The choice between Neigong or Neijin depends on the goal of your practice. Do you want to cultivate, store, and ramp up your Qi? Or do you want to unleash, emit, and/or use that inner energy? Or do you want to do both (eventually)?
Neigong is the method and practice of cultivating and storing energy. Neijin is the method and/or practice of consuming, unleashing or emitting that energy. Neijin can be used for either martial practice and/or healing, including self-healing.
Internal strength, which is very different from regular physical strength, is often called Neijin. Developed using Neigong internal exercises, Neijin is a unified strength which connects the mind, Qi, and physical body. Martial artists interested in self-defense pursue Neijin and consider it a very desirable goal. According to Master Jesse Tsao, PhD, author of Practical Tai Chi Training, Neijin is the “precious and supreme vibrating internal power that is pliable, flexible, responsive, yet strong.”
Unfortunately, Neijin is not a well formulated concept, in-depth studies are hard to find, and there appears to be no consensus among the various Tai Chi schools as to what it is or how best to train. That being said, it is considered a mysterious strength underlying Chinese Martial Arts, particularly when it comes to speed, strength, and power in combat.This explains why most Tai Chi schools don’t teach or mention Neijin but, instead teach Tai Chi principles, forms, and movements.
As well, unless teachers have experienced it, they would have difficulty explaining the concept, the training required, the knowledge gained, the wisdom, the feeling, and the power of Neijin. How do you explain something you have never experienced? Many Masters who have experienced Neijin choose to only pass it down to “trusted students”.
In A Scientific Perspective of Neijin (Internal Strength), published 2017, C. P Ong asserts that the “hidden strength” of Neijin may arise from body motion and is subject to biomechanics. There appears to be a basic level, theoretical connection between body motion, physics, physiology, and the role of Qi. The result is harmony of motion in the body - otherwise known as “the concept of inner balance”. Inner balance is the “balance and alignment of the internal movements at the joints and the axial core.”
According to Ong, this inner balance allows the body to change motion internally at the joints resulting in fluid motion without resistance. The body also maintains balance and structural integrity even when it interacts with an external agent or force. Many body segments move in tandem to produce maximum impact or force.
Grandmaster Chen Xiaowang simply explains Neijin by stating that Qi strength alone is not great and that muscle force strength without Qi is crude and inflexible. Or as Ong paraphrases: Neijin = Muscle actions + Qi.
Most Tai Chi practitioners know that one of the major aims of Tai Chi is to regulate your body segments so that they move in unison. Muscle action should not be excessive or deficient, are aligned and balanced, and independent of the loads on the body. Once this is achieved, Qi is developed and internal momentum is harmonized. When you actually reach inner balance from your Tai Chi training, and you experience Neijin, your mind becomes tranquil, and you enjoy health and well-being. In other words, homeostasis of the biological and physiological body is achieved.
Tai Chi practitioners learn to use their arm (for a punch, for example) without tension. Because the body is connected and moves without tension, the result is faster speed and efficient use of mass to create force. And, no, we are not talking big, muscle mass!
Here comes the “but” - all Tai Chi practitioners who have practiced for many years are NOT able to tap into their Neijin, unfortunately!
There may be several reasons. One may have to do with not producing enough waist power. The waist generates power in martial arts and which requires moving the Kua. Body segments must be connected. Body motion, unfortunately, is not uniform because it is a composition of the movements of many body segments. Generating greater momentum requires that the:
body segments move coherently in unison,
muscle actions be aligned,
spinal rotation be due to torsion by the “Spinal Engine”,
the fascia plays a role in the transmission of force.
Put simply, in order to produce the maximal force, the internal momentum (body motion) must be harmonized and in unison. When you accelerate motion which is regulated by inner balance, the result is a “refined and cultured expression of force that is explosive”. That force can be frightening, graceful, and appears effortless without any visible exertion.
Let’s look at breathing:
exhale when issuing a power action (like throwing a punch), and inhale when gathering energy or just prior to issuing a power action,
inhale when raising and exhale when lowering,
inhale on opening and exhale on closing, etc.
Inner balance is comprehensive and contains a lot of aspects and “requirements”, including:
integrity of structure, and balance and alignment of muscle actions at the joints,
it must be driven by the Dantian,
the internal movements of the body segments must be unified,
the internal motion must flow smoothly, unobstructed, and unforced throughout the body,
the left and right sides must be synchronized,
there must be balance and mutual support of the upper and lower body, and last but not least,
there must be harmony of the heart, mind, physical force, Qi, tendons, muscles, and bones.
Or as Master Jesse Tsao states: Tai Chi Nejin is the “strength resulting from your intention guiding blood and qi circulation to flow in a specific direction, coordinated with a specific physical movement, and delivered to a specific point with your whole body’s focused energy.”
No wonder it is difficult to explain, train, and experience. Talk about intangible! Worth pursuing? Absolutely! Easily attained? No!
Subscribe to receive my weekly blogs in your email.