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The anatomy, biomechanics and energy centers of human bodyCurving of spine produce centers or concentrations of energy during rotating of the body. Explanations of Tan Diens. The Energies in the human body. In this chapter I will try to describe my view of the connection between the human body’s anatomical construction, the mostly vertical movements of human body, the traditional Chines energy centres of the mostly vertical movements (Tan Diens) and some Indian traditional kinds of human energy (vayas). The natural movement of humans during walking, running, regular daily activities and fighting mostly done with a vertical position of body, at least of upper body. All of these activities are performed mostly due to rotating movements of mostly vertical body. There are two kinds on rotations– the opening and the closing. In the opening action the angle between lower or upper limbs ( legs or hands ) and vertical axis of body increasing if observer stays in front of performer. In closing action this angle decrease. Hereafter is a short and general analyses of rotating movements. The pelvic area.The power source of the opening rotating movement is a pushing and stretching the leg backwards. This action is responsible for the forward motion of the body, rising and stretching the body. The main muscle acting in this action is gluteus maximus, mainly forming the buttocks, with his center in the hip joint.The one end of each leg presses on the ground and another on joint area of the pelvic cradle. Together, pressing on the pelvic cradle in rotating manner, they will turn and rotate all the body. During the walking or running, when one leg is in the air, the inertial impulse of one of the legs will play the role of the impulse coming from the ground. According to the Hindians this is a very important place, a egg-form bulb called Kanda, where start the most of nadis or meridians of internal energy. This also in general corresponds to the Chinese views. Kanda is located in the middle of human trunk. This point has the same location as a lower Tan Dien. Actually the centre, where the axes of necks of left and right thigh or femur bones cross, is located about 4 fingers below the navel on the vertical line in the middle and slightly forward between them. This is a center of the forces lines applied from the thighs toward the pelvis. This point is located in the middle of the pelvic area of the body and is a center of rotating movements of the pelvis. In terminology of ISAI this point is a center of the pelvic aquarium. This place is exactly the location of Tan Dien and Kanda, below the Manipura or Navel Chakra. If projected to the vertebra this is a point where the vertebra changes from convex to concave, or sacral area ends and lumbar area starts. This is, for my opinion, a reason why in the most of internal or soft martial arts it is so common to develop the movement and arrange it with a lower Tan Dien as a center. Interesting fact is, that in natural standing position the neck of thigh bone produce the angle of about 60 degrees with a lateral wall of pelvis near the hip joint. This is a most desirable angle for mechanical constructions working under pressure. Another interesting fact is the way how the frontal and side abdominal muscles act. The frontal abdominal muscle actually has two parts, which can act almost independently. The lower part is located from pubic bone (the root of reproductive organs) up to the line (arcuate line) which is about 4 fingers below the navel. The upper part starts from the same line and goes up to the sternum (the breast bone). The center of this separation line points on the center of the body or lower Tan Dien or Kanda. This separation line also is a basis where the breathing in or inhalation starts. The breathing out or exhalation will finish also here. We will speak about it in more details in chapter ‘Breathing and Energy’. Prolongation of the separation line to the sides of the trunk will show the starting points for the side muscles of the trunk. These side trunk muscles are responsible for rotating and turning of the upper body. The center of this circle, or better to say ellipse, is the same lower Tan Dien, Kanda or pelvis center. In order to actually feel the source of our trunk’s movements, located in lower Tan Dien or Kanda in the center of pelvis, the body must be really soft and very sensitive. Otherwise the feeling will be dispersed and dull. The closing rotating movement is provided by contraction of the group of muscles which are mainly are in the internal parts of thigh like adductors, picteneos, gracilis and others. They connect to the pelvic floor with their center in the point in the midway between the anus and reproductive organs. Chinese call this very important point Hui-Yin. During the closing rotating the gluteus muscles, which are in the upper part of thigh and connect to upper external part of pelvic, contract in order to stabilize the pelvis and prevent the sag downward. The common center of all these muscles from both sides is the same point as in the opening rotating movement – the lower Tan Dien or Kanda which are the pelvis center. We saw that this is the the same center of rotating movements of pelvis for both the bone structure and the corresponding muscles structure. The trunk and hands.The second area which we will consider is related to the trunk.The trunk is mounted on the vertebra and has a pelvis as a basis. It’s rotating movement is added with delay to the rotating movement of the pelvis. The chest area is constructed from the real ribs and sternum bone. All seven real ribs with one, forward end are connected to the sternum and with the second, back end are fixed to the vertebra. Three upper false ribs also has direct connection to the vertebra and in the front they have a common connection to the lower real rib. As a result the 10 upper ribs produce construction which can elevate the ribs but can't participate actively in any twisting or rotating movement of the trunk. It only can be rotated or turned by the twisting motion of the lower part of the vertebra. The twisting is performed by the side trunk muscles which are connected to the ribs. The frontal fixation to the sternum is just opposite to the back one to the vertebra, when the upper body is in the vertical position. The line between these two points will devide the ribs case into two parts of equal height. The center of this ribs case is a Second Tan Dien. The point on the abdominal wall is the pit of the stomach. The point on the backbone opposite to Tan Dien is Surya Chakra, just below the Anahata or the Heart Chakra. At this point the vertebra changes from concave to convex and, therefore, this is a center of upper part of the vertical standing body. In this area most of the turning of the upper part of the body done. As in the case of legs and pelvic area there are opening and closing rotation movements of hands and shoulder-chest area. The trunk muscles which in use in openings are mostly the back and side muscles of trunk and neck. Their center in midway between the basis of scull and coccyx. Not surprisingly this point is a Second Tan Dien. The trunk muscles which in use in closings are mostly the chest, abdominal and side muscles of trunk and forward muscles of neck. Their center in midway between the basis of scull and pubic bone. Not surprisingly this point also is a Second Tan Dien. Like for pelvis area this is the the same center of rotating movements of trunk for both the bone structure and the corresponding muscles structure. Two centers, the lower and the middle, must work simultaneously. The movement of the middle one is born out of the movement of lowest one and vice versa. The movement of lower center, in it’s turn, will be influenced by the inertial movement of the upper center. In this case we can say that hands lead the hips. If the performer’s body is not sensitive and soft enough the feeling of the middle center will be much stronger than the feeling of the lower center. The performer will concentrate on the upper part of his body and, as a result, the connection between lower and middle parts of his body will be affected. The lack in the footwork and lost of balance can be immediate result of this defect. Additional points.The head is a third and highest big part of the body, participating in rotation of the body.A little bit above the base of the neck on the back this is a point where the vertebra changes from convex to concave. In this area most of the turning of the neck is done. This point is considered by Chinese as intermediate point and not as a Tan Dien. I also don’t consider it as a Indian Chakra. But actually this point plays the same role as Tan Dien. Via this point body can turn the neck and the head, and contrary, the head can influence and turn the shoulders and all the body via the Middle and Lower Tan Diens. Additional point, where vertebra changes from convex to concave is a lower end of sacrum or where the coccyx or the tail bone starts. At this point there is additional point, which can be considered playing the some role as a Tan Dien. This is just a little above of Muladhara Chakra, where, according to Hindians, separate three main channals of internal energy - Sushumna, Ida and Pingala. Via this point the tail, which is now almost disappeared and absolutely stiff among the humans (at least disappeared physically), could influence and turn the all the body during these very ancient times, when the tail was a real thing. In humans the hip joints are still located just opposite this point (i.m. the head of femur bone is connected to pelvis in horizontal position just parallel or below and to the sides, producing triangle). When rotating on one leg, which is well bent and takes all the lower body to the side, the relaxed pelvis inclines forward and downward, hanging from the head of the neck of the thigh of the standing leg. In this position or better to say motion, the basis of coccyx, the head of the neck of the standing high, and the Lower Tan Dien are all in same parallel plane. It means that the center of pelvis or Lower Tan Dien is positioned just above the center of feet of the standing leg and is a center of rotation of whole pelvic in the optimal parallel to the ground plane. The Lower Tan Dien and the center of feet of the standing leg actually form two ends of axis around which all the body turns. The head.The head rotates due to the contractions of few side neck muscles.These muscles are connected on their one end to the prominent bones of the scalp just behind the ears. On the second end their connected to the trunk in the shoulder area. Let’s hold the head in it’s natural position, like it recommended in Tai Chi, it means with a chin a little bit down. The plane produced by the lines between the prominence bones behind the ears and parallel to the floor will pass the point between eyebrows. The point in middle way between behind of the ears is the center of the rotation and is the center of the head. This point is the upper Tan Dien, just below the Ajna Chakra, which located between the eyebrows and called ‘The Third Eye’. In this point the spinal cord changes from concave to convex and enters into the brain. In Ajna Chakra, according to Indians, the main channels of internal energy Sushumna, Ida and Pingala, joint together. Among all five points which are Tan Diens or ‘almost’ Tan Diens the two are very special because they are inborn and present even during the fetal period of human life. There are the Upper Tan Dien and the point in the base of the coccyx. These points are almost the starting and ending points of the root of the rising Kundalini, the mystical dormant spiritual power, described in Hindian Yoga. In Yoga the end points of Kundalini’s root are called Muladhara Chakra in the coccyx and Ajna Chakra or the Third Eye. In Daoism there are Chang-Ching or Sacrum pump and Yui-Gen or Cranial pump and are very important points of Microcosmic Orbit of Chi or Internal Energy Circling. For humans the role of tail actually play the upper trunk and upper limbs. They play important role in order to balance and keep under control the different movements of the body, including rotating and inclinations of pelvis. This is a reason that many of the upper limbs and back muscles end around Lower Tan Dien. This fact alone confirms the absolute importance of coordinated movements of legs, trunk and hands during walking, stepping, running and jumping. Other muscles of neck, back and upper limbs end around middle and Upper Tan Diens and the basis of neck. This is why stiff and not properly and naturally performed movements which we can see so often in the contemporary Modern and Traditional Martial Arts, both Internal and External, Soft and Hard, affect the movements and make them cumbersome, heavy and tiring. Actually in these performances the energy and power are directed inside instead to come out of the body. This is result of what I call ‘target oriented movements’ of these Martial Arts contrary to the natural movements of ISAI. If we use as a sample our car it means that in ISAI we learn first about our car and what it can perform. In other Martial Arts we have to learn first how can we get from one city to another. It is absolutely clear that if we want to have good performances it is much better and less dangerous to learn to drive first. Sometimes, after few unskilled trips, especially after hard trips to the steep mountains or very fast driving with sudden stops and turnings, we find that our car needs serious treatment or even that we can't use it anymore. The new unskilled driver accelerate and immediately put on brakes, drives in zigzag and performs many other wrong things. The result is a low speed, great effort and ruining the car. In the way many totally destroyed cars will be left behind. This is exactly the situation with a Martial Arts. The Martial artist study ‘to drive while already driving’. Finally few of them will turn to be good drivers. But very few and after very long time. Many cars will be totally destroyed and many students will leave Martial Arts suffering forever from their damaged bodies and souls. All of them will have in their luggage bad habits from the past. This mixture of good and bad habits is a result of the target oriented Martial education. This is why I call all other Martial Arts ‘fragmental Martial Arts’ contrary to completely fractal ISAI. By the way, in any country in the world before the driver is allowed to drive on the roads he must learn about the car and how to drive in correct way. In natural performance all parts of the body move and rotate naturally in free and most possible relaxed manner. The Israeli Art of Integrity, ISAI, is the only known me example of such movements. The centers of rotation which I described above are, actually, the centers of rotating energy of human body. If the body moves and rotates in it’s natural way, like it done in ISAI, all these centers will work simultaneously and harmoniously. It is not strange that they have the same location as a internal energy centers of Chinese and Hindians. These points as well as vertebral curving and Chakras describe well the ancient Hindian five principal modifications of energy (prana, vayu) : Vyana vayu, Apana vayu, Samana vayu, Prana vayu, Udana vayu. The similar classification of different kinds of energy exists also in Chinese models. This analyses is quite beyond the considerations of this article and will be published separately. We saw clearly great uniformity of human body in all different levels, anatomical, functional, energetically and even spiritual. Other aspects can be analyzed and added to this very short observation of uniformity such as nerve, blood and other systems of human body. This analyses shows us with even greater degree the unity and fractal nature of humans in general structural, dynamic and energetic aspects. |
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