holding pattern in their body, different injuries,etc. One posture cannot help everyone.One posture can actually make the person worse. Santi is the basic posture for Xingyi, and it's great, however some students may be better off standing in lion stance, dragon, rooster, etc,depending on what muscles and tendons are tight, and need to be stretched. Different yoga postures may be needed as well.Santi is the mother stance of Xingyi, the fighting stance, it must not be ignored, everything builds upon this stance, however training must be balanced.
In Bagua we use 8 single leg stances, and 8 double leg stances in training, they cover most muscle groups in the body. So it's very balanced, and some students may need to spend more time on one than the other, depending on his structure and holding pattern. Many people have laughed when I talk about Bagua, they have an impression that Bagua is all about turning their back to the opponent. This shows their lack of understanding. Bagua uses all angles of attack, straight line, side, inside , outside, ujp, down, etc. It is a very sophisticated art, and yes, it takes time to be able to use it properly. Does this mean it doesn't work? NO, it means it takes time, and dedication.
Internal Arts look to train the Dantien, the core of the body. We need to use our waste, and the Kua. Internal training is composed of specific excercises according to whatever branch you train. I don't believe you can just stand, and develope internal power.I believe it is the start of developing internal power, however it is nowhere near complete. I had seen some Xingyi guys I know, just standing in Santi, for years, and of course they had great root, and if they hit you head on, they were very powerful, however they had very little explosive power,and very bad footwork, they became somewhat stiff. They knew only one or two breathing methods used, and were just standing still for years.They would ask how I train internal power, and I would tell them of some excercises, stances,moving stances, and breathing methods, and we would compare notes.We all learned from each other. Everyone has something they believe to be true and I never try to step on anyones toes. I tell them I respect their view, however I have my own opinion. My opinion is based on my personal experience, I have seen may martial artist who label their arts internal, who had very little power. I have also seen so called external martial arts, used by people who clearly had internal power in their expression of their art.
So if you are looking to train Internal Arts, get ready to work, the fighting will come later. This is the thing Americans can't handle. They wan't to fight now! That's why I teach my crosstraining system first, so people can handle themselves, and if they want to pursue Internal training, the can at a later time. I have also seen many students misled by a teacher who made them do slow training in an Internal way, however after a year or two, the students had made no progress and they quit. Many of these teachers themselves had never learned the next progression of training.This is why many Internal Arts are so weak in this country, many teachers mislead the students. Many capitalize on the obsession with mysticism surrounding chinese culture.
In one art that I teach, Dai Style Xinyi, the traditional way of training, is 3 years of just dantien training, then 2 years of footwork, then you learn some of the five fist, or three fist, whatever. But nobody will train this way today, especially when they can learn kickboxing or Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and in 6 months be able to fight. BUT! I have done all of the above arts, and I am trying to go back and train the traditional way, because in the end, the power is incredible, as is the health benefits. So of course I advise everyone to learn how to defend themselves, but not to give up on their Internal training. I was injured so many times, and so were all my friends, from not developing the body to prepare for the arts we were doing, not warming up properly. Internal arts warm up the body from the inside,and focus on the fascia, tendons,and ligaments, as opposed to external arts warming up the muscles first. We all knew how to stretch muscles, and develope muscles, but we knew nothing about tendons and ligaments, etc.
Almost all of the top fighters today are on some precription drugs, or non prescription, in order to keep up with their training, they burn out, and need pills to keep going, they train train train, get little rest, the train some more. Internal training fills this gap. Internal training is like re-booting your computer, or emptying the cache,defragging the memory, so you dont CRASH!
Many students I have met, have said that their Master doesn't do any meditation, or internal training, so why should they? They think they should just fight. In my opinion, the older Masters may not need to meditate as much as younger people do. They are already established, have a house, had children, etc. Us younger people are under tremendous stress, building a future is very hard, prices of houses are insane, we are bombarded by stress at work, stress to pay bills, traffic, etc. Besides training for power, we need to maintain our SANITY! How many billions of dollars are spent on drugs for anxiety and depression each year? It's a no brainer, that everyone needs some sort of internal training, whether for martial arts, or just for health.
So be aware of scammers, and so called Masters, use a scientific mind to understand what is internal about the training, use your gut feeling. If it seems like a scam, it probably is, and be on your toes, and do research, every fake master I met, claimed to be number one in China, and I did searches on all of them, you can find info if you look. Joining a martial arts school or group is just like going to college, you are paying for your education. I suggest you take it this serious, or you could lose valuable time, and money.
I wasted many years with some instructors who were very good, but needed to be known as someone better than who they actaully were. They would come up with stories of training with so and so, or training in foreign countries, etc. Training in another country could be worse than here in America, it can be better also, but usually its an advertising scam. Because so and so trained in China, he is qualified to teach. I think it's bullshit! I had seen classmates of mine in acupuncture college go to China for 3 weeks, and on there resume it now says they were extensively trained in China! The so called extensive trip was filled with tourism, and some hours in an Acupuncture college, but hardly represents what they were saying. I have repeatedly seen this in martial arts also. There are also many guys who actually do get sufficient training on a 3 week trip to China, if they are training 6 hours a day, that 3 weeks is like 6 months training at a school in America. So I give credit where credit is due! BOTTOM LINE-ask questions, do not be so easily impressed.
I ask potential student why they are looking for Internal Martial Arts, and depending on their answer, I will train them or not. Some of these students come to me, expecting me to be able to make people fly through the air like a Jet Li movie! I cannot do anything extraordinary, and I have been doing these particular Arts for 5-6 years, I have a long way to go. I am able to generate some good power for my 160 lb frame, that I wasn't able to do in my past. I am also somewhat calmer, and have put my ego in check, I have learned to blow stuff off easier.I still train the external arts, because of their immediate effectiveness. My training in Chinese Medicine has helped me to understand the ideas of Qi and blood, Yi, and Yin and Yang, etc. IT'S JUST A DIFFERENT LANGUAGE, DON'T MAKE IT OUT TO BE SOME MYSTICAL THING!
Many of the people I met in arts like BJJ, and Jkd, all laughed at internal training, and yes they are good fighters, however I always shut them up with two words--Rickson Gracie! Rickson is probably the best fighter our generation has witnessed, and he does Yoga and meditation,and Internal training, Bruce Lee himslef was looking more into internal training prior to his death. Many people believe that Bruce Lee burn't himslef out, and that's why he died, whether it's the truth or not who knows, but it makes sense, he just worked, trained, worked, trained, etc.
The purpose of the article is to share MY OPINION, if you enjoyed the article, I am glad, if you disagree with it, that's ok. I hope to see less acl surgeries and meniscus tears in grappling, and less back injuries, bicep tears, herniated disk, and less ego in the dojo, and to see the quality of internal arts progressing in the future. I hope to see more of the power and humbleness in a Master of Internal Arts that we have read about in the past.
In the future I may write some articles on actual methods of Internal training that I use. Remember, this is only my opinion, and after five- six hard years of Internal Arts, I am still a baby in these Arts. I am qualified to teach, however I will only teach the material I have been able to personally experience. This training was very costly for me, in both mental , physical, and financial ways. I will share with good hearted, humble people only!
SHIFU DAN REGAN
) dann wäre es ein grosser Dienst für alle.
