July 1989

Miss Li said that Qi Gong has only really been talked of since the 1950s, since the Communists took over. Before that there was really no emphasis on these kind of separate, isolated exercises. Either they were the archaic elements that had been fused into Nei Jia Wu Shu, or they were used for people too old or too handicapped to do martial arts. Isolated exercises were regarded as inferior to a connected sequence, because the latter would be more beneficial for the mind to focus on, and for the breath/qi, through continuity and rhythm. Indeed, now in the 1980s they are inventing ‘Tai Ji Qi Gong’, which connects up separate Qi Gong exercises into something very similar to our Tai Ji!

Nei Jia was also based only on movement not sitting, because it was thought to be more beneficial and safer. Too much sitting still and using the mind can too easily lead to either fantasising and madness, or to forcing and holding the body and breath. Moving exercise circulates breath and qi, and focuses the mind, in a more natural and less stressful way. Using ‘yi’, ‘qi’, and ‘li’ together to produce ‘jin’ is more balanced. But, though they did not practice sitting, they did see Nei Jia as including meditation and the circulation of qi. For example, when you are standing at the beginning you are supposed to ‘gather yourself together’ and not be thinking about anything.

Miss Li’s teacher used to say that there were three stages of Tai Ji practice:

1. Tai Ji does you ... that is, you are still learning the correct forms, and are very concerned with that. You have little flexibility in your practice, for example to avoid other people, and little awareness.

2. You do Tai Ji ... that is, you now have enough awareness of the muscles and the movement to understand what you are doing.

3. Tai Ji and you are one ... now you are becoming less and less affected by the environment you are practising in.

The traditional Chinese approach in general, not just in the Nei Jia tradition, was wary of emphasising the mind too much, because that can so easily lead to imagining and fantasising. The Nei Jia tradition was very wary of talking about the inner effects or experiences of practice, because, if people did it for that reason and did not get what they expected, they would then give up. The emphasis instead was simply on constant daily practice and the benefits for health and strength: everybody could get these benefits, but only a few would get the real inner benefits. Miss Li said she saw this as a very wise approach.