A fellow student/practitioner who is a highly ranked karate expert, asked my teacher some questions regarding transformations into the study and practice of the traditional Internal Systems of Chinese Martial Arts.  A correspondence ensued that I would like to share with you, since I find it to be of value and very informative:

“The way I was taught Tai Chi, you don’t dwell on flow and chi and so forth when learning the routines.  You concentrate on making each posture correctly in terms of body alignments, timing and positioning.  If this sounds external, it is.  We first work to make the outward structure exactly correct.  And you are doing that pretty well.  When I said previously that I would make a few corrections if we were face to face, I meant primarily corrections to form.
 
Chinese Internal martial arts develop in three stages:  First, correct external form.  Second, correct internal energy and flow.  Third, it transforms into shen, or spirit.  Many people think it’s all about chi and never get the form right.  This is like trying to push water through a kinked hose.  You really have to be in front of a competent teacher to get all the alignments right (”get the kinks out of the hose”).  A couple of rules to follow, once you are exactly copying correct form, are to 1) Try to relax everything that doesn’t need to be tense.  This means that you consciously, over a long time, learn to feel the tension in your body and release it if you don’t need it to make the posture.  2)  If one thing moves, everything moves.  This means that you develop exact timing, and that every movement involves your entire body;  you never just move an arm or a leg, for instance.
 
The transformation from the first stage (external form) to the second stage (energy and flow) happens when you practice very correct form while consciously working on relaxing everything that doesn’t need to be tense and moving everything when anything moves.  You become aware of your energy moving, and this eventually becomes the driving force of your practice:  you feel it from the inside out, and the energy inside drives the external body.  It’s kind of like a water balloon, with the internal pressure of the water altering the external shape of the balloon as you apply different pressures to it.  The water pressure is the energy, or chi, the balloon itself is your external body, and your hands changing the shape of the balloon is your mind.
 
Martially, if you develop this, all of your technique is unified and never segmented, as is usually the case with hard styles.  When you hit somebody, the force comes from the floor and is routed out through your hand through correct alignments and timing and lack of extra tensions that would break up the power waveform.  You get out of your own way and let the energy come out.
 
So, there it is in theory.  Working with somebody who knows how to do all this can quickly help you to reach good results.  Frankly, it’s almost impossible to develop this without somebody showing you how. I hope this helps!”

My Shorin Ryu Karate and T’ai Chi Ch’uan teacher is William C. Duncan, who currently resides in North Carolina. He is an 8th Degree Black Belt in Shorin Ryu Karate and is a 5th Generation Master Instructor of Yang Ch’eng-fu T’ai Chi Ch’uan, Sun Lu Tang Hsing-I and Pa Kua Ch’uan. 

Master Duncan is also an accomplished author and has received rave reviews for his last novel, a fictional work, based on a notorious Hispanic Gang that rules the drug trade flowing into our country.  I’d highly recommend getting a copy of his book: “Six-Gun Two-Step” and enjoying it’s super-charged story line, while learning about the methods of modern drug gangs in the process.  I couldn’t put it down!

If you are going to visit or go out hiking and camping in country populated with Bear, you really NEED a canister of Guard Alaska Bear Spray. If you’ve read any of our previous articles on animal attacks, I’ve mentioned that the one item that individuals or trainers will use, that stops or deters animal aggression, is always Pepper Spray.

Guard Alaska  Bear Pepper Spray is proven by studies and endorsed as the only animal repellent that is effective against all species of Bears. Another effective bear deterrent spray from a trusted manufacturer is - Mace Brand Bear Spray.

After watching nightly TV shows on the destructive power of a bear’s bite, it’s probably silly to live or camp in bear country without one of these very useful bear repellents.

You may not like or be able to legally carry a firearm, so these bear pepper sprays would be the logical choice.  Much like a firearm, these sprays can be deployed from a distance, before you’re actually mauled.  It makes sense to me!

Just posting a quick note to let you know that SafetyEnforcement.com is offering a great product right now.  It’s on sale and I  recommend it a “must have” self defense product.

Cops use Mace to subdue the most violent criminals who won’t comply.  Why? Because it flat out works.  The results are immediate and will stop an attack before it get’s started.  Mace is tough stuff and has a proven track record in the field as the top gun in defense sprays.

Police Mace is on sale right now and for the price of lunch, you can arm yourself with this highly effective product. It has a blend of OC pepper, CN tear gas and a UV marking dye to assist the police in making a positive identification!

This Police Mace combo carries 18 grams – allows you 10 one second bursts and sprays up to 8 – 12 feet!  That’s the range of pocket guns or “belly guns.”

If you’re not convinced of the awesome stopping power of Mace, browse on over to YouTube and type in “Mace” or “Maced” and watch some people taking a blast of this stuff in the face and you’ll be convinced.  I wouldn’t mislead you on this one. It’s a superb self defense product, is non-lethal and stops aggression immediately

Many years ago in my youth, I spent several years faithfully training in Muay Thai boxing.  The kicks weren’t pretty too look at but I found out, the first day I held the pads for an experienced Thai boxer, how devastating and powerful the kicks were.

Sure, I was a karate black belt of many years standing but where my kicks were strong and a bit more accurate, the Thai kicks felt like Atom Bombs going off – it literally felt like my teeth were being rattled in their sockets upon impact!  Accuracy be d***ed, I was going to learn how to kick like this.

The hardest part was toughening the shins.  I recall a whole summer of bruises with colors that spanned the rainbow, from my insteps to just below my knees. I went to the Dr. for a job physical and he was aghast as I recall.  I explained what was going on and he just wagged his head.  “I’m not going to get a blood clot or something and keel over, am I Doc,” I asked.  He told me that I wouldn’t but that he couldn’t understand why anyone would do that do themselves.  He wasn’t a fighter I guess?

It didn’t take much longer and the bruises started to leave and within 6 mos or so there were no more bruises, just iron-clad shins. During this time I learned that like most martial arts, the power and delivery of the fearsome “Thai Kick” was simply a matter of proper use of body mechanics.

Of course, I learned the whole system – not the Traditional style with weapons and forms etc. but the kicks, knees, elbows, punches, footwork, defenses and other various nuances of Thai Boxing.

In my later years now, as a grizzled veteran, I no longer throw those big booming shin kicks to the head or even the body for that matter. What I love is the timing and throwing of “cut kicks” from all of their angles and with relative ease. They stop unconditioned or untrained fighters like a slug from a .45acp pistol. Just a little  movement here and a little there, then swing that shin right into the inner thigh “inside cut kick” - the outside works well too but requires just a bit more oomph!

I promise you, who haven’t seen the results of the “cut kick,” that they will stop a fight quickly and with great finality.  Keep on kicking!