Legends of Kung-Fu #24 The 3 Internal Harmonies During one of my many conversations with internal stylist Daniel Yu Wang, he explained the "three internal harmonies" of Yang style Tai-Chi. At the time when he first explained it, I thought that he was speaking of some esoteric part of Chinese martial arts training, something that was unknown even to most instructors. Yet as the years have passed since that conversation, I've grown to understand his words in a slightly different light, and realized that his words were actually a crystallization of a broader pattern of successful training in martial arts and in life. As Wang first outlined it to me in his kitchen, he listed the three internal harmonies as follows: 1. heart and intention, 2. intention and qi (ch'i or internal energy), and 3. qi and external force. Due to the multi-layered meanings of some of the Chinese characters that were chosen to write those lines, some of those concepts can be understood in a variety of different ways. What follows is my particular understanding of the harmonies that Wang outlined. The word for heart that Wang wrote was "xin". That can literally mean the actual heart organ itself, or it can imply emotion. The first internal harmony ties the emotion to the "yi", or intention. That relationship can be viewed as a means of tapping into the unbridled power of raw emotion, using the intent as a means of guiding that power in a productive, logical direction. As we all know, unrestrained emotion can lead to a lot of pain, a lot of difficulty, kind of like a nuclear power plant. When emotional power is guided or focused by your mind on a particular goal, it makes for a kind of internal dynamo powering the efforts your body or mind put out to achieve that goal. Yi can also be understood as mental awareness, which brings us to the second internal harmony, linking "yi" and "qi". Qi, also called "ki" by the Japanese and Koreans, is the term for internal energy or breath. Most individuals pay little attention to their breathing patterns, thus leading to a lower energy level in the body. From a physiological perspective, that's because the lungs are taking in less oxygen to supply the muscles with energy. That shallow respiration can be due to stress responses, which over the long term have become internalized as tension. Breathing is your easiest biofeedback loop. When you exert conscious mental control over your breath, you are controlling your qi. And when your breathing is relaxed, the rest of your body starts to relax and unwind, lowering the levels of muscular tension inside. Tension inhibits the body's free and natural range of motion, much like excessive friction in an engine. When you're throwing a punch that your life depends on, you want to make sure that nothing inside your own body is inhibiting the force of that punch exerted on its chosen target. And that explains the third internal harmony: qi and li (external force). You can think of the three internal harmonies through a bunch of analogies. The one I use a lot when explaining things to my students is that of a magnifying glass on a sunny day. Emotion is like the sun, a burning ball of gas and flame with rays that warm the earth gently when things are in balance. Your intent is like the magnifying glass itself, bringing the diffuse rays of the sun into a point of focus. The qi is the same as the space between the glass and the point of focus. When it's just right, when there's nothing blocking it, then the focused rays can start a fire. That fire is the external force, the li. One of the most well-known examples of this concept is the opening scene of Enter the Dragon, where Bruce Lee is teaching his pupil, Lao, how to throw a side kick. The boy first threw his kick, and Lee scolded him for putting on an exhibition and instructed him to throw a kick with "real emotional content". When Lao threw another kick in anger, Lee reprimanded him again, clarifying that emotion did not necessarily mean anger. Finally, the boy threw his side kick with the right kind of energy, and Lee asked, "How did it feel to you?" Lao replied, "Let me think," much to Lee's chagrin. Perfect technique is a careful blend of emotional intensity, logical restraint, subconscious relaxation, and physical effort. And if you stop long enough to consider it, that's the rare mix that makes for life successes as well. When you're doing something you truly love, and you put careful thought into how to achieve your goals, then you have the advantage in life, and the life you live is a happier, more fulfilling one. This is the Year of the Horse, and in Chinese we say, "ma dao cheng gong", which means that a horse rides towards success. I hope that the three internal harmonies power your lives toward the successes you long for. ___________________________ Daniel Yu Wang and his son, Jonathon, live and teach in Santa Monica, California. For more information on them and Tai-Chi, you can visit them at www.beijingkungfu.com.
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