When it comes to inner practice, you might tend to think about meditation our the mental side of training. However, you can also train your physical body in such a way that you increase physical and psychological capabilities without unnecessarily breaking the body down or burning out mentally. In fact, it is possible to change hardship into a transformative process rather than causing unnecessary wear and tear. The aim of inner practice on the physical level is to use physicality in order to transcend the need for violence. Violence is a kind of karma, which instead of weighing you down can be used to dissolve certain elements within you freeing you prime pressure.
The thing to understand is that inner martial arts doesn’t mean avoiding violence altogether, because violence cannot be completely avoided. But nor is it a goal in itself. You might be happy that you fought someone and won, but that’s only because you didn’t get seriously injured, or because you gained some notoriety and money. So this victory is only momentary, it’s the very same situation the next day, the same challenges, the same need to strive for progress. In fact the more you grow and achieve the this entails continual development and work. it is the very same thing as having a child. This entails additional responsibility and competence to nurture and bring up the child. This is understood in the Eastern tradition as creating a karmic bond. All we are doing in terms of martial arts is taking the same responsibility towards the inner landscape.
So physical martial arts prowess involves using physicality as a developmental tool and a solid platform or foundation to build upon, whether psychologically, financially, or spiritually. To do this effectively, you must learn to externalise the energy when necessary, and store it back up again when you have used it as needed so that nothing goes to waste. This is known as circulating QI in the Eastern systems. So the idea is to become environmentally friendly. In other words, rather than letting it dissipate or externalise completely, you bring the blood flow and energy back into the life support system of the organs and internal structure rather than polluting the surrounding atmosphere. Or, on the psychological level, you make some sort of analysis rather than just leave it as it is, learning from the situation. Both create a more positive karma. Importantly, whether positive or negative, karma simply means working.
So it works on several level, this internalising the externalised force. Obviously you can then plan some kind off strategy internally, and then externalise that too. It doesn’t matter which way around, just that the two forces of the internal and external remain linked.
Stretching and compressing the body
For most people, training involves working on muscular skeletal alignment and energy expenditure. This is for health and fitness purposes. For example, you might learn to punch or kick, and learn all about the external mechanics of correct form. You then might repeat these in an exercise class. This is in an effort to perform certain actions repeatedly as a habit, breaking down and building up the muscle tissues over and over again. This increases muscle size and enhances basic fitness. This is because If the energy and blood collects in the limbs then there is an increased activation in the muscle fibres and they work more effectively. It is simply a case of allocating resources, or increase the supply to meet an increasing demand. In any case the demand goes up, which is to say karma is increased. That means more responsibility in working intelligently. The longer oxygenated blood pools there, the less fuel is being allocated to the organs, such as the heart. This puts them under increased strain. So getting the right mix of rest, output, recovery and balance is essential.
It is hard to know whether the muscles grow back stronger because of work, or the individual simply gets better at doing the exercise and the muscles grow back just the same as before. So it can be that no strength increase occurs but improved competency makes you stronger and better. In fact, it is well documented that with increased muscle fibres and neuromuscular activity, there is a greater output of strength. What is not clear cut is whether this is down to the nervous system or physical muscle size. In my experience it is more to do with the nervous system, which is strongly related to perceiving the environment and initiating response. The body just fires in an all or nothing way unless it is mediated by the nervous system. When the nervous system remains unpestered, it can renew the body energy fairly easily, because it isn’t fighting the compulsions of the body so much. However when it is in fight or flight this can become draining over time even if initially there is some boost of energy.
When it comes to muscular force, there are several ways to increase the surface area of a muscles. For example, by stretching the muscle, there is a lengthening of the tissue so that you create more operating space for blood flow and oxygen to fuel. The advantage of this method is that you don’y break down the tissue so much as you do in excessive physical labour, even if there is some stretch related tearing from time to time. By overworking the muscle directly, it grows back bigger than before rather than longer has in stretching. There is not really a need to go for just one method, usually a combination of the two is preferable, stretching and strength training. For most people a combination of both improves the overall integrity of the body.
Importantly, with stretching, there is an ease within the system which creates space for the internal organs to operate effectively when the muscle is lengthened over time. This can combat the excessive tightness built up sometimes experienced in strength training alone, which can compress other aspects of the system, such as the movement of the organs. So in stretching the body framework is used to support the the organs, so that even if you feel stiff and akward you persevere with stretching and everything eventually eases up over time with practice. For example, if you contract the muscles over and over, this can encourage tightness, which compresses the rib cage and shoulders, amongst other areas. If you use the muscles to remain erect in your posture, you eventually reach a state of ease and comfort felt mainly in the organs. Excessive tightness hampers breathing and restricts postural ease so that organs function more poorly.
Using breathing as a tool
If a muscle is stretched, the fibre lengthens so that there is a greater area of tissue and more flexibility to extend. Lets look at how this enhances breathing, not just limb flexibility. With repeated practice, new stretching of the muscles can allow greater lung capacity because the inner muscles of the chest and abdomen are no longer restricting breathing so much. So lung capacity has more to do with muscular flexibility and activity than size alone. The lungs don’t act on their own, it is only through the breathing apparatus of the thoracic region and abdominals that they are expanded. This is why it is so important to lift the body and move from the core, so that there is core activation as well as an expansive lift.
In fact, doing the stretching exercises should aim to stretch the breathing muscles of the abdomen, diaphragm, and chest, first of all. The limbs are secondary. This is why it is important to stretch the spine for maximum body length, whilst at the same time allowing full opening of the chest and expansion of the abdomen whilst inhaling. You also want to remain anchored to the ground for stability and to use gravity effectively. The greater heights you reach, the more the need to remain anchored. This is the karmic bond. That means when you inhale, you won’t lift away from the centre of gravity, which is in the lower abdomen and hips. Then, during the exhale the body can relax properly and fully sink down into the posture. This relaxes everything so that you feel at ease, even if you start of aching and in some pain.
After the breathing muscles have expanded, they naturally drop back down and contract. After the surface tension of the muscle has been maximised by stretching and extending the fibres fully, they relax and everything comes back down again much like evaporated water forms droplets of dew on the ground after rising when heated. This is because the muscles are mainly made up of water which changes state at high pressure and when heated. So just as water reaches high pressure and drops its heavier elements as it ascends to the air, a certain cleansing happens in the muscles fibres if they are stretched properly. This releases you from the grip of karma. This is why you feel relaxed and invigorated after stretching, even if you might feel depleted of energy if you over exert the muscles by over activity, whichis a way of creating karma. Creating and releasing from karma is necessary, because without the force karma brings, motivation drops.
When a bubble bursts, first it expands and then it returns back to the surface as a film. This is due to a change of state in the water, a change of pressure and and expansion of the molecules. This is symbolised by the mountain, which has a strong horizontal base, and as it reaches the peak vertically and becomes single pointed. In the human body, there is a thick band of muscle and fascia around the physical centre, the lower abdomen, which when subjected to centrifugal force, turns into a vortex or a rotational kind of energy. so from a stable horizontal base, it is possible to drive upwards. During activity, this sends a swirling energy up the spine due to the increased pressure created, which reaches the peak in the head. This is the interaction of the yin and yang overlapping forces. This is similair to how the rotational turning of the earth between the two poles creates the same centrifugal force which drives water upwards and out of the mountain spring, where it is purified and drops the murkier elements. In other words, when the churning and crunching of the abdominal organs experienced during physical activity create activity, and upward ascension happens if it is not impeded.
Going with the example of the mountain spring, once they molecules reach a certain threshold and have risen, a certain space is created where the pressure drops once again and things return back to normal. From high altitude the water returns to the earth and the cycle continues. What this explains is that you break the bonds created by activity by expanding the boundaries of energy so that the hold is loosened. For example, you build a strong body and then stretch it with physical exercise so that it becomes relaxed and expanded. This internal action is known as Kriya in Yogic sciences. This is the same thing described as the cyclical relationship between yin and yang In Chinese medicine, which has both internal and external practices.
When the muscles fatigue, the blood flow turns inward towards the breathing muscles of the abdomen and chest, including the intercostals and diaphragm. So once you have worked up a certain amount of intense activity, naturally this energy travels upwards to the lungs from the body physical centre, the lower abdomen. So whether or not the goal was to do this, simply by expending energy the body draws back in what has been expended, just as droplets of water descend back down to the earth once they have vaporised as steam. Everything can be used and re used. Again, once a certain threshold has been reached, this naturally happens. Or, if you work directly with the abdominals and breathing muscles of this region, then you end up being able to perform exercise with more vigour and energy because you have increased the capacity of circulation. So it is not important which way round you do it, only that you go through a process of expenditure of energy, a change of state which enables the cyclical process of transformation.
Internal and external energy expenditure
When a person is young and full of energy, then expenditure is naturally the way forwards. When one reaches an older age, where the abundance is not so natural, then generating this energy from within consciously becomes the way. Both are natural. So with the younger athlete physical activity tends to dominate, whereas with the older athlete perhaps the breathing exercises and mediation are the focus. This is why many athletes cannot understand how a Tai Chi practitioner can just sit or stand there focusing on the breath for long periods of time. However, the reason is that they are using their muscle skeletal system to keep their spine erect so that the breathing muscles, particularly the diaphragm, abdomen, and upper body, are able to move freely. The younger athlete is using up energy externally to achieve the same thing. In both cases a different expression of the same energy is created, a transformation occurs.
The the internal practitioner is not using energy and the body frame so much for massive expenditure of energy produced by high intensity physical activity. The body becomes more internalised in its activity. At the same time, when the internal organs are able to hang from the bodies frame like structure, rather than collapsed on top of each other, they are able to support maximal energy cultivation in a healthy way. So the sitting postures and harmonic movements are aimed at creating such a frame which allows the body organs to function properly. Because the younger athlete or animal can achieve this automatically in their prime, or at least without so much detrimental effects, this stage usually comes later. Although, it would be hugely beneficial if a younger athlete could experience this kind of work, but it is impossible to experience something like this unless there is a pressing need or an unusually grand goal.
When people take steroids, this increases the amount of testosterone in the blood. This basically means that hormones and activity levels increase which means that an individual can work harder and recover quicker. The young athlete is more or less in this state in their prime anyway. This explains why there is usually the goal of reproduction or athletic performance, because the same hormones are used for both. when one or the other is the sole focus, the other tends to dominate less. Desire is desire, and the object of desire might change but this doesn’t change the process of energy, which is to transform and reach a common state of dissolution. The question is can hormones be used used for internal, or spiritual purposes? It is definatly possible, anything can be used to enhance your own development. If you can focus as exclusively on practice as consciously as the survival process drives you, then you have total involvement with that rather than an external desire.
Steroid use decreases the amount of testosterone naturally created within the body, so most of the time it is needed by individuals experiencing difficulty producing hormones internally. When it is created from within naturally, it must go towards supplying the entire body, such as the organs, before going to the muscles. Both ways increase the karmic structure of the body. However, there is less left over when it gets to the muscles from the internal body than when it is injected in from the outside. When it comes from the outside, this situation is reversed and whatever is left goes to the organs. The latter is a terrible idea from a health perspective, which explains why organ degeneration is a common side effect of steroid abuse over time, because everything goes to muscle growth. So all activity is karma, which simply means a consequence of activity rather than a value judgement. Such abuse also undermines even strength and power in the long run, because only when the organs function well can health and fitness be maximised.
Imagine you rev the engine of your car and speed across the road at 150 mph. If you do this once or twice, you might get away with it. It may feel quite exhilarating. But if you do this repeatedly, then over time, you risk your life increasingly. This isn’t a good idea if you want to experience the drive properly, only if you are escaping from some kind of pressing danger. This is essentially what is happening when people over train and abuse their system, they are over practicing survival and attempting to curtail their demise, as if that is life. The, the body thinks it is fighting constantly. So this is also used as a way to trick the body into a reactive all or nothing response to beat an opponent. This too can be used as a spiritual process. Yes it’s a powerful way to do things, but it’s just asking for trouble in the end unless you transform this energy with inner practices. We will look at how this works. So maintaining a good level of organ functioning is needed if the whole system is to reach a balance and become functionally optimised.
Cheating Death
During fight or flight, the blood goes to the muscles to react to a threat. This is obviously needed sometimes. During this phase, the body thinks it’s going to die, and attempts to function in a limited way to prevent being wiped out. This is true of many reactive states. The heart rate increases and breathing becomes panicked. Here, the body is not trying to live, it is trying to not die. So the goal of inner martial arts is to ride this wave so that you create all sorts of buffers through breathing exercises, postures, and paying attention towards over riding the detrimental effects of impending death. Such exercises are not aimed at fighting effectiveness. So you could say that the inner processes are trying to to live, whilst the body alone in its primal reactive state is heading towards death slowly or quickly depending on the situation. Luckily, usually these things are not fatal, but in terms of experiencing life, emergency situations tend to sap the energy and undermine health over time without corrective action.
Inner martial arts practice is the reversing of this process, so that when your body thinks its going to die, you consciously find a way to bring the blood and energy back to the internal breathing muscles. It is not a case of deluding yourself or wishing away impending danger. This is a fools paradise, take positive action instead. You are just trying to put the brakes on your system so that you hang on and ride the situation as gracefully as possible. by riding the wave you do not stop it. The situation around you still unfolds but you experience it fully consciously, through the energy systems, breathing, and postures as a powerful response. In other words, you experience the event from an elevated position and understanding. The energy or Chi body, is part you and part your surroundings. The instincts are all of the body. This merging of two types is symbolised by yin and yang, which is the developed human being. This experience adds a new dimension to the same event so that it no longer overwhelms you. Since the body is always dieing to some degree, there are no shortage of opportunities to practice the internal side of martial arts which is aimed at prolonging life. You do not need to wait for a particular event.
The energy which fuels the muscles to fend off an attack or sprint away from it must have come from somewhere. The limbs and peripheral nervous system literally steal this energy and blood supply which is otherwise used for maintaining the system. You are looking to redirect this back where it was stolen from. So it makes sense to steal this back, or to use this situation to your advantage. The ancients talk of trial by fire. What this means is that the intensity of the situation can be used to tranform your inner state, just as we looked at earlier with the state of water.
Heat produces transformation, so that you become more flexible to experience without breaking. At the same time you take on a new experience under such transformation. So when a threat is dealt with, what you want to do is retrieve this energy back to the internal organs of the body predominantly, so that you are enriched. This is the science of inner martial arts. The external fight still happens but it is no longer as consequential as the inner exchange. You can even be covered in injuries and not pay much attention. Not that this is the aim, the aim is to transform your experience to the highest possible expression. The key is to remain in awareness as much as possible, only switching to attention of the opponent when necessary not by compulsion or reaction alone.
