
Only when you truly possess the power of body and technique, can internal martial arts be called advanced.
So what does body and technique refer to?
It refers to the skill you have after mastering the “Six Arts”!
So what are the “Six Arts”?
The Six Arts refer to the “Chicken Legs”, “Dragon Body”, “Bear Arms”, “Tiger and Leopard (Hold) Head”, “Eagle Claw (Catch)”, and “Thunder” of Xingyiquan.
Xingyiquan defines “Eagle Catch” as the “Mother Fist” (“Three Body Style” as the “Mother Style”), deletes “Thunder” and calls “Chicken Legs”, “Dragon Body”, “Bear Arms”, and “Tiger and Leopard Head” the “Four Phases”.
So what is the connotation of the “Four Phases”? And how to practice it?
It requires sufficient internal Qi in the Dantian, and it can flow through the whole body. The trunk is full of Qi and blood, and the internal strength expands in the trunk and expands the major joints. Some people call it internal muscle stretching and bone pulling.
Traditional training methods include: “open shoulders”, “open hips”, “open chest”, “open back”, “open ribs”——–most of the martial arts community now has a glimpse of it, but few people know the whole picture——although the older generation of martial artists have mastered the key points, most of them are kept secret.
I remember when I first learned martial arts, I asked my teacher which one of the upper, middle and lower plates was the focus of training. My teacher said it was the middle plate. If the middle plate is wrong, the lower plate will never be practiced! Later, in the long process of training, I slowly understood this truth!
Because the most critical key to practicing the middle plate is to achieve “waist and horse unity”, that is, the trunk and lower limbs are connected and the strength is connected. The key to achieving this is “opening the hips”, which some schools call “tearing the hips”. When the hips are opened, the sacrum is inserted downward, the total center of gravity of the human body is lowered, the strength of the lower limbs can be truly raised, and the strength of the trunk can be truly transmitted to the ground, and the function of the “chicken legs” can be truly reflected! Step as light as a civet cat, step as steady as Mount Tai! Only when the body is not under stress can the frame be truly formed! This is called “Seven Star Arch Beam Transferring Gravity”. (Opening the hips, loosening the hips, loosening the tailbone and other exercises are available in all major sects, but they are all secret – not to be passed on to non-disciples! I am the only exception!
After the “chicken legs” are practiced, the “dragon body” is practiced. The “dragon body” we practice is not the “dragon folded body”! What we practice is that the strength of the whole body is unobstructed in the torso! The strength of the whole body is practiced in the body, up and down! Left and right! Cross-penetration! When the body is bent forward and backward, tilted left and right, up and down, forward and backward, and the overall rotation and attack are blocked, the body shape is often seen as “wrong” and can no longer use strength, but the internal key is still correct! The whole body is still full of strength, and the opportunity is gained!
“Dragon body” and “tiger and leopard head” must be practiced together! The only reason we don’t need The term “tiger holding head” has its reasons. So far, in the martial arts materials I have collected, I have only seen Li Chunling and his disciples demonstrate this skill in his “Li’s Xingyi Tai Chi” (forgive my ignorance)! That is, when standing on one leg, the neck can suspend a person with a weight greater than itself, and the body itself does not move or shake. This shows that the force on the neck has been transmitted to the feet, and the strength from head to feet has been initially connected!
Take a look at the situation of the neck of tigers and leopards, and you will know that what the author said is true! “Tiger and leopard head” refers to the strength of tigers and leopards that goes straight through the top of the head (there must also be the meaning of “the top of the head is secretly contracted”)! The intention of the predecessors is to let us understand the tiger. The force state of the leopard’s head and neck allows us to understand the principles of bionics!
Take a look at the key points in the “four phases” or “six arts”, which one is not a body part (the function that should be reflected), why do we have to add a tiger? What about the movements? How inappropriate is this? (Please give me your valuable suggestions if there are any mistakes!!)
What is “bear arms”? After long-term training in Zhuanggong, the back will gradually become as solid as a steel plate, the trapezius and latissimus dorsi muscles will stretch to both sides, the shoulder blades will sink and then open horizontally, and will be fixed in the stretched position by the muscles, slightly wrapped forward, the back will be round, the chest will be solid, the ribs will be open, and the arms will be full of strength, like bear arms, making the frame more rounded, the internal qi and blood of the trunk will be filled and permeated throughout the body, and the whole body will drive the expansion and contraction of the back and rib muscles, making them extremely elastic, which is the power of body wrapping. At this time, you can feel that the strongest power is contained in these most dead joints of the human body (shoulders, hips and 24 vertebrae), which is the power of the primitive beast, the instinctive power that martial artists dream of. At this time, the physiological structure of the human body tends to be in the state of a beast!