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THE OPENINGS, CLOSING & THE ENERGY FLOWING IN THE HUMAN BODYThe very fundumental rule in many martual arts and especially in so called internal and soft matrial atrs is that the waist or hips area always direct our body movements. Also well known the fact that in most matrial arts so called ‘Tan Dien’ or ‘Lower Tan Dien’,located in the hips area is a centre of human body and the energy centre. Some other martial syles locate the energy centre in the solar plecsus or in the ‘Middle Tan Dien’. In some styles of Taiji Chuan the very impotrant role play openings and closings of the body. We will describe also some other fenomena like Prana flowings thru so called Ida and Pingala in Hatha Yoga and Small Chi Circulation in Daosism. All these facts can be understood during our study of ISAI. I will also describe connection between these fenomenas and the managing of the energy or ‘Ruah’ flow in ISAI. Another very important matter is a connection between phisical movements of the body and internal energy flow will also be discribed here. As a result we will see that breathing movements, bodily movements and energy movements are just different sides of the general human movement. As I alredy said the openings and closings of hips play very important role in ISAI. These movements are followed by openings and closings in the shoulders area, which are followed by openings and closings of hips and so on. By the way, the interesting example of how the hahds and shoulders area movements can influence our all body movement is obvious when using in the hands some heavy tools. Another good example is rope walkers which use long and heavy pole which is almost immovable and serve the walker as platform similar to the earth for the legs. The hands themselves which weight in average is about 10 kgms and which can have considerable amount of movement (mv – mass multiplied speed) will present such a platform for the rest of the body, in lesser degree, comperatively with legs. The leg performing kick can serve platform as well. Let’s consider the mechanical aspects of breathing movements. The movements of the belly-chest or front wall of the body on one hand and spine movements on other hand produce the feeling of Chi movement around the body trunk, so called Small Chi Circulation. In Hatha-Yoga the feeling of the air passing thru the nostrils passages on the left and on the right sides of body will produce the feeling of the prana moving thru Ida and Pingala respectfully. In all these activities the limbs movements and turnings of the body around verticle axis play no role. In other words all above mentioned activities are based on the minimal bodily movements which are the breathing movements of the still body. In ISAI, contrary to the still positions described above, there are numerious turnings and rotations of body and limbs in addition to the breathing. These turning movements are based on openings and closings of hips and shoulders which are connected thru chains of the body as was described above. Generally speaking closing movements are related to intaking the air, stretching and arising the body and collecting the energy. The opening movements are related to expelling the air, sinking and turning the body and releasing or issuing the energy of the body. The friction with the ground is stronger during arising of the body. The turning is more convinient when the friction is in its minimum, it means during the dropping of the body. This is an explanation why in Taiji Chuan releasing of the energy and sinking come together. This sinking or dropping of the body is like falling after the jumping in the air but in microscopic scale. The moment of the actual strike or kick is just before the moment when a friction berween legs and floor is in its maximum. The time delay between the shoulders and hips rotations is responsible for what is called in Taiji Chuan ‘in Yin presents Yang and in Yang presents Yin’. Like in baloon the air flow from closed areas to the openings so in the human body the energy or Ruah flow from closings to and thru the openings along the chains. These consequent passing of the Ruah combined with the breathing will produce what Chinese call Yang and Yin flows. Thru opened chains will flow Yang or active energy and closed chains will contain the Yin or passive energy. In ISAI we speak about active or passive Ruah, which express itself (active) or collecting inside the body (passive). Actually there are no closed or opened chains but chains which turn from opened to closed (closing chains, the Ruah is passive) or contrary from closed to opened (opening chains, the Ruah is active). The situation is totally dynamic, always changing, so every opening contains closing tendency and every closing tends to the opening. Also every active Ruah partially is passive and vice versa. It is very importatant that in ISAI we deal not with positions or statically situations but only with dynamic processes. So during the inhalation External Energy or Ruah of Universe (Ruah Olam) will enter thru nostrils and flow downward on the belly-side of the backward fish. In the very same time the Human Energy or Human Ruah (Ruah Adam) flows upward on the belly-side of the forward fish and flow down on the belly of the backward fish. These two opposite flows of energy inside the body produce stability and enrich the body with energy. Their blending with Ruah Olam will produce Internal Energy of Person (Ruah Pnimit) which is temporary. It is like two fish that swallow up their food. During expelling of the air the Ruah Pnimit will separate into Ruah Olam and Ruah Adam. It is like two fish that spit out their food. Ruah Adam will ascend along the the spine and descend along the belly. This is an active interchange between the Divine and Human, between the Personal and Universal. The humans are like a pot (Klee) which ‘breath in’ and reflect the Ruah Olam. In order to take from Ruah Olam we have to give from our Ruah Adam and in order to give we have to take in the widest and deepest meaning of these words. Actually speaking when you consider your work with a partner its not you that striking him but the outgoing Ruah of Universe (Ruah Olam). This means that your internal involvement in the strike will last until the actual moment of strike itself, but in the moment of strike itself you is not involved emotionally with you partner but detached. The closings and openings consequently ‘running’ inside of the performer’s body will produce naturally the feeling of moving internal energy. These openings and closings are performed by legs, hips, shoulders, hands, neck as well as by internal muscles of the body and actually create chains in the human body. At this stage I do not even speak about energy or ‘Chi’ or ‘Prana’ or ‘Ruah’. I speak about mechanical and muscular aspect of movements including tensions, pressures etc. But these two phenomenas work together, never independently, just like two sides of the same coin. Different ‘bandhas’ or locks in Yoga and Chi Kong, Chi transported by blood in Chi Kong and other similar expressions are examples and evidences that Eastern people were always aware of this ‘cooperation’. The openings and closings of the hips and shoulders (done by turning and rotating of hips and shoulders area) in ISAI serve similar purpuse to the openings and closings as practised in Hatha Yoga (Mula Bandha and Jalandhara Bandha) or in ChiGong but are much more dynamic. Actually the openings and closings produce a kind of whiplash-like rotating series of locks, similar to ‘bandhas’ of Yoga, operating in up-down in down-up directions. With very similar results. Every movement of ‘fish play’ of hands, as well as internal work in ISAI, is almost identical to some Chi Gong exercises. Actually, from the Chinese point of view, it is possible to say that ISAI itself is 100 % pure Chi Gong, performed and applied also as a martial art. That is if you dismiss all the theoretical backround of ISAI, its internal logic and the practical combinations of movements and applications. The breathing movements has exactly the same shape of ‘two fish play’ as movements of any other above mentioned part of body: hands, hips etc. The openings and closings of breathing in ISAI will occur aligned with external openings and closings of gross body srtucture and therefore they will reinforce each other. It means that openings and closings of breathing in ISAI (similar to the ‘mula bandha’ and ‘jalandhara bandha’ in Hatha-Yoga) are synchronized naturally with openings and closings of hip and shoulder belts, as well as with dynamic curvings of vertebra and openings and closings of the rib case. Thus the mechanism of breathing, including all its phases, becomes fully understandable. Different forms of breathing in Yoga and Chi Gong become actually different phases of the same general breathing fish play phenomena. The whiplash-like flow of openings and closings followed by air flow and the energy flow which circulates in our body can be seen externally and felt internally. The explanations for all these things are not mumbo-jumbo but use simple average logic and knowledge which are common in the Western world. Thus when you put in action one single part of your body then all other body parts, breathing and energy flow will be initiated to move. The performer has no need to do movements with different parts of his body intentionally or actively, they will be done like by themselves, seemingly absolutly effortlessly. It is like slipping on oil on the floor (something like that actually happened once to me and the contribution of this event to ISAI was very significant. I was really shocked by the speed and power which developed from ‘nothing’). The best part to initiate the movement is around our dynamic body center, but other initiations sometimes also happen. By the way, the ‘fish play’ will describe, explain and improve numerous recommendations and rules existing in other martial arts, which were expressed until now in terms of mystic feelings, powers and so on. In order to control the performance on the whole (not only hands or legs etc.), the peformer uses self imagination with ‘fish play’. It’s apllied by the performer to the performer himself and to everything that comes in contact with him. Such self identification keeps performer doing ISAI constantly internally (by means of breathing and effecting internal openings/ closings of the body) and externally (by means of moving limbs and trunk and external openings/ closings). It can be done even if no movement can be watched by external observer. This natural single-pointed focusing has a tremendous positive effect on the performer. The highest pressure of the Ruah Pnimit will be felt inside the human body just near the hips and shoulder closings. These places correspond to the Lower and Middle TanDien (ChiGong) or to the correspondent Chakras in Hatha-Yoga. Now the fire from below and water or nectar from the up become understandable. Openings and closings of the body’s chains regulate the flow of Ruah Pnimit all-over trunk and limbs. Together with the twisting and turning of the colomn the flow of Ruah Pnimit inside of the body will form 3-dimentional figure produced by turning of the fishes bellies which are of ‘S’ shape (similar to Pingala and Ida nadis of Hatha Yoga). On the surface of the body the turning backs of the fish will produce sphere (similar to Microcosmic Orbit of Qi Gong). The practioner of ISAI has to consider these most important principles in depth and to practice endlessly in order to master them. |
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