I have found in my years of training that “Ch’i” is a load of balony. What I’ve come to understand is not how to use any cosmic force, but how to use bio-physical mechanics. This is the secret to how martial artists do seemingly super-human feats. I can put out candles by punching at the flame. By swinging my waist around before extending my arm to punch, I put my body’s weight behind the punch. Multiply that by the velocity of the movement and you have a a powerful weapon. By focusing this on a precise point, you can do severe damage. In the case of the candle, the movement causes my fist to push a small amount of air. when the movement stops just before touching the flame, the air extinguishes it. Breaking boards and stuff is a matter of using the same formula against the weakest point of the target. No magic, no “using the force,” just simple science. That’s why we learn to respect others and conduct ourselves honorably. A martial artist learns to use every part of his/her body as a lethal weapon, so we can say that martial artists are always armed, and an armed society had better be a polite one.
I think someone who posted about Aikido explained it best when they wrote that their instructor doesn’t teach them to use ch’i, but to use the body’s center of gravity located just beneath the navel. That’s why us kung-fu guys use our waist so much. It’s where we get our power. I used to compete in modern wushu forms. I did my flying kicks so high, I could go over a persons head (In wushu, it’s important to jump, kick, and land on the same leg when doing any jumping kick). The trick was learning to lift my center of gravity for each technique.
Someone once argued with me about Tai Chi being “uncatholic.” Their reasoning was that it was a form of meditation. I don’t know who taught them, if anyone, but Tai Chi is about concentration, not meditation. You can’t meditate and practice movements meant for combat at the same time. You’ll be distracted, it will become habit, and when you have to defend yourself, you’ll get killed. In Tai Chi, we concentrate on keeping the body totally relaxed and being fluid with each movement, just as with any other form of kung fu, except Tai Chi forms tend to be slower.
Anyway, I just wanted to put in my 2 cents on this because there are people out there who are against the practice of martial arts by Catholics, particularly internal forms like Tai Chi, Aikido, Bagua Zhang, etc, because of the eastern religious practices sometimes involved. I’ve been fortunate that all my instructors throughout my life left all that stuff out.
It’s easy to filter all the eastern pagan mambo-jambo out if you just see the science of it. Anyone who’s watched “Fight Science” on the National Geographic channel would understand. If you are into MA, you should watch these programs. They’ll open your eyes. I believe they’re available on DVD.
If there are any people who insist martial arts are dangerous because they can’t be Christianized out there, try Filipino Arnis. There’s no meditation and no eastern religious influence involved. Most Filipino’s are Catholic. I trained in this style and enjoyed it very much. It’s very practical. There’s also Krav Maga. This one was developed by the Isreali military. It has no Jewish religious practices to it, but it does teach you how to take a gun away from a person without getting shot. Scary stuff!
In Christ,
Jose
