By Yao Cheng-rong
Translated by Tu-Ky Lam
We all know that internal strength is different from our inborn strength or mechanical force. Internal strength can be acquired only through intensified training under special conditions. In Yiquan, we use standing practice with the help of our mind/intent to develop internal force. There is a saying which goes, "If you want to learn the essence of martial arts, you must start from doing zhan-zhuang". The essence of martial arts refers to the internal strength. The strength developed from doing zhan-zhuang is called "Hun-yuan li", which means the strength of the whole body. The key to gaining hun-yuan li is through our mind/intent. We use our visualization to develop contradictory strength or opposite tension by making parts of our body go in opposite directions. We also imagine that there is some connection between our body and our environment (e.g. pushing a tree, pulling a spring, etc.). By doing so, we will be able to make the whole body move together at the same time.
What we call opposite tension (zheng-li) is the springy strength, (produced from our mind/intent), which goes in opposite directions – top, bottom, left, right, front and back. Opposite tension is useful because it can help produce strong whole body force, especially after we train hard on shi-li (test of strength), zou-bu (stepping) and fa-li (power discharge).
When practicing zheng-li, we should start from the simple one (which is one dimension such as top and bottom). Later on, we can practice the whole body three dimensional zheng-li. The best way to train on zheng-li – simple or whole body – is to practice "Hun-yuan zhuang", which is the "Embrace-a-Tree" posture.
We train on zheng-li by using one of the fighting postures, for example, "Hun-yuan zhuang" or Embrace-a-Tree posture. We imagine that two springs are tying our wrists to a wall in front of us, and we want to pull the springs towards us. With our neck leading the movement, our body sits slightly back to help our hands do the job. We should try to feel the two contradictory strengths - one is that we want to pull the springs, and the other the springs pull back. The contradictory strength makes us feel that there is a strong force that obstructs our movement and we can hardly move. In our imagination, we will keep pulling the springs, relaxing, and then pulling and relaxing again and again during training.
Alternatively, we can imagine that our arms are holding a big ball. With our head leading the movement, we try to squeeze the ball and then prise it open. After constant practice, we will be able to feel the contradictory strength created by tension and relaxation interchanging with each other. This is also the strength produced by our mind/intent.
After practicing the simple zheng-li drill (as mentioned above) for a while, we can move on to train on the whole body zheng-li. When we stand on a "hun-yuan zhuang" or embrace-a-tree posture, we imagine that there is a spring or elastic connecting our head to one point on the ground between our feet. We imagine that there are also springs connecting our head to our front foot and our back foot. Our head should move up while our feet stay down to create opposite tension. Our right hip should go in opposite direction to our left knee to create contradictory strength. So should our left hip and right knee. Our hands should have opposite tension with our feet and so should our shoulders with our hips. In short, our whole body from top to bottom, left to right and back to front should have opposite tension at the same time, which is called whole body opposite tension. We must remember that the top and bottom opposite tension is the most important of all.
During zhan-zhuang, our posture is round or circular, but we should be able to feel that our strength can go straight out from any direction, and that all our hair is raised. Our body does not move but there appears that there is movement all over our body. Make sure that our mind/intent is always present during zhan-zhuang.
This is the training of our nervous system so that it can react quickly and fight off our opponents. There are two kinds of reaction training.
If we have practiced zhan-zhuang and shi-li long enough and have developed the whole body opposite tension, which means we feel there are strings connecting different parts of our whole body together, and we also feel our whole body itself is like a spring, we imagine that someone is pushing some part of our body. Upon thinking of this, our mind tenses up a bit and our strength will be released from the center of our body and out to counteract with the invading force. After training like this for some time, we can go further and imagine that some one is attacking us so that our body can generate strength to deal with this situation. Our visualization should not show up in our body. We will just do it in our mind and let the mind generate strength, not our movement. Remember this saying: "The mind is strength, and mind and strength are almost indistinguishable".
Imagine we are standing on a bamboo raft in the stormy sea. The raft is very unstable, rocking from side to side and back to front. If the front part of the raft is lifted up by water, our body weight should move slightly to the front. If the back of the raft goes up, our weight should move to the back. If the raft is moving from side to side, our body weight should follow. When we feel the raft is going up with the rising water, our body weight should sink. If it goes down, then our body weight should go up. We should use our mind to perform these tasks and our movements should be so small that they are hardly noticeable. Our movements should not be executed from our legs, but from the whole body. At the beginning, you can follow a pattern: moving up, down, left, right, back or front. Later on the movements should be at random. At the beginning, the raft can move slowly. Later on, it moves very fast with the stormy seas. This exercise will provide us with good training on our reaction and help us make quick adjustment to cope with different situations.
When we train on zheng-li, we must pay attention to the following:
When we practice zhan-zhuang, we imagine that we are embracing a tree not only with our arms, but with our chest, our belly, and our legs. The tree and ourselves become one. We imagine that we are pushing, pulling, lifting, plunging, squeezing or prising open the tree. But this should be done in our mind rather than from our body. It is mainly to train on the reaction of our nervous system, making our body react properly. Gradually, when our mind is there, our strength will be there.
During training, we should not concentrate too much on our body, but should think of our environment instead because thinking of our body can make us tense. We should keep calm even if the mountain collapses in front of us.
Our movement should be closely connected with our mind. Zheng-li does not mean only pulling back. When we pull back (e.g. a spring), there is another force (from the spring) that is going in opposite direction. The main point is to make the movement contain two opposite forces. During zheng-li practice, our mind and our body should be in the state of getting ready for a race, and should be ready to move at any moment.