Articles
The Three Approaches of the German Tai Chi Forum
Article by Volker Jung, 22th august 2004
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Since I started teaching I have noticed various different areas of interest among our students.
These can be divided into the following three main areas:
In my opinion, arrived at after many years of experience, it is not actually possible to separate these three approaches. If the legendary Chi (Chinese for life force or energy) is used in a ‘professional’ way, then all 3 aspects will be covered, simultaneously and to the same degree.
Without Chi, no one would regain their health or stay healthy for long periods. Equally, without additional Chi, it wouldn’t be possible to fight efficiently for any length of time. What would there be to observe during meditation if there were no Chi to facilitate certain physical and other functions?
So you see that, in my view, all three aspects are necessary if you want to practise Tai Chi seriously – otherwise it can’t really be called internal Tai Chi. Full internal Tai Chi and Qi Gong make you healthy, strong, physically and mentally highly capable, contented and cheerful. This is something we have experienced time and again, both personally and with over 100 teachers and several thousand students over the past 20 years.
But the average student will not yet have the experience which I have had in over 20 years of teaching and 36 years of personal pratice, so he/she usually starts with one of the three approaches mentioned above. People are very different in their preferences and each has his/her own way of discovering things on a personal level. With this practical 3-part system we hope to give everyone the opportunity of approaching Chi in his/her own, personal way.
In my opinion, there is no one approach which is better, more important or worse than the others. They are all equally valuable and important. We would like to leave it up to each individual to choose.
I would now like to give a brief description of each approach, to make it easier for you to choose your personal way. In fact, I would prefer to call it your choice of introduction into the world of Chi, because anyone who seriously intends making a long-term study of the phenomenon we call ‘Tai Chi’ or who wishes to take an in-depth look at internal Chi, will notice after a while, that sooner or later he/she will have no choice but to tackle the two paths which were initially left untrodden. Sooner or later, everyone comes to realize the necessity of the other two areas and their individual contributions.
The Health Approach
Most of those who begin Tai Chi or are interested in it for one reason or another, had or still have the idea of improving their health at the back of their mind when they attend their first Tai Chi class. These clients expect help with, improvement or even healing of their present problems, discomforts or illnesses. These can range from headaches, circulatory problems, high or low blood pressure, sleep disorders, back pain, digestive trouble to pain from unknown causes. In recent years there has also been a rapid increase in the number of people with gout, rheumatism, diabetes and Parkinson’s Disease.
What are the characteristics of a healthy person? What is health? What is illness? If we follow the relatively easy-to-understand views of the Chinese (given here in slightly simplified form) on the subject of health and illness, we learn that:
A healthy person is someone whose Chi flows freely and unhindered, day in day out, through his meridians (energy channels), energy centres and cells. He always has an adequate supply of Chi stored in his energy centres, to help protect his organism from all kinds of unhealthy influences. His organism is always able to absorb enough Chi from the environment through respiration , food, drink and thought; this can flow freely and unhindered through the body and surplus Chi is stored in reservoirs within the body – the so-called energy centres or Dan Tiens. His body has neither too much nor too little Chi of a particular quality, so he is in a state of internal and external harmony.
The ill person, on the other hand, has either too little Chi, and thus feels drained, depressed or incapable of taking control of his life or improving it.
Alternatively, he could have too much Chi, which can build up in some of the body’s centres – mainly in the chest, upper body and head. This state of ‘overload’ can cause aggression, headaches and insomnia, and can make people irritable and discontented. Violent tendencies are often also a symptom of too much unchecked Chi within the body.
For these reasons, Tai Chi and other related systems such as Qi Gong and Taoist meditation, attempt an exact analysis of all aspects of the Chi phenomenon. They get to know its characteristics in order to define and classify them. Once you have learned a little about the nature of Chi, you begin to understand and utilize it. You learn how to absorb it, to direct it within the body and finally to store it in certain parts of the body. The aim is to become an expert in the handling and perception and awareness of Chi.
We can offer you vital support in this process, as we have concerned ourselves almost exclusively with this subject matter for the past 20 years of our professional lives.
In order to maintain your health, providing that you are willing to begin regular training before it’s too late, or in order to regain your health, there are a few rules which must be adhered to and a few techniques to be learned
Chi can be moved, directed and its absorption increased and controlled in three basic ways:
- Physical action (known as ‘external’ action)
- Respiratory action (half external and half internal movement)
- Mental action (or ‘internal’ action)
We can offer a wealth of techniques to help you absorb more energy per time unit than is normally possible in everyday life – these are the so-called energy absorption techniques. Then there are the breathing exercises which have been combined in several Qi Gong sets. These help us to train our respiration to a level which far outreaches ordinary, everyday breathing capacity. In time, our external and internal respiration improves, enabling us to absorb much higher levels of Chi from the surrounding air and to distribute it more effectively throughout or organism. After a while, circulation in both body and brain improves considerably.
Many Qi Gong exercises are concerned with opening the body for the internal flow of energy and preventing a build-up of energy which occurs mainly in the body’s larger and smaller joints. Here, the leading role is played by the 1000 Hands Buddha Qi Gong, the medical or Dragon Gate Qui Gong and we mustn’t forget our special Taoist floor exercises or the meridian-stretching and spine-strengthening floor exercises.
There are also exercises to stimulate the flow of energy and others to slow it down. It may be that your body has enough energy, but that the quality of this energy is not particularly well-balanced, causing you to become dissatisfied, edgy, stressed and in time, ill. In addition there are exercises to cleanse the energy channels and the aura, as well as the entire energy system of both mind and body. These include an exercise known as the energy shower. There are also exercises which use a physical and mental transformation process to turn negative energies and emotions into energies which will have a positive effect on the human organism. This is called the fusion of the 5 elements.
For each sub-item there is a wealth of exercises and sets in our Health Approach to satisfy almost every need. The only problem that you as clients and we as providers have is the constant lack of time and opportunity to learn or teach all these topics.
The only problem that you as clients and we as providers have is the constant lack of time and opportunity to learn or teach all these topics.
At present we can provide courses on over 200 different subjects, each with an entirely different content. How can we even begin to offer all of these? There are only 365 days and 52 weekends in a year - the weekends being our main teaching time at present. We are planning to run special seminars on weekdays, too, perhaps on Thursdays and Fridays as a kind of ‘early weekend’. We also want to place more emphasis on holiday courses and breaks at our new headquarters in the Middle Rhine Valley.
We have attempted to sort all our courses into a list, to give you a general overview of our whole repertoire. Please don’t be alarmed by the multitude of exercises and sets on this list. You don’t have to have tried out every one in order to become or remain happy and healthy! We have only added this list to our homepage for the sake of completeness. Everyone can choose the course which most appeals to him within his favoured field
Please understand that we can only offer a certain selection in any one year. It has not been possible up to now, for us to offer all 200 courses in one year. We are obliged to choose those themes which satisfy a majority of our clients. It may be that certain topics will not be on the agenda for several years, unless enough people can be found with a common interest to justify our offering a course.
That is why we ask you to indicate your preferences as early as possible, so that our long-term planning can incorporate as many different topics on as many dates as possible.
With the help of polls and surveys which we carry out amongst or Forum membership at regular intervals, we try to ascertain current trends in order to offer the appropriate courses, which we hope will meet the needs of as many prospective students as possible.
If your course cannot be offered at an early date, we do give you the option of private tuition on a specific subject which perhaps only you are interested in.
List of all exercises from the German Tai Chi Forum’s Health Approach
I. General health exercises and health Qi Gongs
- 8 Brocades: Eight remedial breathing exercises
- Medical Qi Gong: Set of 12 exercises for the absorption and release of earth Yin or cosmic Yang energy
- Reclining Qi Gong: Set of all 6 Qi Gongs and a joint and spine opening meditation
- Walking Qi Gong : All 6 Qi Gong positions with steps
- 1000 Hands Buddha: in 5 sets
- Huen Yuen Qi Gong: in 10 exercises
- Incense Qi Gong: after Master Huang, Wei Lun. Consists of one set in standing and one in sitting position, which can be practised separately or together
- The 10 Taoist breaths: Also from Master Huang, to be practised in standing and reclining positions
- The 8-fold Liu He Ba Fa Qi Gong: A set of 8 consecutive exercises aimed at clarifying the internal energies in all 8 centres and at increasingly encouraging the essential Chi to sink
- Simple internal breathing exercises: 10 – 15 exercises which can provide easy access to the high art of internal breathing
- Internal Breath Qi Gong: 240 breaths
- Opposite Internal Breath Qi Gong: 80 breaths
- Bone Breathing : after Meister Chia
- Bone Marrow Qi Gong : after Meister Chia
- 8-fold health exercises : after the Sha Family
- The Eight Palms of Bagua with changes: after the Sha Family (health-giving circle walkingTaoist walking meditation with 8 different hand postures)/
II. Taoist Meditation
- The Inner Smile: Basic mediation technique
- The Small Celestial Circuit
- The Great Celestial Circuit
- The Fusion of the 5 Elements – 1: Clearing negative emotions
- The Fusion of the 5 Elements – 2: Creative cycle of positive emotions
- The Fusion of the 5 Elements – 3: The Yin-Yang-Bridge
- The Girdle Meridians
- The 3 Ascending Channels
- Organ Clock Breathing : (the great cycle)
- Buddha Hand
III. Energy Massage Techniques from China and Japan
- Inochi: Japanese meridian massage and floor exercises
- Chi Lei Jong: Abdominal massage; Skin detoxification, organ detoxification, emotional detoxification
IV. Special Exercises for Health
- Longevity Exercises from the Wu family : about 100 exercises for the whole body. In the style of Daoist self-massage. Practised according to body zones and limbs. From your head and hair right down to your little toes and the soles of your feet
- Dan Tien Alive Training: Multiple exercises for executing physical and mental circles at different levels of the body. With developing practice all three Dan Tien centres in the body are shown and explained
- 10 Step Rooting Training: after the Wu family, learned from Grand Master Wang Hao Da, who died recently
- Floor Exercises : after Master Huang (spinal stretches, joint opening exercises, stretches and breathing exercises to stimulate the flow of energy in the meridians, executed in seated or reclining postures)
- Bone Breathing : after Meister Chia
- Bone Marrow Qi Gong: after Meister Chia
This selection will definitely be added to in the future, as we continue our studies with our long-time and well-trusted Masters.
2. Der Kampfkunstweg
Wer interessiert sich dafür?
Von Anfängern, die sich auf eine gesunde Art und Weise betötigen möchten und dabei gleichzeitig effiziente Techniken der Selbstverteidigung lernen möchten bis hin zu Leuten, die bereits langjährige einschlägige Erfahrungen in diversen anderen Kampfsportarten gemacht haben und nun nach einer mehr logischen und effizienteren Kampfkunst oder Kampfsportart suchen.
Viele Menschen mittleren Alters haben in ihrer Kindheit und Jugend die mehr sportlich eingeschätzten Kampfsportarten wie westliches Boxen, Karate, Taekwon-Do, Kickboxen, Judo oder Ringen oft langjährig betrieben.
Irgendwie haben sie durch Ausbildung, Berufsleben, soziale Beziehungen und Partnerschaften den Kontakt zu diesen Freizeitaktivitäten ihrer jungen Jahre verloren. Man hat sich über mehrere Jahre keine Zeit für sich und seine sportlichen Jugendinteressen genommen. Viele sind etwas außer Form geraten, die Kondition hat gelitten und sie haben den Eindruck nicht mehr ganz so fit zu sein. Deshalb wählen diese Menschen oft den Weg zum Tai Chi. Sie denken diese innere Kampfkunst sei einfacher und leichter zu erlernen oder mit Ihrer Hilfe sei es leichter wieder in Form zu kommen, weil die Bewegungen so langsam ausgeführt werden. Viele haben Angst vor Verletzungen und Zerrungen, wenn sie nach mehrjähriger Pause wieder hart in ihrer alten schnelleren Kampfsportart trainieren würden. Manche sind auch auf der Suche nach mehr Verwirklichung der alten Energiegesetze und den philosophischen Lehren im Tai Chi, weil sie diese Verwirklichung in ihrer alten Kunst so nicht erlebt haben. Für all diese Menschen kann unser standardisiertes Lehrsystem des Tai Chi Forums Deutschland eine Menge bieten.
Wir haben über die Jahre ein System mit der Hilfe von fast 30 Meisterinnen und Meistern zusammengestellt und erarbeitet welches den Titel vollständiges Innere Kampfkünste-Lehrsystem wirklich verdient.
Von Anfang an werden bei uns die Anwendungen und die Funktion einer jeden Vorübung, Bewegung aus der Form, Stand-Chi Kung-Haltung, Meditationsübung, Bodendehnübung oder Atemübung im Einzelfall erklärt und demonstriert. Außerdem wird die Einzeltechnik, beziehungsweise der spezielle Übungsschwerpunkt, wie Atmen, Meditieren, Chi Kung-Stehen, sich dehnen, Energie sammeln und zentrieren, Form laufen, im Gesamtsystem eingeordnet.
Seine Besonderheiten in Bezug auf die Entwicklung ganz spezifischer Fähigkeiten wird genau erklärt und man lernt mit der Zeit einen Überblick über die einzelnen Abteilungen sämtlicher Teilfertigkeiten zu bekommen, die nötig sind um wahrhaft inneres Tai Chi praktizieren zu können. Viele Tai Chi-Praktizierende die mir persönlich begegnet sind, wissen nach oft langjährigem Training immer noch nicht mit welchen Übungen man welche höheren Fertigkeiten erreichen kann und mit welchen man dies nicht kann.
So glauben viele, dass das langsame Üben der langsamen Form (das was 90% aller Zuschauer für "Tai Chi machen" halten) alleine genüge um höhere Kampfkunstfähigkeiten zu erlangen. Dies alleine genügt beiweitem nicht, kann ich ihnen aus eigener Erfahrung sagen. Wenn man ernsthaft an der alten ursprünglichen Anwendung von Tai Chi als sogenannte innere Kampfkunst interessiert ist, dann muss man schon ein wenig mehr tun als nur langsam die Form zu laufen.
Um das Chi (chinesisch für Lebenskraft) in den Bewegungen - egal für welchen späteren Zweck - aktiv wirken zu lassen, muss man ein ganz spezielles Chi-Wahrnehmungs, Fühl-, und Lenktraining durchlaufen. Die erste Voraussetzung irgendwann einmal mit Chi kämpfen zu können ist erst einmal das Chi in seinem Körper auch wirklich wahrnehmen zu können. Hierfür haben wir viele kleine Teilübungen und Übungsgebiete langjährig auf dem Weltmarkt von sehr verschiedenen Meisterinnen und Meistern erlernt und überall da wo man keine für einen speziellen Zweck notwendigen Übungen finden konnte, haben wir eigene didaktisch aufeinander aufbauende Übungsreihen selbst entwickelt.
Ich persönlich gebe seit etwa 3 - 4 Jahren in relativ konstanten Abständen intensive Tageskurse zum Thema Kämpfen mit Tai Chi, weil ich persönlich solch einen Kurs niemals selbst gefunden habe auf dem Markt. Dabei habe ich viele neue Erfahrungen gemacht im Umgang mit dem Thema "Wie kämpfte man früher mit Tai Chi und wie könnte das heute aussehen, dies wiederum zu versuchen". Man hat leider so gut wie keine Vorbilder in der Tai Chi-Szene, welche auch heute noch mit Tai Chi ernsthaft an kämpferischen Aktivitäten interessiert sind. Ich kenne einige Meister die bedingt durch ihre zusätzlichen Ausbildungen in den anderen inneren Kampfübungn öfters mal einige Kampfanwendungen im Tai Chi gezeigt haben. Aber derzeit kenne ich keinen einzigen Tai Chi-Meister weltweit, der das Kämpfen mit Tai Chi wirklich systematisch üben oder lehren würde. Deshalb ist man in einigen Punkten auf Notkonstruktionen angewiesen. Wenn jemand wirklich in jeder seiner Bewegungen alleine vom Chi geleitet werden würde, wäre dieser Mensch in einer Kampfsituation sicherlich sehr gefährlich.
Das Problem dabei ist, bis man es kann, funktioniert es mit dem "Kämpfen mit Chi" nicht wirklich richtig gut. Man ist meist Systemen, die überwiegend Muskel- und Schnellkraft verwenden, unterlegen. Würde man eine höhere Dosis von Chi im Kampf gegen diese Systeme einsetzen so besteht die Möglichkeit seinen normal trainierten Gegner wirklich ernsthaft zu verletzen oder ihm bleibenden Schaden zuzufügen. Das heißt, man muss sich dem Phänomen "Kämpfen mit Chi" sehr ehrfurchtsvoll annähern, denn wie will man etwas kontrollieren lernen, was die meisten Menschen im untrainierten Zustand nicht einmal in der Lage sind wahrzunehmen?
Die wohltrainierte Verbindung von einem gut geschulten Yi (geistige Lenkungskontrolle der Chi Kraft - "Yi lenkt, Chi muss folgen") und einem ebenso an bewusste Lenkung gewöhnten Chi-Fluss ist normaler Muskelkraft weit überlegen. Dies haben wir in unserem Unterricht mehr als tausendfach mit Hilfe unserer Chi- und Statik-Tests bewiesen. Man kann einen von bewusstem Yi und Chi gesteuerten Körper praktisch kaum bis gar nicht überwinden. Aber bis man einmal soweit gekommen ist, muss jeder einen langen Weg des Erlernens dieser inneren Kontrolle hinter sich bringen. Viele Jahre des konstanten Übens von sehr vielen Teilfähigkeiten bis hin zu einer Verschmelzung dieser mit einzelnen Übungen erworbenen Teilfähigkeiten zu einem wohlfunktionierenden Ganzen.
Wir haben viele neue Übungen und Trainingsroutinen entwickelt, die Schritt für Schritt einen Übenden in die Lage versetzen sich mit Chi in den Bewegungen verteidigen zu lernen:
- Die Funktion der einzelnen Chi Kung-Positionen 1 bis 6 in Bezug auf die zu verteidigenden Bereiche des Körpers von Kopfhöhe bis hinunter zum unteren Beckenbereich.
- Das fühlbare Erfahren der eigenen und gegnerischen Mittelachse und deren Kontrolle.
- Wie entwickelt man starke Verwurzelung zuerst im Stehen und dann mit Schritten?
- Wie entwickelt man die haftende und die hörende Energie in den Armen? Hauthören und erhöhte Entwicklung des Tastsinnes.
- Die hierzu notwendigen Übungen entstammen meist aus den uns derzeit bekannten über 30 Push hands Pattern und mehreren Tai Chi-Partnerformen, San Shou-Sets oder Duillian-Sets. Derzeit kenne und übe ich bereits 3 verschiedene Tai Chi-San Shou-Sets, es werden weitere in den restlichen inneren Künsten folgen.
- Im Kurs "Kämpfen mit Tai Chi" gehe ich zunehmend völlig eigene, neue Wege und entwickele ständig neue viel schneller wirkende und weitaus effizientere Übungen für ein möglichst realitätsnahes zusätzlich von tatsächlichen Selbstverteidigungssituationen, als die Übungen erzeugen, welche ich von sehr vielen chinesischen Meistern über die vielen Jahre erlernt habe.
- Jede Kunst ändert sich in ihrer Zeit und viele der althergebrachten Übungen sind für ein heutiges analysierendes Lernverhalten welches in der heutigen Zeit sehr verbreitet ist nicht mehr optimal geeignet. Menschen lernen heute anders als vor fünfzig, einhundert oder mehr Jahren. Diesem veränderten Menschentypus und dem damit verbundenen veränderten Lernverhalten versuchen wir in unseren Kursen Rechnung zu tragen. Lernen und Lehren mit laufender Videokamera zum Beispiel war vor 20 - 30 Jahren einfach undenkbar, aber heute ist so ein Verhalten einfach an der Tagesordnung und nichts Besonderes mehr.
- Auch im Tai Chi kann man mit modernen Methoden sicherlich einiges an Steigerung des Lernfortschrittes erzielen, wenn man sich mal sieht, wie man sich so bewegt und wie man die erforderlichen Rahmenbedingungen erfällt oder nicht.
- Auch die Verwendung von großen Spiegelwänden und anderen Hilfsmitteln wie Meridianpuppen, Karten, Organuhren und Skelettmodellen helfen die menschliche Anotomie besser zu verstehen und damit die Kampfkraft des Menschen besser studieren zu können.
Der Meditationsweg
Dieser Zweig unserer drei Wege Kampfkunst, Meditation und Gesundheit ist derzeit noch am wenigsten entwickelt und frequentiert. Wir hatten in der Vergangenheit öfters Menschen, die mehr an den anderen beiden Richtungen oder Wegen (dem Gesundheits- und dem Kampfkunstweg) interessiert waren, als an diesem Weg, der ja sehr ruhig, still und tief innerlich ist. In einer Zeit in der man im Allgemeinen so gut wie keine Zeit mehr hat, oder sich keine notwendige Zeit mehr zu nehmen bereit ist, kann ein solcher Weg wider erwarten dennoch immer mehr Interessenten finden.
Viele Menschen, die unsere bisherigen Meditationskurse besucht haben, waren überrascht wie schnell man doch auch in dieser hektischen Zeit durch meditative Übungen zur meist verlorenen inneren Ruhe wieder zuröckfinden kann. Auch die Fähigkeit, vorhandene schmerzende Stellen im Körper aufzulösen (meist blockiert der Chi Fluss an solchen Stellen über längere Zeit), so dass die Energie wieder fließt und der Schmerz stark reduziert oder gar völlig zum Verschwinden gebracht werden konnte, wächst durch eine regelmäßige Meditationspraxis. Dies förderte in der Vergangenheit die Motivation tiefer in die Geheimnisse der chinesischen taoistischen Energiemeditation vorzudringen.
Diesen Weg wollen wir in den kommenden Jahren deshalb noch beträchtlich ausbauen und auch das Angebot in dieser Richtung deutlich verbessern. Bisher haben wir hauptsächlich nur zwei aufeinander aufbauende Einföhrungskurse in die taoistische Meditation gegeben (in 2004). Ab und zu einige bewegtere, von verschiedenen Armhaltungen und Fingerstellungen begleitete etwas fortgeschrittenere Meditationen. Aber das gesamte Potential unserer möglichen Kurse haben wir kaum mehr als gestreift in der Vergangenheit.
Die taoistische Energiemeditationsrichtung ist in China mehrere tausend Jahre alt. Man lebte vor Jahrhunderten als Mönch oder Meditierender oft sehr zurückgezogen im Einklang mit den von der Natur vorgegebenen Zyklen inmitten reinster Natur, oft auf hohen Bergen mit klarster Luft und reinstem Wasser. Durch die unmittelbare Reinheit der direkten Umgebung kam man auf natürliche Weise mit den vitalisierenden Kräften der Natur schnell in Kontakt. Außerdem war man im realen Leben nicht so sehr abgelenkt wie heute, durch Radios, TV, Kino, Handy, Internet und PC's. Das heißt man hörte mehr auf die natürlichen Geräusche, beachtete das Wetter viel unmittelbarer als heute in großen Städten und achtete auf natürliche Tages- und Nachtzyklen. Man ging mit dem Sonnenuntergang zu Bett und stand mit der Morgensonne auf. Heute macht man durch künstliches Licht die Nacht zum Tag und viele schlafen am Tage, weil sie mehr nachtaktiv geworden sind.
Reinstes Sonnen- und Mond- bzw. Sternenlicht. Fröhtau, leichte Morgen- und Abendnebel. Frische extrem vitalisierende Berg- oder Seeluft, die Chi-Produktion an Wasserfällen, um nur ein paar dieser direkten sinnlichen Naturerfahrungen zu nennen. All diese Rahmenbedingungen für eine optimale Versorgung mit dem lebenserhaltenden Chi führten über die Jahrhunderte dazu, dass man seine unmittelbare und auch die fernere Umgebung auf energetischer Ebene sehr genau kennen lernte. Man verstand den Sinn der Jahreszeiten, die Tag- und Nachtzyklen, die Mondzyklen und den Lauf der Gestirne über das Jahr. Auch die Fähigkeiten des Menschen die ihn umgebenden Chi-Quellen anzuzapfen und zu nutzen wurden immer mehr gesteigert und verfeinert.
Dieses Wissen, oder vielmehr die praktische Erfahrung, wurde gezielt und systematisch über die Jahrhunderte vornehmlich in Klöstern und Bibliotheken, aber auch in Geheimbünden und Geheimschulen gesammelt und oft nur mündlich vom Lehrer an würdige Schüler und Nachfolger weitergegeben.
Der Tao-Kanon ist eine Schriftrollensammlung mit mehr als 5.800 Bönden oder Rollen, die sich allesamt mit dem Wissen über den Menschen und seine natürliche Umgebung befassen. Dieses ungeheuer große Wissensreservoir ist heute dem Westen noch weitestgehend unbekannt. Mantak Chia einem der großzügigsten und offenherzigsten Lehrer unserer Zeit sei dank hat man überhaupt etwas von diesem Geheimwissen hier im Westen erfahren. Wir sind Ihm und seinen vielen wertvollen Kursen, übersetzungen von Schriften des Tao-Kanons und Publikationen über taoistische Meditationspraktiken sehr zu dank verpflichtet. Ohne ihn und sein Wirken hötten viele hier im Westen die Tiefe, den Umfang und die Tragweite des taoistischen Meditationswissens wohl so schnell nicht erfahren. Mittlerweile sind Tausende von interessierten Westmenschen von Lehrern wie ihm in die Übung und Meditationstechniken geschult worden, bis zu einem Grad wo sie selbst unterrichten können.
Neues Meditationskurs-Konzept 2004
Seit diesem Jahr 2004 bieten wir eine besondere, stark erweiterte Einführung in die Grundlagen und Grundtechniken der taoistischen Energiemeditation für Lehrer und besonders engagierte Schülerinnen und Schüler an. Die beiden ersten Pilot-Kurse im März und Juni 2004 erfreuten sich einer großen Beliebtheit und der vermittelte Lehrstoff ist wiederum aus sehr vielen traditionellen Meditationsrichtungen sehr lange gesammelt und eigens von mir zusammengestellt worden. Mit Sicherheit gibt es so einen Kurs nirgendwo sonst in genau dieser Art.
Wir haben versucht möglichst alle Rahmenbedingungen für eine gelungene Meditation zu benennen und wo es nötig ist auch entsprechende übungen zum Verständnis und der Kontrolle dieser Rahmenbedingungen zu entwickeln oder der westlichen Lebensweise etwas anzupassen. Man kann von einem durchschnittlichen Westmenschen wohl kaum erwarten, dass er sich sofort in eine entlegene Bergwelt zurückzieht, um dort seine Meditationserfahrungen zu machen. Man muss vielmehr versuchen die seit alters her tradierten effizienten Techniken in den heutigen Arbeitsalltag harmonisch einzufügen.
Der Einfluss kleinster Veränderungen in der Finger-, Hand-, Sitz- und geistigen Haltung während eines meditativen Prozesses wurde in diesem Seminar theoretisch genau erläutert und anschließend praktisch geübt. Für viele gab es verblüffende neue Erfahrungen, selbst für bereits langjährig erfahrene Meditierende. Begriffe wie statische Technik, energetische Technik, mentale Technik und darüber hinaus das innere Auge, das persönliche Energieempfinden, die Unterscheidungsfähigkeit der einzelnen Chi-Qualitäten, mindestens 40 verschiedene Chi's werden nach und nach systematisch erläutert und eingeübt.
Derzeit ist das gesamte menschliche geistige Potential ja noch lange nicht ausreichend erforscht. Selbst für unsere Begriffe sehr hoch entwickelte Menschen benutzen laut Aussage der führenden Gehirnforscher etwa nur 5 - 20% des möglichen Potentials unseres Gehirns. Wer macht sich endlich daran die restlichen 80% zu erforschen?
Die taoistische Energiemeditation ist sicherlich ein gangbarer Lern- und Lehrweg, um die Kapazität des menschlichen Geistes erheblich zu steigern und zu erweitern. Davon bin ich sehr stark überzeugt aufgrund meiner eigenen und der Erfahrung vieler unserer Lehrer und Schüler. Meditation, oder die Vorstufen davon, sind die höchste persönlich erreichbare Wahrnehmung unserer Selbst. Die höchste Stufe der inneren Selbstschau und Selbsterkenntnis liegt sicherlich in den Tiefen des meditativen Bewusstseins. Diese Erfahrungen sind mit gewöhnlichen Alltagserfahrungen unserer Sinne, oder denen unseres Alltagsbewusstseins absolut nicht zu vergleichen. Oft fehlen einem selbst und unserer Sprache die Worte, um die Erfahrungen und die Zustände, die man während der Meditation erlebt, zu beschreiben.
Meditation ist kein Wegdämmern in einen sinn- oder bewusstlosen Zustand, wie sich manche der Meditation Unkundige sich das vorstellen, sondern ein Zustand höchster geistiger Präsenz. Man ist quasi mehr als wach, man ist hochwach, oder überwach in seinem Denken und Empfinden. Mit diesem erhöhten Bewusstsein kann man die Höhen und Tiefen des menschlichen Bewusstseins ausloten.
Es gibt zwei grundsätzlich sehr verschiedene geistige Einstellungsvarianten: Das "Tele-Bewusstsein" und das "Weitwinkel-Bewusstsein". Dies erklären wir in unseren Meditationskursen sehr genau.
Auf jeden Fall erfährt jeder, der sich mit der taoistischen Energiemeditation befasst, sogleich ein Ansteigen seines inneren Energielevels. Meist wird die Stimmung viel gelöster, besser, man wird sehr ruhig und ein tiefes Gefühl von innerer Ruhe und geistiger Friedfertigkeit stellt sich ein.
Das Kursangebot umfasst derzeit schon sehr viele verfügbare Kurse, es wird sich in der nahen Zukunft sicherlich noch erheblich erweitern, durch das Feedback und die Erfahrungen mit unserem neuen Meditationskonzept für Lehrer des Forums. Unter unseren Forumslehrerinnen und Lehrern sind einige von Mantak Chia und dem Healing Tao ausgebildete Lehrerinnen und Lehrer. Außerdem bieten wir auch noch andere Traditionen an als die Übungen des Healing Tao, die aber ebenso taoistischen Traditionen entstammen.
Viel Spaß bei unseren künftigen Meditationskursen und Seminaren wünscht Ihnen Volker Jung
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Tai Chi as a Martial Art
Artikel by Volker Jung, 2002
There have been a lot of publications in recent years about Tai Chi as an effective health system and dance-like meditation in movement. But what about expert publications relating to the very real and highly effective self-defence components and original function of Tai Chi as one of the best martial arts in ancient China? Where can you read about or - more to the point – where can you watch a Tai Chi Master fighting or competing with the Masters of other Tai Chi styles in Push Hands events? Unfortunately, I have to say from my own experience that such events are extremely rare. For this reason I have decided to relate my own experience of the martial arts components of “Internal Combat Style Tai Chi Chuan" to a wider, knowledgeable public. To help you make a better judgement of my comments, I would like to give you a short biography of my training in the martial arts.
At the age of 10 I began a three year training in Judo. Today I am 46 years old and since then I have studied the following disciplines:
- External Martial Arts: Judo, Karate, western boxing, Tae-Kwon-Do (full contact).
- Semi-internal system: EWTO Wing Tsun
- The 3 classical “internal martial arts” Hsing-I, Tai Chi Chuan and Ba Gua Zhang.
- In-depth study of “Liu He Ba Fa” – a martial art comprising the three internal systems, but little known in Germany.
- In addition, since 1987 I have made an in-depth study of Qi Gong, Taoist meditation and the internal alchemy of the Taoists.
- To complement these main areas, I am also studying TCM together with several Chinese and Japanese meridian-based massage techniques such as Chi Lei Jong and INOCHI.
As you can see, my interests cover a wide spectrum and are not based on assumptions and speculations, but on my own experience and long years of constant research.
When I moved from the external systems (full contact Taikwon-Do) with a lot of sparring experience and extensive protective clothing, to the art of Wing Tsun, I was delighted with the exceedingly practical and effective practice of sticking hands, which in my view represents an excellent transfer from the hard to the soft.
After several years of training, the muscular tension I was using still seemed too hard, and so I continued my search for a softer, more internal system. I thus arrived at Yang style Tai Chi. At first I simply couldn't imagine how it could be possible to fight with such slow movements. And my first encounter was with instructors who had little or no real martial arts experience and were not in the least interested in the fighting aspect of Tai Chi – and that applies to the majority of German Tai Chi practitioners today.
It wasn’t until 1983 in Frankfurt, when I saw a demonstration by a proper Tai Chi Master from England, that my respect for Tai Chi as a martial art grew. Admittedly, there was no real free fighting during the demonstration, but it didn’t escape my attention that here I was seeing the power of an internal energy which I had never encountered before. The Master had no apparent difficulty in moving several people who tried to hold him or throw him. I had never seen anything like it – I had only read about similar things in mythical stories about invincible Tai Chi Masters. Was I finally being given the chance to learn directly from one of these “authentic masters”? For the next 71/2 years I became his pupil and learned a great deal about the internal principles of Yang Tai Chi.
But I didn’t learn to fight with Tai Chi. I searched for and found other masters - some famous, others less well-known – whose teachings brought me closer to what I imagined the martial art Tai Chi to be. Today, after more than 30 years of effort on my part, I feel I have come a long way down the path towards the old, effective Combat Tai Chi of the legendary masters. I know today how comprehensive a really complete, Tai Chi training in the style of the ancients has to be, in order to develop realistic fighting capabilities. For all those who have perhaps spent years searching for one complete system to help them develop all the capabilities necessary to use:
- Tai Chi as a Health System
- Tai Chi als Martial Art
- Tai Chi as Taoist spiritual Transformation System
I will now attempt to describe the methods.
“You can do what you practise!”
In a combat situation you are basically encapsulating your whole way of life in a fraction of a second. If you are successful in life, then your chances in combat will probably be good as well. In order to be successful and to survive in life and in combat you need to have – at the crucial moment - the essence of the skills you have acquired throughout your life at your disposal. You must be able to activate them in an instant, tapping their essence in order to act effectively when necessary. Surviving a “life or death” combat situation must be just as much part of a good Tai Chi instruction system as the ability to take vital decisions which are both intelligent and wise, following the principles of Tai Chi. Or, to put it another way: A good „complete Tai Chi instruction system” which claims to be traditionally authentic, must be capable of accomplishing all of this.
This leads us to the crucial point:
What does a “complete Tai Chi instruction system” comprise?
- How does one attain the necessary skills?
- What must it include?
- How must it be structured?
1. How does one attain the necessary skills?
By practising all the individual skills needed to attain any given goal, step by step.
Specific skills are acquired at each level in each Yin-Yang principle. Specific skills must be acquired in each sub-discipline, too (see outline plan). These must lead to a fully functioning sequence of actions within the context of the overall system, which is more than the sum of its parts. A theoretical basis comprising all sub-steps is an essential part of this system.
Right from the start, the highest achievable goal for each section must be defined. All techniques necessary in order to have a realistic chance of achieving one’s aim must be specified, without exception. So: What exactly is it that makes me healthy, improves my combat skills, expands my mental horizon?
2. What must it comprise?
In the following list you will find a list of all the individual skills and of those exercises which develop these skills.
Skill | Technical Term | Exercise with which to achieve this |
1. firm stance | Rooting | Standing meditation and silent Qi Gong Standing with different arm postures. Power Push Hands. |
2. firm movement | moving roots with intact internal structure (physical and energy structural system) | Practising the Slow Form, which over 80% of all Tai Chi students consider sufficient. “Movin’ Roots” by Don Miller, 5 times USA champion |
3. rapid firm movement | Dynamic equilibrium “sports car effect“ | Fast Form, San Shou, Eight Powers Training |
4. high flexibility | being like water | special floor exercises by Master Huang and power stretching in the style of George Xu |
5. good balance | always centred | Form training, Push Hands, Fast Form, special warm-up exercises |
6. Sensitivity | the ability to hear and feel the opponent's energy, as well as one's own | Push Hands + San Shou, free-style Push Hands, Ta Lu, Qi Gong and meditation |
7. extreme velocity | being as quick as lightning | Fast-Form and San Shou |
8. Standing like a rock | being substantial | Power Push Hands, standing meditation, seated meditation and Qi Gong standing |
9. being as soft as water | beein insubstantial | free-style Push Hands and San Shou, undersigned meditative tracing of a movement |
10. making contact with one’s opponent | searching arms | 1. Contact or Hand Fighting Form |
11. Timing and spacing | essential skills in combat | San Shou or Two Men Set, Push Hands – Openings in the style of Master Wei Lun Huang |
12. Judgement and situation recognition | appropriate course of action | Freestyle Push Hands and realistic self defence |
13. Strong willpower | Yi-Training | Yi-Kung |
spatial ability | 3 Circles Push Hands and weapons training, particularly spear + staff |
3. How must it be structured?
How should the system and the training or the instruction be structured in order to acquire the specified skills and achieve the desired goals?
Of course, you cannot expect to acquire the above mentioned skills in a few weeks, no matter how hard and intensively you practise, and no matter how generously a teacher or Master is prepared to pass on his knowledge to his students. It will take you several years – say between 6 and 10 – to attain most of the skills mentioned above. But this won't happen automatically if you simply practise for 20 years, but leave out essential elements of the training programme, just because your teacher doesn't teach you them - perhaps so as not to upset the ‘balance of power’, or even - in the case of some so-called “Tai Chi Masters” -perhaps because he hasn’t even learned them himself. Here I am talking chiefly about the “Fast Form“ and the “San Shou“, but also about the “3 Circles Push Hands", the "8 Powers Training" and the "Power Push Hands".
It seems incredible, but most of what I practise and teach seems to be practised by hardly anyone, and most people I talk to have never heard of many of these exercises. How comes? There is much confusion and, at times, simply wishful thinking about how to attain the skills of the ancient, legendary Tai Chi Masters. Many people believe that practising the Slow Form regularly, together perhaps with a few minutes’ Qi Gong every day, is all they need to do to become a good Tai Chi fighter. If you believe this, then you will spend your life merely dreaming of the mystical powers of the old Tai Chi masters.
According to Bruce Kumar Frantzis, one of my many Masters, the following daily regime is necessary in order to succeed in the three main areas I have outlined above:
- Tai Chi as a Health System: 15 – 60 minutes a day
- Tai Chi as a Combat System: 1 – 6 hours a day
- Tai Chi as a Spiritual Practice: more than 6 hours a day
I have even heard people seriously claim that they intend to achieve immortality simply by exercising the Slow Form every morning and evening. There are others who believe that they can attain realistic combat skills simply by regularly repeating the stylised sequences of Single, Double Push Hands and Flat Circle Push Hands. This, too, belongs more to the realm of dreams than to reality, because realistic Tai Chi combat can virtually never be practised - for until one is capable of it, the Form movements alone will not be of much use without the application of the internal energy known as “Qi”. When one has learned to employ „Qi“ deliberately and purposefully in the individual self-defence applications, practising free fighting becomes very dangerous and is definitely no game. Several students and teachers have experienced this at first hand. There are soon broken bones or energetic injuries. This can be prevented by taking a step-by-step approach to learning the safety measures required at each stage and acquiring certain technical skills before progressing to the next, more complex exercise.
In my opinion, the ”San Shou” or Two Men Set, a two-man combat form or choreography comprising roughly 80 movements per form, represents a realistic approximation of free combat without danger of injury. This approximation of a real combat situation is about 95% realistic. In addition to the 3 part Form it is imperative to practise all kinds of partner exercises over a long period of time. In these partner exercises, you get to know the following internal energy sub-types and gradually learn how to use them in a targeted way:
Review of the first seven internal energies of Tai Chi
- Sticking energy “Chan Nien“ You have to be able to follow each and every of your opponent’s movements, in other words to stick to him. There are special exercises for this, including some with closed eyes.
- Listening Energy “Ting Chin”: You first need to be able to register (‘hear’) your opponent’s intent via his physical “tools” (arms and legs), before you can react to it in an adequate manner. This skill can be learned from an experienced teacher using certain sensitisation exercises for the hands, arms and legs during the early phase and progressing to the whole body later on.
- Comprehending Energy “Tung” Not until one hears something can one begin to understand the intentions and attacks of one’s opponent. This requires a direct and lengthy instruction phase by an expert teacher. When are you under threat and when would a movement not endanger your stability? Feints can never irritate a Tai Chi fighter, for he hears and understands energies with his outstandingly well-developed sense of touch, without using his eyes. And by the way, the same applies to WT. (Wing Tsun)
- Yielding Energy “Tsou” One must learn to receive an opponent’s attack gently and softly, without losing one’s own internal structure or balance. One must first be able to be Yin or receptive before one can employ any active defence tactics. Without Yin, no Yang.
- Neutralising Energy “Hua” The perception of this energy is vital for a good, experienced fighter. If one is not able to neutralise an opponent’s attack, a counterattack will always be risky. Only when one has completely neutralised the opponent’s attack and there is absolutely no risk of personal injury can one set about taking appropriate countermeasures. This applies particularly in the combat situation of an unarmed fighter against an armed opponent.
- Borrowing Energy “Chieh” The art of using the force, speed and momentum of an opponent’s kick or punch for one’s own purposes. Aikido and Wing Tsun also make regular use of these energies.
- Issuing Energy “Fa”: This is the first Yang energy after 6 more or less purely Yin- biased energies. This is the moment of first real defence action, after you have given your opponent 6 chances to reconsider his aggression. Unfortunately, these 6 preceding energy applications, which occur within fractions of seconds in an experienced person, are usually outside the normal range of perception of an external martial artist. External martial artists simply practise different things – and I would like to stress at this point that it doesn’t mean they are any less valuable as human beings or as fighters. I feel able to judge this as I have practised 4 external and 4 internal styles over lengthy periods during my 30 years of training. The external and internal martial arts are two completely different worlds. Each person must decide for himself which world is more suited to his own nature. Satisfaction and fulfilment can be found within both worlds. I have personally always preferred the style I am practising the most intensively at any one time. Today I like “LIU HE BA FA" and TAI CHI most of all.
It is best to learn these 7 energies in Tai Chi partner exercises after a certain amount of personal practice. Without the differentiated Qi-perception in the Form, in Qi Gong, in Taoist meditation and above all in the Push Hands partner exercises, one will never be able to attain the higher, almost legendary levels of internal martial arts skills, no matter how badly one wishes to. The procedures, which are described in exact detail, must be demonstrated and explained to you before you can begin your own, very intensive practice. Knowing them is only half of it. Many of the Tai Chi masters I know simplify this 7-fold process, reducing it to just 2 energies which they call “Na” (sticking) and “Fa” from “Fa-Jing” (Issuing or Pushing).
I wouldn’t like to speculate on whether they simply don’t know better, or whether they don’t want to teach it in such detail. Everyone must find his own answer to this. I for my part, find the above mentioned sequence of the first 7 of at least 38 different “Qis” used in Tai Chi very appealing. It can even perhaps help the so-called "external" martial artist to comprehend the immense variety and complexity of the "internal schools and styles." Whereas in external martial arts more emphasis is placed upon training speed, toughness and muscular stretching, the internal arts are more interested in training other senses and skills which are usually outside the sphere of normal bodily, energetic and mental perception. There are exercises to teach us to sense and to classify the slightest differences in pressure or minute changes of direction.
And apart from a massively enhanced sense of self-perception, there are also exercises which help us to become just as acutely aware of others as we are of ourselves. To say nothing of the very detailed, mental aspect of the training. One simply needs to experience the "internal arts" at first hand. Even the most detailed descriptions, either oral or, as in my case, written, simply cannot reflect the whole thing as one really experiences it. You learn most in the internal arts by imitating emotional impressions which must be conveyed to you by a master of the art.
Before I finish, I would like to describe „5 phase combat“. All kinds of combat systems have to include exercises to help one to be well prepared for the 5 possible phases of combat. These must be techniques to cover the first contact, right through to floor combat with holds and strangleholds. If one or more phases are missing, then it can't seriously be considered to be a complete system. A complete system has to include the following techniques:
5-Phase-Combat
- 1st Phase: From non-contact to the first contact, usually via the longer legs.
- 2nd Phase: From the first contact to arm distance (fist application)
- 3rd Phase: From arm/fist combat to close combat (elbow and shoulder)
- 4th Phase: From close combat to throw (throwing, hurling and foot sweeping techniques.)
- 5th Phase: Ground fighting (strangleholds + arm levers + holds).
Finally, I would like to say a few words about a very comprehensive and, in my opinion, sadly neglected but essential sector of the “internal martial art of Tai Chi”: the Three-Circle Principle, and the highly effective combat technique which can be developed by practising “3-Circle Push Hands”. This is one of my specialities. 3-Circle Push Hands develops our ability to move each of the arm’s three joints separately and independently of the others on three different circular planes or dimensions.
This builds up incredibly fine overall co-ordination of each individual arm movement and, when applied, results in hitherto unknown strength in the arms. The averagely well-trained opponent has no way of detecting these subtle vectorial forces and is not in a position to neutralise them, let alone oppose them with anything comparable. Even a slightly stiff or tense joint offers you no opportunity to react to these three, superimposed movements through space. This is the reason why “external” systems using body tension have problems with the 3-Circle principle. The attacker is diverted from his target on three spiral planes simultaneously. Someone who has not mastered the 3-Circle principle can hope, at best, to react on two vectorial planes at once, the third, however, will sweep him off his feet in the truest sense of the word. I have studied the 3-Circle Principle and its corresponding Push Hands since 1987.
I incorporate this principle in my teaching at all levels. In my view there is no description for 3-dimensional movement which better represents the essence of all Tai Chi movements. In Tai Chi, one takes up so much space that there is none left over for a potential opponent to develop aggressive action in. Whoever gains control over the space between two people cannot be defeated. This is my personal view and experience from over 35 years of studying the combat systems of the Far East. I would greatly appreciate your feedback, suggestions and criticisms on this article. Please avoid challenges. I am seeking dialogue, not disputes of any kind.
I do not claim that Tai Chi is the king of the martial arts at this time – there are far too few seriously active martial artists for that. I do not fight on a regular basis, either, with anyone. But I have the key which one would need, if one really wished to reactivate Tai Chi as a highly effective "internal combat system".
This knowledge still exists today, but in the words of one of my revered Masters, George Xu: Who, today, is interested in undergoing the torture of long years of training in the era of modern small arms? Why do it, when it is easier to buy a gun and learn to shoot well?