Internalizing Ark

I haven’t consciously, deliberately, experienced so much physical discomfort since I started the neigong training. It made me realize that I need to do more, go deeper, longer. This was one of my two great understandings from last weekend’s seminar with Akuzawa Minoru Sensei. The second was that “this guy is simply amazing!”. I’ve met various well-known people in world of internal martial arts, and mostly the reality more or less matches the reputation. Akuzawa sensei (or “Ark” as it seems he is known to some) goes beyond reputation. He is well-known for throwing people much, much heavier than him … with his little finger! Ed was talking last year already of getting him over for a seminar and he’s done the European martial arts world a great service by doing just that. Ed told me that apart from the man’s reputation his approach is uniquely interesting. With a background in Chinese internal arts (Xing Yi) and ‘ancient’ Japanese ones (Koryu budo), he has created a modern system of exercise that yields very impressive results. Apart from throwing biggies with his little pinkie, Akuzawa is also well known for having kicked some serious ass in Chinese Sanda competitions. His teaching as it was presented last weekend was based on some simple concepts and some demanding exercises that train core competencies that can be used whatever style you’re practicing. Last but certainly not least, he is a charming man and an excellent teacher – this also goes for his assistant teacher last weekend, Rob. Both are excellent martial artists – I’ve rarely seen such evident gong fu.

One of my favourite citations from Cheng Tin Hung is that “Tai Chi should never be comfortable”. Last weekend I spent over 10 hours in more or less acute discomfort, in the company of around forty other fellow sufferers from all over Europe and indeed the world (one guy came from South Africa). It was very international so of course the predominant language was English and it was a bit of a pity for those who can’t handle “la langue de Shakespeare”, especially on the first day. However, we had enough repetitions to enable the teachers to correctly correct, and for the students to experiment and experience. It was also impressive how sensei and assistant adapted their corrections to the capabilities of the students, helping strugglers to get the basics and pushing the more capable to greater things. In my case, this meant mental training – taking the pain and going through it.

So why pain? Why suffering and discomfort? Because of the nature of the exercises. It’s all about becoming conscious of and developing the central body axis, through 6 directions: up/down, left/right and front/back. Dropping the weight down so that your thighs are flat is something we do quite often in Practical Tai Chi Chuan, especially and repetitively in the nei gong. Keeping your back straight was also not new to me. What was new, and difficult, and painful, was maintaining a “piano string” of dynamic tension across the arms, from hand to hand. I’ve seen and done some of this kind of training with some Yi quan people at various workshops and exchanges over the years, and there is some of it present in Wudang style, in the “Draw the bow” exercise in the Baduan jin that we do. But it’s not quite the same – notably you don’t have to push the shoulder blades together.

Which brings me to a contemplation of the nature of “internal” in the martial arts. One chap at the seminar, notable both for his paunch and his RAF moustache, told me that he wanted light, springy weapons, so that he could transfer his Qi into them. During lunch on Sunday, I heard the memorable tale of how Bruce “Kumar” Frantzis was once “sprayed” with his teacher’s Qi. Personally, I prefer to keep my Qi to myself, apart from the occasional gift to my girlfriend. “Hoarding Qi” is referred to in the classics, and is certainly part of the practice of “internal arts”. But that’s far from all of the truth. A great classic of internet forum threads is “the difference between internal and external”. If you are tempted to ask that question, you should really have a look through the archives first since we’ve all discussed this umpteen times. Given the muscular tension involved in holding your shoulder blades together and maintaining a piano wire of tension across the arms and shoulders, some might think that Ark’s method is not internal. I would disagree with that, as would any practitioner of Xing Yi or Yi Quan, IMHO. “Internal” always involves training the Yi, the will. Difficult postures and exercises are one way of doing this – again, this is characteristic of our Nei gong training. Tension may be done externally just my muscular contraction, but what is really internal is to do this but whilst maintaining relaxation. This really is understanding Yin and Yang. In Akuzawa’s training we were trying to maintain a dynamic equilibrium between those six directions. It was fascinating, exhausting, painful and glorious. And certainly very internal.

This inspirational seminar will, I think, always hold a special place in my memory. I understood that my gong fu was elementary, and I understood, again, what internal training really means.