The forward rotation of the cervical spine, such as when punching or reaching forward, is a smooth and continuous motion enabled by the spine’s natural curvature and structure. This motion, centered around the cervical spine, allows the head to pivot forward naturally without abruptness, whilst maintaining proper alignment and balance.
To ensure fluidity and reduce strain, the head should lift subtly during this forward rotation, with the crown extending upward as if drawn by an invisible string. This symbolism of the string has been used in Tai Chi practices, as well as in Yoga. In Yogic tradition, this energy strand is referred to as Brahmarandhra, which describes a passage that is both an emitter and receiver of vertical energy. Physiologically, this upward lift of the head counteracts compressive forces, promoting a graceful motion that protects the spine and supports posture during activities like martial arts practice.
The curvature and the natural S-shape of a human spine, permits smooth and continuous motion by evenly distributing mechanical stress and allowing flexibility. For instance, when a person walks, the curved spine acts as a spring, absorbing impact and facilitating a flowing, rhythmic gait. Similarly, in martial arts, the flexibility of the spine enables the warrior to move gracefully and adapt quickly to changes in direction, enhancing their agility and smoothness of motion.
In nature, as well as in engineering, we see how structures are formed according to certain curvature rules. A tube or the flow of air and water naturally creates or forms a curve shape, flowing smoothly and continuously. Like the gentle arc of a river meandering through a valley or the streamlined shape of a wind tunnel, there is a tendency to avoid abrupt bends that would disrupt harmonious movement.
A water pipe with smooth, gentle curves resembles a snake standing upright, maintaining a flowing, uninterrupted path of ascent. Sharp bends would disrupt the flow of the water pipe, causing turbulence and dissipation of water pressure, much like a snake’s movement would falter if forced into abrupt angles. Similarly in martial arts, if you rush to abrupt conclusions unnecessarily, this apparent short cut can diminish one’s energies.
When you read a step by step guide on how to do a punch, it is as if there are only two or three stages to it. A step-by-step process is characterized by distinct, incremental stages, where each step represents a deliberate transition from one stage to the next. It involves pauses or plateaus between steps, allowing time for adjustment, assessment, or realignment. This is often necessary in the short term in order to learn certain rules. In a real life situation, you often do not have this kind of luxury to stop and pause. In contrast, a curvature is a continuous flow, marked by seamless, unbroken change that transitions fluidly without sharp stops or abrupt shifts. This is how the warrior trains in order to become infinitely adaptable and absolutely focused.
Curvature represents a dynamic process where each point is influenced by the momentum and trajectory of the preceding points, creating a smooth and uninterrupted evolution. This is in fact how one evolves, not in a step by step linear way. While the step-by-step approach emphasizes clarity and order, the curvature embodies fluidity and adaptability, often reflecting processes that evolve naturally rather than being consciously segmented.
Because much of the practice of martial arts involves conscious expression of subconscious energies, there is need to bring conscious awareness to this quality of continuous and adaptable expression of energy. The body can become a vehicle for this expression, or it can impede it. It is for this reasons that the symbolism of the snake, as well as the flow of water, is used in certain styles of martial arts to emphasis the quality of flexibility and continuity in spite of obstacles..
The hissing sound of a snake is produced by the steady, controlled release of air through its glottis, creating a smooth and continuous flow of sound. This is analogous to the snake’s movement, where its muscles contract and relax in a wave-like pattern, allowing it to glide effortlessly and without abrupt stops. The consistency of the hiss reflects the same principle of fluid motion, where unbroken flow ensures efficiency and minimal resistance.
Just as a snake’s body seamlessly adapts to its surroundings while moving, the martial artists also learns to use the breath and body to create an energy form analogous to that of a snake.
Part 2 follows on directly from part 1. Here, we look at how the influence of the karmic structure and the genetic body influences our behaviour. We will look at ways which have been used in martial arts traditions to use this powerhouse of energy in a conscious and productive way. By using the energy body in certain ways it is possible to make the energies more malleable rather than concretised, which we will look at now.
Contraction and Extension
From the tightly compact seed, the truth unfolds into an infinite possibility of expansion.
Part 2 follows on directly from part 1. Here, we look at how the influence of the karmic structure and the genetic body influence our behaviour. We will look at ways which have been used in martial arts traditions to use this powerhouse of energy in a conscious and productive way. By using the energy body in certain ways it is possible to make the energies more malleable rather than concretised, which we will look at now.
The reason for various back breaking martial exercises was to put the body under such pressure that the bodies energies would recede inwards and concentrate itself more tightly. This had the benefit of increasing fitness, and harnessing will power and discipline into focused activity. At the same time, when the energies have been compressed and made more focused, it is possible to spread the energies in a more organised way. This may seem counter intuitive, but condensing and concentrating this force of energy increases its possibility for expansion. In this way it is said to be possible to wear out ones karma by contracting the internal mixture, and then extending it like baking bread. The bread transforms the mixture into something else. This is one way of looking at it. This is also known as internal alchemy.
So these martial exercises were a preparatory stage for influencing ones own genetic material, or the energy body. By concentrating this dispersed energy, the physical body becomes more malleable and more open to transformation from within. Otherwise, the energies remain reactive to the external environment predominantly and you never know the potency of their potential. At the same time, when you have shrunk the genetic influence over the body and reduced it down, you leave space for increased wave forms of energy, which bring about a sense of ease and pleasantness rather than agitation and reactivity. When you have reduced it down, particularly within the area of the Hara Centre, it becomes warmed up and more able to extend itself further rather than contracting the energy body. When it goes out again it disperses more widely and as a less dense layer, until it dissolves altogether. This is known as dissolution of Karma.
When the energy becomes concentrated in the Hara Centre, the seat off the self, it is experienced in a more intense way which is more focused and powerful. This awakens a powerful wave of upwards ascending energy known in Yoga as the Kundalini force, or Linga Sharira. In Chinese systems, the awakening of this energy is known as grand circulation, amongst other names. It is essentially the full fledged functioning of the energy body, which creates a fire in the belly, which is partly responsible for both activity and dissolution of Karma. By becoming a wave form of energy, like water, it no longer sticks so stubbornly to the body and mixes with the wider existence. At the same time it becomes part of your own existence. I realise this sound like nonsense, but I am attempting to make this mumbo jumbo into some sort of logical explanation to the best of my ability, so bare with me.
It is only because of fundamental misunderstandings of the energy body, that people have gone about handling it in limited ways. Because of the power of the kundalini force, traditionally certain behaviours and codes of conduct have been instituted in those trained in its ways. For example, it has been linked with increased sexuality or instinctive behaviours, but only in situations where the energy dissipates at the level of the Muladhara, or root chakra1. For this reason, disciples were put to back breaking work or held in protective atmospheres in temples, so that they could fully explore the spiritual significance of this rising energy without inflating its influence over other areas of life.
When you want to move to the ultimate possibility, without developing the right internal circumstances and scope for development, then you are missing a vital first step. This first step is including the necessary cultivation so that this blossoming happens naturally, rather than by force. This is why certain qualities and virtues were always instilled in disciples of martial arts. This is particularly the case when doing something like raising the energies a higher level of functioning, or dissolving ones karmic influence. Otherwise, it is possible to diminish ones karma to the extent that there is no stable root, or make the energies lopsided in the body.
The whole point of martial arts is to develop the relationship between our internal and external environment. This is symbolised by Yin and Yang. In martial arts tradition, this has always meant developing the qualities of self discipline and work ethic, in order to cultivate an attitude of perseverance and self transformation. If this determination to develop is cultivated, then the genetic component of an individual is brought to its highest possibility. From the tightly compact seed, the truth unfolds into an infinite possibility of expansion. This is the essence of life. For instance, the sperm cells are amongst the most potent and tightly packed cells, which means they have the capability to create a body, along with the egg. This is one example.
Everything must be done according to ones capability and understanding. And above all, everything can be used intelligently rather than excluded due to judgemental prejudice. This is why it is foolish to try to destroy something like ones karmic structure or instinctive nature, without putting it effective use. If in the process of self realisation it leaves you, then this is good. At the same time a certain necessary amount is needed to function properly. This is the reason for harsh austerities which masters impose on themselves, which seem illogical. They create for themselves a resistance, a karmic load to carry, which gives them a strong root. At the same time they don’t get entangled it the process, and routinely work through their karma, which becomes a conscious choice for them. This choice can de dedication to certain exercises, a certain diet, or just about anything which they deem appropriate. There is no right or wrong here, it is just that there are different life goals and orientations.
It is not usually advisable to attempt to handle powerful internal energy situations head on initially. It certainly cannot be mastered by force. Since childhood the genetic influence has been campaigning about how you have be be dictated too by them, and how they own you. Fighting them only makes you more identified with them. The best way is to leave them to their nonsense until you experience something more than they are. Then you will never take them seriously. This is why the Master would make sure the the disciple was serious before moving to serious forms of practice. It was not uncommon for the disciple to have to move in with the master of the temple, or to dedicate their entire life to a system of martial arts practices. Today, these practices would not fit with the social norms of society. However, the practices are still alive.
It is ridiculous to talk about liberating the mind from misconceptions, when a large percentage of social media content relies on misconceiving reality as some superficial appearance. It is for this reason that the authentic practices have been left out of mainstream thought, but at the same time they are to be found in certain hidden places in full view.
The Masters of today will encourage the disciple with rudimentary seminar classes, before inviting them in for more advanced programs. Before they know it, they have moved from a weekly course, to a weekend seminar abroad in the middle of Thailand, for instance. This is done according the the discipline which slowly builds in the disciple. It is rarely the case anymore that people jump right in from the start.
The origins of genetic determinism
The idea about genetics defining a person comes from the need to keep practices within certain clans. It has little to do with what nature has endowed people with genetically, because this itself is largely unexplored. Nature has certainly not made genetic influence the defining factor in most people, because it is in and of itself not capable of doing so. At the same time, it is open to any possible influence. This is because the genetic body is intermingled with the karmic substance, as well as the physical and mental bodies. This is according to traditional thought. So what you are looking at is a complex amalgam, which can be a different mixture depending on the person.
It is like, if you plant a seed into the soil. The plant itself will grow according to the soil in a certain minimal way. Whether the soil is good or bad will determine much. Along with that, much of its growth depends on the sunlight, and other environmental factors, which taken together are responsible for the majority of the plants growth. If it grows to full potential it will look a certain way, but this appearance is not why it grew to its full potential. In fact, it may look the same way if it is healthy or unhealthy. It is just the longevity and the susceptibility to certain influences may be different as a result of its growth. this becomes apparent as time goes on.
So the environment can influence the genetic body, or energy body, to the extent that it becomes intertwined with the physical body. This creates a powerful link between physical practices and disciplined lifestyle. In fact, it is not even true that you have an energy body separate from the physical body, or even a brain separate from the body. It is this energy, which is largely to do with environmental influences which is responsible for the organisms development and cultivation, as well as the expression of so called genetically determined factors. It is through pride that people have labelled themselves genetically superior, or other inferior, which has led to racism and ideas of genetic determinism.
The idea that genetics determines a persons future is flawed for several reasons. First of all, genes are said to be almost the same in everyone. That means that the genes of your grandparents, as well as relatives from thousands of years ago, are probably the same as you. Even in a chimpanzee, they are 98 percent the same. Yet, we still see a lot of variation in people. This is because the same soil is responsible for the cultivation of an infinite variety of life. This is what makes a forest the way it is, full of variation and organised chaos, where everything has its place.
Over the course of thousands of years, human experience has changed dramatically. Human experience has also changed dramatically in the last 20 or so years, with the massive development of technology. It has changed to the extend that modes of living from a few decades ago are now almost totally redundant. So factors such as these determine the transformation of our experience more than genes do. But at the same time they alter the expression of our genes. This is why it becomes complicated, and also this explains why the old ways can so quickly become redundant. At the same time this explains why timeless traditions can also remain relevant.
Various other factors aside from genes have played a vital role in determining the course of our development. You could say that genes provide the constant platform for infinite possibility. From this platform you would not make a roof or a window, for instance. So the platform is the fundamental constant. The rest you can play with any way you want. This infinite possibility is inside of our genetic code, rather than outside of us. At the same time we become intimately linked with our external experience, which we ourselves can gain increasing mastery over. So I am not down playing genetic influence, I am merely trying to demonstrate that its potency has been assumed to be something less than it is by making out that is defines the outcome of our experience. It is much more than that.
Learning from our environment
So genetic disposition is predominantly to do with the social norms and habits which themselves breed a certain kind of genetic energy within groups. These live beyond individual lives, so for this reason they are passed down from generation to generation. Nobody wants you to be liberated from this. It is an individual thing, which can none the less be done in a community. It is the tribal mentality of separatism which inflates the differences between peoples, as well as the genetically determined aspects of sticking with the tribe and loyalty towards certain causes.
Take the planet, for instance. It is the planets warmth and electromagnetic force which sustains life on the planet. This is what sustains its development, and this energy is what is passed onto life on this planet. It is not owned by the sun. In the same way, the habits and practices of people far outlive the physical body itself, but they are a consequence of the planet. These practices and the body itself are connected to each other, but it is the coherence between life and disciplined practice which determined the inevitability of genetic disposition. The other choice is to become liberated from this, by following the dictates of a more casual influence, which has to do with the greater existence.
Practices you can do
“The abdominal wall sends waves through the system which travel further than the abdomen, ensuring that the energy transforms appropriately rather than creating high pressure everywhere.”
This environmental energy can be an enormous factor in an individuals growth. This is why certain traditions have kept secret practices within their own ranks, because they either thought they created them, or they thought it was too dangerous to include people who weren’t receptive to the environments they created. These environments became entire cultures, such as in the Himalayas and India for example. These practices provide the driving engine for developing the necessary fire of the body, whilst at the same time offering a water element for its cooling.
The brain works best when it is cool and at low pressure. This is why nasal breathing has been recommend in order to send cool oxygen straight to the brain directly, rather than through the bloodstream. Try this exercise. Find a quiet place to sit, and simple breath through the nose in an upright cross legged position. Feel the nasal passage expands you touch the roof of you mouth with the tip of the tongue. If you sustain this position for around ten minutes or more, a sense of ease and energy will generate in the nasal area and enhance your sense perception, leading to increased well being.
The body’s physical centre, the Hara Centre or the abdomen can withstand more pressure and heat without overheating. In fact, the intestines have enough potential force to crack a Brazil nut. So when you create this pressure through abdominal breathing exercises, as well as other martial arts exercises, you create an area of relatively high pressure to the brain. In this way, it was understood that certain physical practices to develop the Hara Centre would naturally and sustainably cultivate the area of low pressure, which is the brain. This is based on the law that areas of high pressure naturally flow to areas of low pressure in waves. For example, the abdominal wall sends waves through the system which travel further than the abdomen, ensuring that the energy transforms appropriately rather than creating high pressure everywhere. Basically, this encourages bioelectrical energy, or neurological energy, to travel throughout the system at sustainable rates.
Try this exercise, which can be done at the same time as the nasal breathing above. As you sink down into the cross legged posture, into the sitting bones, utter or imagine the “ahh” syllable2. At the same time extend upwards, lifting the upper spine and stretching the lower spine. You can repeat this at least six or so times, or even for as long as desired.
So this is why the brain is always kept cool by certain modes of conduct and meditative exercises. If the brain becomes the driving force, then you are going increasingly by theory rather than experience. Keep the brain cool therefore, and the body (particularly the abdomen) warm, balancing out the Fire and Water elements. This is the idea behind the practices of abdominal and nasal breathing, taken together.
The brain is likely to become a source of entanglement in the aspiring martial artists, because it excessively complicates what the body understands genetically or in the energy sense naturally. It is this unwillingness to work with the body and go through the necessary disciplined practice which is scaling down the overall understanding in the energetic sense of the body. This comes at a huge price for the aspiring martial artists. In this way martial arts has become increasingly theoretical, because of hyper development of cognitive activity, and lack of involvement and aliveness of the physical and energetic expression.
There in many in Martial Arts who believe that it is best to switch off your concerns about the opponent. For them, the thinking is “We should handle it severely, and that’s it, to Hell with the other guy”. When you follow this line of reasoning, then you justify maiming your opponent or worse. However, when you say “There is no opponent”, it is possible to lapse into defeatism and accept your fate. This has always been the problem with the spiritual side of martial arts. However, the goal is always to develop your consciousness and awareness, without being defeated. In other words, you do what is needed to ensure your survival, but when your survival is ensured and you just want revenge, this becomes a sickness.
It is not about embarrassing the other guy. This requires a certain resentment towards the opponent, that they are the bad guy and you are delivering justice. When you hyper develop egotistical thought, your own mind stabs you in the back. It cuts you just as a sharp blade wielded by a novice. When you carry bitterness in your heart, or sow the seed of it, then this is not what is referred to as the empty mind approach. This is a sickness.
So the idea behind taking action is to ensure that it does not grow into something bad. For instance, the goal of winning a contest is to strive to the utmost. this becomes bad when you try to secure a victory, or you fear losing such a status. This is because such accumulated baggage becomes burdensome and you are no longer driven by inspiration but by narrow minded expectation. Never waste time become self satisfied in such a way. If you are never satisfied, then that is good, it means you expect a lot from yourself. If you expect little from yourself, it means you have given up hoping to stretch and surpass expectation.
Empty Mind
The empty mind approach simply means you have emptied the car of its petrol. This does not mean you forgot to fill it up, or that you drove nowhere. No, instead “empty your mind” means drive to the destination, not anywhere that’s unnecessary. So you empty only after you have reached. So you are driving your own inspired action to its natural conclusion, rather than an unrealistic or unnatural conclusion.
Let’s say you wanted to become the greatest martial artist ever. It is only when there are such grand expectations that inspired action becomes possible. So reaching the goal would only inspire less action. It is better not to reach that goal in that case. Or, if you did somehow reach it, you would quickly need to find another way of staying involved. This is where most people fall short. When they have achieved their dreams, they no longer see the point. But you can always push a little further, couldn’t you? If your dream was to achieve ten thousand hours of practice, then raise that expectation to double, and then triple!
Empty mind means you take no sides and you just see things the way they are. It is said that there is honour among thieves. What this means is that when you take from a situation to benefit yourself, you will find many other corroborators to encourage you for your efforts. So a thief is never short of friends. If you lower your expectations and inspirations to something achievable, you will find no shortage of encouragement. This is self robbery. It is only when you disregard such encouragement that you will truly surpass realistic everyday goals. This is important, because most goals people make are usually too easy to remain motivated with for long, or they are inspired by others expectations for them. This is for them, not for you. Quality is measured not by fulfilling some goal. So the goal need to be measured in terms of whether you are applying yourself totally or not.
Becoming Aware
But when you remain aware, aware for instance that your opponent could be less dangerous than you immediately think, you open up different possibilities. This is equally so if you see them as more dangerous than you. We will get onto this shortly. It is often the case that people walk around without concern for how they are behaving towards others. If you walk in a forest loudly, you will disturb the wildlife so that they run away. This is happening everywhere, people disturb each others peace and then blame each other for their own lack of consideration. I would say that this is how the vast majority of fights break out, due to sheer ignorance. This is a huge development of the ego that was never there in previous generations.
Assailants are often like wild animals, they pay attention to these things and are in a hurry to react. This is partly because they have hyper developed their survival circuits so that they are on red alert all the time. To achieve this is beneficial, but to stay there indefinitely is a disaster. From the survival perspective this makes sense. From a well being perspective, this is every day torture because it’s overusing the senses which become unavailable for anything else. Your whole experience then becomes one of emotional chemistry geared towards survival rather than prosperity. So the survival circuits should be available when needed, but not compulsively reacting to outside events indiscriminately.
The human being is built more for well being as its ultimate goal. The same body that hates can contain the opposite emotions too. Therefore, it is not about the body. It is instead how you perceive the world and the way you orientate the energies which itself creates the chemistry. I frequently change from struggling at a task to being dead to the world. this is not a problem for me because one state naturally transitions into another if you go about closing and widening the gap between activity and rest form that occupation.
When you look at what people fight over, these are petty, useless matters. Someone spilling your drink in a bar has nothing to do with you. This is simply societies experience playing out in a social situation. It may be happening around you and in a situation you are involved with, but it would happen anyway without you there. These situations are just thousands of years of evolution by trial and error still happening. The intelligence within you should guide you towards intelligent action.
Being No. 1
You should not have a problem that someone is bigger and stronger than you. If you meet somebody more capable than you, this is good because you have an opportunity to learn. If you can befriend such a person, then this will be a great partnership. If your idea of winning and victory is beating down somebody else, just to secure your own image, then this is a horrible waste of potential. If however, you engage in a martial arts contest with somebody far better than you, then you are pushing yourself to the limit. You will reach your full potential. You can never do this against an easy hand picked opponent, or an easy target. If somebody is pushing you to the limit, then this will just make your experience more intense and meaningful. It will make you perform better and experience the richness of life.
So far we have looked at how, most of the time, just paying attention to how you might rub people the wrong way in an environment stops most altercations. You see their intensity as a means to switch yourself on and become more aware rather than threatened. Through certain meditative practices you can be totally involved in chaos yet keep a fire between yourself and the outside world. Fire is a pressure that burns everything.
I would say that around ninety percent of fights can be avoided by paying abolsute attention to how you are in your surroundings. This makes such situations positive rather than negative. The problem is people pay absolute attention to fixate on how somebody has looked at them the wrong way, or bumped into them. You cannot pay absolute attention to two things. You can have the two things going on at once, but they need to synthesise into a coherent vision. It is not either or.
Instantaneous Analysis
In martial arts, it is necessary to develop an instantaneous analysis. This isn’t a case of stopping the response to danger and slowly going over the options. No, because then you set yourself up as a mark who cannot think on the spot. You don’t want to come across hesitant. Hesitation kills. If you hesitate, you are then clearly demonstrating that you are incompetent to act. It is about seamlessly going over the options and doing what’s necessary instantaneously, there and then.
Similarly, in a martial arts match if you are going over some exercises in your mind without perceiving what’s in front of you, you miss the point. You are building an experience based on the past rather than building a future based on the present. This way, even if you make a mistake, you are paying absolute attention and full awareness so you know where you went wrong instantly. You can then auto correct in a kind of flow state of improvisation. This is something master guitar players do, they play the wrong note on occasion but it is dealt with then and there and actually opens new possibilities. So a mistake accepted as a pathways becomes a means of liberation from hesitation and inertia. It is part of the creative process, not fearing mistakes. This requires a certain clarity and consciousness about life.
From powerlessness to Power
When a cornered animal fights, it just goes into survival mode full on. Does this require any sort of power? No it requires a powerlessness to do anything else. When one is powerless and insecure, they always seek to squash somebody else because they know they’ve had it otherwise. This is not a bad thing, there is no good and bad in nature. This kind of emergency mind set is obviously what will happen if somebody comes along and butchers your family in front of you. This is not meant to scare you or sound harsh, but in all likelihood you will grab the nearest thing and survival will happen as it does in the jungle. You will just do what’s necessary to stop them, yes or no? This requires responsible action to avoid. So this doesn’t need to be practiced or rehearsed. This is what we want to avoid, but it will happen if we don’t take precautions to ensure our own security.It is the avoidance which needs to be practiced as means to gain control over the situation.
Fear is a powerful externalisation of energy which happens whether you want it to or not. However, the way it expresses itself can be changed. So even the automatic survival process can be harnessed to some degree, or it can be left to react with events on its own. Men in particular tend to become more aggressive when under threat. In martial arts we say that the greater the challenge, the greater the potential power to overcome. This means that under extreme circumstances, if you can harness the energy and squeeze opportunity out of it, this is where true power lies. So when under threat, you can just dissipate the energies at the level of the instinctive reactions, or you can send it upwards. There are many ways to go about this.
Not for the faint of Heart
Say you have particularly powerful energy emitting outwardly. You need to develop certain tools which are purely receptive and absorb this energy. This is where the breathing comes in, as well as the postures and stances. The Hara Centre1 is the powerful energy centre for generative purposes. The Solar Plexus, or heart centre, absorbs this energy when breathing becomes properly attuned to the internal system. This proper attunement does not happen when you are breathing purely in reaction to external events. So by concentrating here, at the Hara Centre, you remain more in control.
The other way is to make certain sounds2, which create the right kind of internal attitude and synchronise the breathing patterns with a strong posture or stance. So remaining mindful of these considerations can greatly enhance your ability to respond to emergency situations and find cunning ways of subverting them altogether. This takes the fire and intensity of a situation and transforms it into something beneficial. The idea is to become aware that the situation is happening, but conscious there is more going on than just the survival process.
In many self defence classes, you are advised to fight back automatically. For example, there is the whole “It’s me of him” mentality, or “he’s trying to stop me feeding my family, so I must put an end to him”, this kind of thinking. Either that, or you are told to pre meditate a minimal damage response. The thing is, that if you’re wrong about this, you have a big problem. This kind of thinking came about when martial arts became a mass production affair.
Just like we predicted that people would always work in factories, we predicted that the situation could be planned for in advance. Evolution does not work this way. So it become necessary to pre package techniques which are said to work in the absence of awareness or even basic competence. This gets people moving and gives them a bit of confidence to take further steps. However, if you make the mistake of taking on some sort of quest to defeat people, then then existentially this requires a huge level of self responsibility and competence. It is not me saying this, it’s a condition of taking things on in life. This is why martial arts was deemed not for the faint of heart.
When you laugh you might make the “Ha” sound with the breathe. If you laugh very loudly you will hyper ventilate unless you set yourself properly. This requires internal and external aspects. For example, you want to feel comfortable and open enough to stretch your body to create the necessary space for the sound to loudly roar out. There are many everyday examples of sounds which happen naturally. This is what working with the sound in martial arts aims to achieve, a natural expression of the sound with added awareness and control over the body
The Moving Sound
With the help of certain sounds, we can express various sentiments and feelings. There are various techniques for this contained in martial arts to this end. For example, the physical forms in Taekwondo, called Poomsae, are used to express proper breathing and flow. I use this Taekwondo example because this is what I’m trained in formally, but the similarities hold true across the various martial arts. To do the forms properly, one needs to develop mastery over the breathing as well as the movements. Some forms of martial arts don’t do much in the way of movement and focus more on the sound. Other arts focus on slow and controlled breathing, which is also useful for different reasons. In this way you aim to become one with the movements by synchronising with the breath.
According to the mood of the form, or Poomsae, that is how it is performed. Some are faster, some are slower. I won’t go into the details, it will take too long, but you can look all this up online. You will see how some are slower, and others are faster. Others will go from fast to slow in moments. This is all common sense but there is a science to it. So you would move differently to enhance well being than you would to secure survival. and once you have attacked, it is useful to reset. You would however want to work at both levels, of attack and resetting, according to what needs to be done at different times.
When you look closely, it is not just speed and pace, but different qualities that are expressed. Some movements have a certain swing in them, just like music does. This cannot be demonstrated on the music sheet or in a book. If you try to perform a swinging motion or sound in a step by step way it just doesn’t work. This is why physical demonstrations are needed, rather than step by step instructions alone. Because a form can be broken down into beginning, middle, and end, doesn’t mean it is performed that way mechanically.
The main thing to remember is to control the volume of expression, which brings about all kinds of different effects. If you create a huge volume of sound in the movements, and you create a lot of noise, you obviously want to spread this across a big space. This is the reason for stretching the body whilst remaining rooted. You are fixed and stable, yet able to contain a large volume by extending the body.
The Twelve notes
Before you do any of the forms, you first learn the techniques individually. There are said to be 14 different movements in the Korean System of Taekwondo. Actually there are twelve, but more were added in, such as flying kicks and twisting kicks. So it is likely that various adaptions have been made for various reasons over the years. However these are really just variations of the twelve techniques. The number twelve is significant because there are twelve colours and twelve notes, so there are also corresponding movements. Of course there are many more movements than twelve, but the relevance of the number twelve is that there are twelve notes, and an infinite variety of combinations.
In the classical forms on Indian music there are twelve ways to perform a sound. This is the case for sound more generally too. For instance, we will take the example of the “Aa” sound. You can perform it rapidly, as in when doing a punch. As noted in the previous post, the “ah” sound is for engaging the abdomen or Hara Centre in martial arts. You can perform it in a circular fashion, as when performing certain circular blocking techniques. This means it goes up and down, such as when parrying an attack and blocking in a circular fashion. This would make it more drawn out and up and down a certain scale of volume and tone. These variations although subtle, create huge power and output.
There are also twelve colours, all represented in different ways. In Martial Arts, there are normally seven belts, just as in Western music there are seven main notes. Each colour represents a particular quality, so they are not just arbitrarily chosen. At the same time, the different colours are given different meaning in the different arts. This does not matter about the different interpretations, because one who is fearless as a blackbelt, should also aim to be as cautious of danger as a red belt. So you want to encompass all the qualities in one. Where you start just depends on what is being emphasised in what system.
So each system represents itself differently according to what it wants to promote. Some are hard styles, such as Karate, others are soft styles, such as Tai Chi. Obviously they will have different representing qualities. You wouldn’t put a competitive athlete on the Tai Chi notice board, not would you put a mediator on the Karate competition flyer. However, both qualities of meditativeness and movement are contained within each system.
There are also around twenty five forms to display these movements in Taekwondo, which is roughly double the number of twelve. This is because the later half of the forms are reserved for blackbelts, so you effectively start again learning a different set once you reach black belt level. The reason I’m mentioning this is that the numbers are related to the sounds and colours on a spectrum, which is itself all blended together, even though distinctions can be made. So these sounds and colours feature all over martial arts, and go back to ancient tradition and knowledge. So the number twelve is defiantly relevant.
Today, they focus only on the movements and try to make them look flamboyant and flashy. This is not the way, but it’s a cultural thing that has developed in terms of technical appearance. Actually, the real centres which preserve the arts are still alive and kicking. It’s just that they have taken on some back of shop role because they don’t do the whole Pr thing well. This is certainly true in Taekwondo. There is nothing wrong or right about this, it’s just that there are other measurements as to what is the correct form other that the visual aspect, which is kept in tradition.
So finally now we will look at some more applications.This is impossible to explain fully here, but essentially whatever you do with the hand supports what you are doing vocally. This is the case with anything. So the hands are used to follow the sound and create a form out of it. this is the case with the other limbs too. If there is a rapid up and down sound, then the hand follows this. In meditation, the hands go up and down with the breathe in some forms. When you make a more audible vocalised sound, rather than the so called “unstuck sound” of the breathe, the hands play a role in further emphasising this.
So you might punch rapidly and powerfully in a shaking kind of way, or you might push outwardly and then swing back before doing something else. This is obviously too detailed to cover extensively, which is why there was so much emphasis on practice and experience rather than book learning. The above video goes some way to demonstrating what I am saying. It appears as though you learn quite quickly with a book, but you want to bring these qualities to the practice within. This is the main purpose behind the more traditional training forms which emphasise actual experience rather than theory.
There are many different techniques to produce the various sounds. Some of them use the diaphragm and chest to support movement. This has obvious benefits to the cardiovascular and postural system, which directly affects health and physical capability. When one is performing such movements, you make a rapid up and down ascending and descending noise with the mouth and hands. This draws the sound and therefor the energy up and down. So the “Ah” sound links the abdomen to the movement, and the ascending pitch brings it up. The descending one bring sit back down. One example is that you tend to descend down when kicking, because the kick is directly related to the hips or lower body. The opposite is true of punching, which tends to draw the energy up in a more rapid way. This all requires experience and practice to get to know all this.
Much of this would have been originally improvised according to certain rules as the situation requires. Later these forms were to be handed down rather than spontaneously realised on the individual level. This is the problem with the written tradition, it is taken literally as it is written. At the same time, it helps to persevere the physical visual aspect, so on balance there are strengths and weaknesses here. The problem is today that we are to obsessed with the visual aspect often at the expense of the inner dimension of sound. The previous generation were not so lopsided in their development, because what they could see was so limited. So they needed these methods.
Once again, this is difficult to put into words, and has to be experienced directly. At the same time it is common sense and accessible to anyone. When you look at the snake like waving movements of the Chinese forms, these faster forms represent this idea of rapid escalation and deescalation. The snake symbol is actually used because its form best demonstrates this quality, rather than the human body. So to demonstrate the waving movements which go up and down, the snake was used to clearly make this obvious in such a way that words could not. The snake is used because its being is closely related to the human beings energy form, not because the human wants to physically mimic the snake.
Previously we looked at why there was a tradition of passing on various sounds vocally. We also looked at how the sounds can support the muscular system and create a certain inner state which is conducive to health and power. We will look at exactly why this is, as well as what kind of sounds are effective and what this all means according to tradition.
In martial Arts there were spoken forms which were used to support the movements themselves. When we say spoken forms, we mean that syllables are put together and also this means the body must be moved internally or externally. Or both. This is the way it was done for thousands of years before there were elaborate writing or recording systems. It is still effective today. Later on things were written down and passed on like that. However, the tradition of learning directly from the Master is still strong, and involves not only mantras but energy shouting, as well as various sound forms. There are all sorts of Ragas, mantras, and chants learnt this way in different disciplines. For martial arts it is the same kind of thing. You follow a particular sound, or apply a sound techniques to support a movement.
Not surprisingly, Martial Arts uses sound in many ways, particularly the devotional arts such as those with a spiritual dimension, like Tai Chi as well as others. In my own experience, I learnt Taekwondo in such a way that you had to shout each time you did a kick. You had to shout “Kiap” every time. This feels silly at first and often it isn’t enforced anymore because of this. However, we did it religiously, and every time we kicked we would shout “Kiap”. At first I did it totally wrong, but eventually it became more effective and more amplified as well as deeper into my core. This is why you need a dedicated space to practice, if you start doing this in a casual gym, people will often find this socially unacceptable or weird.
I thought at first all of this shouting was just to increase confidence, and the idea was that you attacker might get scared. So even in this, the energy shout, or “Kiap” has a certain practical value. However it is much more than that, as I realised later on. It has an effect on you as well as others. This effect has various application according to what state you want to get yourself into.
In Tai Chi there are also various sounds that one utters during practice. It is the case for all martial arts, but it is not often emphasised enough. These sounds can be done externally or internally. When they are internal, you are just breathing and this supports the nervous system and circulatory system. For example, simple mediative sitting has an effect on ones energy system without any moving around. It also supports posture and the muscular system by inflating the body and moving the internal breathing muscles in various ways. In physical and practical martial arts they always focus on the exhale. This is where the shout is done. There are certain sounds one can produce to emphasise this exhalation, making sure that one follows the technique all the way to the end of the breathe. We will look at these next.
Internally, you will create all sorts of poetry when you establish the right equilibrium within. In fact, this is why there are so many poets are associated with Martial Arts practice. Miyamoto Musashi himself was both an artist and a poet. So was Bruce Lee more recently. The writing from both men tended to blend science and poetry together seamlessly. This is why they can talk about doing serious harm to somebody in one instance, and then raising their consciousness to heaven in the other. It wasn’t a problem for them because they had achieved mastery over these two contradictory aspects, the internal and external. Science has shown that when two opposite poles separate, this creates a charge. This separation of charge is what gives form to energy and what actually unites energy in movement.
The Sound “Aa”
There are various art expressions Which have come out of sound forms. You can create musical compositions, mantras, chants, or simply utter some simple syllables.People have done extraordinary things just by sticking to the ordinary principles. when it comes to rapid martial arts movements, the most appropriate form of sound you can utter are the more simple syllables. These can be performed in a staggering variety of ways. For example, let’s take the sound “Aa”. When you say this sound, the energy starts at the Hara Centre, 3/4 of an inch below the naval, and reverberates across the body. In other words, you ensure that the movement starts from the physical centre of the abdomen.
When you fully concentrate on saying the “aaa” sound, which can be long and drawn out, or short and quick, you feel an interconnectivity of the abdomen and rest of the body. The more physical martial arts focus on rapidly exhaling and making this “Aa” sound. You can shout it or or simply breathe out. A runner would improve their breathing by making such sounds, but they would shout it. They would just link the breath to the movement in a more subtle way that was less audible. So you do as needed. The “Aa” or “ahh” sound creates maximum pressure in the Hara Centre, whilst relaxing the rest of the body. This is the aim of gaining mastery over you physical centre, you want to apply pressure here so that freedom of movement is possible elsewhere.
In the Chinese forms they shout “HA”. This is adding another syllable in to the “A” which means it has the same kind of effect. Depending on the situation, it tends to come out differently. For example, if you punched it would come out differently than if you lifted up something heavy. There are many variations. It could easily be “Heeyaaahhh”, “uuuaaahhh” or “Yaaa”. It all depends on the situation. In fact, you would just be pronouncing the sound “ahh” differently with the addition of a few syllables. with “Heeyaaahh”, you go more up and down rather than just sustaining the continuous line of sound you would with “ahh”. However, you can also go up and down with just “ahhh”. So “Aa” or “ahh” is enough by itself, but modifications have been added in. The important thing is to become aware of this and make it a conscious thing rather than merely accidental. This means you respond on purpose rather than reacting unconsciously.
In Taekwondo we use the sound “Kiap”. The Kiap puts a “P” at the end of the utterance following on from the “Aa”. This brings it to an abrupt end, which is suitable in certain situations. The main point is that whichever way you pronounce the sound, that is the form which will be possible for you to do. You must have noticed that when when you punch rapidly, you use short sharp breaths. These come out in a vibrating kind of fashion, rather than up and down, which has a sustained shaking quality about it. This is used in many mantras and Indian Ragas too. In fact, some certain Chinese systems focus on this shaking power.
So to summarise, there are various ways of modifying the basic “Ahh” sound. These change the quality of it by allowing you to become rapid or slow for instance. Next we will look at how the volume of sound, such as how much energy you hold back and how much you let out and how quickly, affects output. There is a time aspect to this. So when the movement is longer and drawn out, so is the sound and the time it takes. One needs to pay particular attention to the volume of sound energy which is released and how to set the body to express this accross time. A big volume requires a big space. And a big space permits a larger distance for sound to more deeply reverberate across time. This means you stretch you experience of time according to the space you can create for yourself through certain sounds.
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