“Let
no debt remain outstanding,
except
the continuing debt to love one another…”
Romans
13:8
How to activate your energy of Qi within?
The key is ‘Song’[1].
‘Song’ does not have exact English
equivalent. Most writers in English on
Tai Chi translate the term literally—to relax, loosen. But this is only partly correct.
Qi is stored in our cells. When you tighten up your muscles to generate
your strength, Qi is locked and blocked inside.
You cannot feel it. If you want
to perceive Qi, you have to set it free first.
So, you should get rid of tension in your
body, postures and movements by using force of Li as little as possible. This is why your Tai Chi coach keeps
reminding you to relax.
However, getting rid of negative element does
not guarantee the positive factor arises. De-tension alone does not guarantee the
release of Qi energy.
Relaxation can be in either positive sense
or negative sense.
Relaxation in negative sense is passive in
nature. Imagine that you are exhausted
after office, sink yourself onto a sofa.
You are relaxed, but slack, sleepy and passive. This is another way to lock up Qi energy like
that of the state when you tighten up your muscles.
Positive relaxation is what you need. Physically, you loosen your body, muscles,
joints and remain tensionless. Meanwhile,
you raise your spirit and keep wakeful, mindful and being present. Then, you can experience a sense of expansion
in your consciousness. That means Qi is
free and radiating from within. If I
touch you at this moment, I can perceive this sense of expansion too. This is what ‘Song’ means. Only under this state, Qi is ready to receive
the command from your spirit. Your
spirit can direct stream of Qi to flow forward, backward, to ascend, descend,
expand or fall in. The higher level of ‘Song’
you can achieve, the stronger and quicker the stream of Qi can flow under your
spirit’s command. The ultimate objective
of Kung Fu practice is to achieve optimal level of Song.
The benchmark of the learning outcome of ‘Song’
is that you succeed to release your Qi energy.
‘Song’ is also the key touchstone that
differentiates between the genuine and the fake Kung Fu of Qi. If someone shows his Kung Fu with
stiff muscles and full of tensions, you will be 100% certain that this is not
Kung Fu of Qi.
As your Kung Fu progress, you will grow
deeper understanding of Song.
For Christians, there is no limit in developing
virtue of love. “Let no debt remain outstanding,
except the continuing debt to love one another,…”
For Kung Fu practitioners, there is no
limit in developing Song. There is
always a higher level out there.
“Water can flow, or it can crash. Be water, my friend.” [2]
Qi can flow, crash too, more powerful than water, only when you can ‘Song’.
[1] In Chinese, the part of speech of a word is context dependent. ‘Song’ can be a verb or an adjective.
[2] See Bruce Lee’s interview at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tl3Y8T_HBHs
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