For Masters or Instructors: How do you go about including internal arts in your classes?

The internal side of my martial arts has always existed.

We at my dojo are fortunate enough to have Shihan lead us in the direction we all want to go. He understands greatly and continues inexhaustible research on the martial arts to better understand "The Way" and "Life". This brings us to the ever-present principle of Yin Yang, so with hard we must have soft, and with external we must have internal.

Because of this leading focus, we begin the day with Mokuso, and that being more than just sitting and clearing the mind, but centering the spirit and calming the monkey-mind. After which we begin with an Indonesian Taiji form. This form is specifically geared to the Triple Heaters and is just great at warming up while freeing any energy flows. This is followed by Sanchin, and some Kote Aite.

Throughout the practice session, internal practices are both discussed and implemented. They also include the spiritual side of study and life practices as that is a major component of "The Way" and true Dim Mak. Yes - True Dim Mak is far more than just pressure points.

At the end of practice we work the taiji form to bring down the fire, and at least half of the time we will close with the Healing Sounds and Qigong as a group practice.

Hsing Yi was a major part of my system and as such some of us in my dojo have resolved to continue pursuit into the Heavy Internal Arts influence.

This is why I studied it myself, Yang Taiji, and currently Chen Taiji, Qigong, and Neigong, and Iron Shirt through Qigong. I have also always been a spiritual person, and I include the moral practices and spiritual understandings I have learned in my classes.

In my teachings, I include what we used with Shihan, and I include what I have learned outside the dojo with my Taiji practices. I start with silk reeling, and work heavily on the quality of my student's minds during practice.

Qi is not a byproduct of training as it is ever-present, and must be for us to live. Training just teaches us how to sense, cultivate, and use it.

Kung - is a great subject when trying to express the mind, body, and spirit and martial arts. I don't know if I would say I coach my student, preach to them, or act as just an instructor. I tend to put myself on equal level with my students when going over Kung so that it is an equal participation, and that I find inspires them more do look within themselves.

There are several basic drills we practice that incorporate movements meant to create a internal link through breathing, posture, and focus. The same drills are used with the emphasis changed from breathing to muscular tension or relaxation to extending energy "ki", if you believe in such a thing. Most traditional systems have these drills, like sanchin, though most consider sanchin a kata.

It is a by product of training but shifting one's focus to each aspect of "internalization" while performing codified movements "drills" seems to make understanding and performance easier, at least it has for me and a few others. However explaining too much confuses some people so some must just do the drills and through repetition get their body and hopefully their mind to move correctly.

I could write more but that would take a few pages.

I took Shotokan karate for years and my instructor was very into ki training. Many of the exercises we used were in a book called KITOH KARATE by his instructor,Shojiro Sugiyama. Here is a link where you could probably get it: http://www.jkachicago.com/contact.htm.

The exercises are very straight forward. All include visualization and breath control combined with movement. There is a lot of emphasis on expansion and contraction in the movements. Fifteen years later I still uses the exercises. I know this isn't really an answer but it is a great place to look. I would rather have you go to the source than have me butcher an explanation..

Edit: Sorry Sifu Frank but KITOH KARATE is out of print. Here is a link to the newer one. I haven't read it but I bet the concepts are the same. It's pricey though. Must be considered rare.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0966...

Systema is also some thing valued at checking into, so long as you deliver it a few truly study. There is plenty of stuff that I've obvious in a few Systema demonstrations and one institution that resemble China's inside martial artwork approaches like Hsing Yi and Taiji. I could additionally believe Shienaran. Yoga is satisfactory for wellbeing and is simply another method of having to the equal situation taiji and meditation move. There also are quite a lot of varieties of yoga, so be certain you do your study on that earlier than you leap correct into magnificence. Really, you must do a little study at the varieties of chi kung/qigong, meditation, yoga practices, and different inside arts practices; and create a record of inquiries to carry to the teachers. You must be competent to pass judgement on their capabilities base and whether or not or no longer they are BSing you. Don't be afraid to invite them questions, except they are making stuff up they should have no dilemma answering them.

I have always learned it as a by-product of training. The concept of "ki" was never addressed, let alone explained. It has always been explained in a scientific manner, rather than as a function of "ki". As a result, I have never fully embraced the concept of "ki", because it answers a lot of questions without explaining why things work.

Because of my training experience, I pass on the scientific explanations of internal energy, balance, and centering. Whatever else ki is, I don't explain it.

Qi/Ki is not a by product of training.

If it was so, those who constantly say it is "fake" and a "fraud" would not be saying it is because they would achieve it eventually in their lives as martial artists.

I include Qigong at the end of every class to provide balance. It offsets the hard external training and promotes healing by circulating electronically charged oxygen throughout the body. This feeds the cells and helps the body rid itself of toxic elements we have accumulated through the environment or impurities in our food supply.

Well Frank, there are three areas that I always include in my students training that are particular to Chinese and internal arts and less emphasized in Japanese/Okinawan martial arts. One is the acrobatic type techniques and the coordination, balance, and agility it takes to perform such maneuvers. Irregardless of what a person's feelings are about such things the athletic attributes it takes to perform such things are very much the same as what are needed to be a good and capable martial artist in any martial art I think. Whether or not you use or rely on such things or your feelings about them is not the point but the ability to do them.

The second area that I always address is the relaxed, open handed approach to striking and punching and only closing the hand on contact when punching to better throw that punch with more speed and thus more power. In Japanese and Okinawan karate you stress with beginners to keep their hands closed and I think that is to help them to avoid injuries when blocking, parrying, and punching and so that they can more easily learn how to close that hand correctly. Once a student has learned how to do this and when to close that hand they then can learn how to leave their hands open some allowing them to do these things with more speed but yet closing that hand when and as they should to avoid getting fingers broke or for the purpose of making hard contact when punching.

In working with strong, but untrained people I will sometimes see their shoulder tense or lock up when they are learning to hit the heavy bag. Sometimes they will do this when I move them from a smaller bag to a larger one even. They think they have to try harder because the bag is bigger. As they learn better to relax and only tense on contact, closing that hand completely, locking that wrist into place, and using the fast twitch muscles for punching and isolating those bigger, more powerful slow twitch muscles from the motion they then see the real power that they can punch with. They also learn to relax again afterwords so that they don't tire so easily and quickly and can throw that next punch with as good of speed and power as that first one. This along with then learning to use your hips and draw power up from your legs and the floor and being relaxed to better do this and only tensing on contact leads into the third area very nicely I think that I like to relate to.

That area is in regards to Ki or Chi and relaxed effort and motion. I don't think that the Japanese/Okinawan martial arts do as good of job in stressing this sometimes and so students in those arts sometimes think that everything has to be done with strength and hardness, especially at the beginning slowing that action down and lessening its power and speed, taking more energy to execute it and relying solely on the strength of it in itself. I think the Chinese and internal martial arts do a better job of stressing relaxed but concentrated effort while allowing a person to more easily do something faster and stronger.

For some techniques if I have to strain or rely on strength all the way through to be effective with that technique then I think that says something about my technique I think or lack of it. Punching along with Judo and jujitsu throws come immediately to mind concerning this as well as other things like applying certain holds, chokes, and submissions. I want my students skill and technique to be so good that they don't have to rely on strength unless the situation calls for it and instead to be so smooth, quick, and efficient in their technique that it requires less strength and more easily taps into their Ki or Chi and stronger but relaxed motion and effort.

One of my Japanese instructors taught me that if you have to strain to do something and force the technique that your technique is not so good really and you will never reach your full potential with it. There is a lot of truth to that I think and the Chinese and internal martial arts do a better job of trying to teach and instill these aspects in their students and so I use and relate these things to my students to better emphasize them in the karate, jujitsu and fighting aspects that I teach.

I say, do as you train and train how you do.