What is INTERNAL ART?
or CHINESE YOGA, TAI-JI QUAN, QI GONG and NEI GONG or even NEI DAN?
Internal Art (Nei Jia) is an umbrella term, that includes Tai-Ji Quan, Qi Gong, Nei Gong and more. Chinese Yoga is another name for Internal Arts. They all are branches on the same tree, the further one goes from the core of the trunk, the greater the differences. This trunk is Meditation, the one Reality, The Dao, the Divine, the One, consciousness etc. I like, to use the term Internal Art, because it points towards that which is beyond practice.
How does it work?
The basic mechanism is, to change the body, which will change consciousness, which will transform the body and so forth. The body is the crucible, within which very palpable transformations will happen. In the end the body is also mind, as it happens within awareness. So consciousness refines consciousness, until all doing drops.
First it may seem like simple exercises (The score), then it becomes something unexpectedly different (the music), and this opens a door beyond name and form (Silence…).
Side effects (health, vitality, special abilities, Qi)
The transformations of the Internal Arts generate certain effects. One of them is physical and psychological health and vitality. A lot of people actually begin these arts to get rid of some health problem, or in search for longevity. The exercises of the Internal Arts are extremely healthy. The opening of the deeper tissue, the activation of the energetic body, the constant attention to stay within awareness, instead of getting entangled with its contents, to find ‘the in between’, to ‘not go against, neither hold onto’, allows blockages in body and mind (emotion), to dissolve. In other words, the habitual programs of the mind (trauma) releases.
That will help for concentration (or the first stage of Samadhi), to arrive. When that happens, Qi will begin to form. Qi is a product of condensed empty mind substance and a transformed, open body. Qi works on the physical level too, pushing through the body, the channels, changing and rejuvenating the body and more. Qi will wash every still suppressed feeling and thought complex to the surface. Qi works also on and within the mind. If there is Qi, its easier for the mind ‘to rest between the thoughts’, it becomes finer, able to perceive, what it could not perceive before. Which can lead to a lot of special abilities (Siddhas). Qi is the basis of the different specialties of the different Internal Arts.
The clearer it becomes, that there is only one reality, that the only thing that matters, is to see, to realize, where one is holding on to non reality, where one is obstructing the Divine, the more these things become side effects. They will happen, if one becomes still, but they are unimportant. More, a very dangerous nuisance. The author knows, what he is talking about. These effects have become dangerous for him. If one is not yet One, or in other words, if there is still any identification with the person, with fear, with pleasant and unpleasant, with thought, these abilities are in Jiddu Krishnamurtis words simply ‘more energy, to wreak more havoc in life’. That is why it is important, to not throw away the transformation of the character or precepts as superstitious nonsense. It is one of the factors, that leads to success within the Internal arts and it is a safe guard. Its not about blindly following rules. But, to look at Daoist, Buddhist (Sila) or Christian precepts as guide lines, everything will be much smoother. And if look at it, this is already consciousness working on the consciousness.
TAI-JI QUAN
The martial art of the highest principle. The highest principle is absolute harmony, the harmonization of duality, the door to Oneness. The word martial points towards most intense opposites. That means Tai-Ji Quan is the art, to harmonize even absolute opposites. It is an art of Oneness. It has and can have martial applications. But in my view its not about that. The partner training can be used, to harmonize. The intense positions and exercises allow, to release the mind deeply. It shapes and transforms body and mind, so that meditation can get hold within being. Its exercises cause life, to be suffused with the qualities coming from the realization of harmony and oneness.
Tai-Ji Quan without Qi Gong and Nei Gong would not work. One can say, that Tai-Ji Quan is a pretty complex form of Qi Gong and Nei Gong. And also Internal Alchemy (nei Dan) plays a role. Furthermore Tai-Ji Quan has incorporated exercises from other Internal Arts, that have become inseparable (San-Ti standing for example).
Qi Gong
Qi Gong means Energy-work, or to be able to work with energy. Qi is more than energy. But as a basic translation this is good. Qi Gong works mostly from the outside to the inside.
Nei Gong
Nei Gong means internal work or internal skill. Nei gong can be considered a from of Qi Gong. Usually it signifies a deeper stage of Qi Gong. From the inside to the outside. Of course these are overlapping.
Nei Dan
Internal Elixir, usually translated as Internal Alchemy. The deepest internal work. Very clear and concrete transformations of the body. The descriptions of these transformations use alchemical termini. And there is a literal transformation of fluids and the substance of the body. As the Internal Art, the TAI-JI QUAN I teach causes such changes, NEI DAN is part of the practice.
