Training Concepts
The key to unlock and nurture Neijing is said to be the practice of ‘song’ (Traditional Chinese: 鬆 ). The term ‘song’ can function as a verb which means to keep one’s mind and body loose resilient and expanding like the consistency of cotton or clouds or relaxed yet concentrated like the sharp alertness of cats immediately before attack. The term can also be used as an adjective which has the same meaning as described above. The greater the extent one can achieve ‘song’ and minimize the use of Li, the greater the release of Neijing force.
Neijing trainees are often reminded to refrain from using the Li force, because the energy of Neijing will be locked and blocked whenever the Li force is applied. So, Neijing and Li are said to be mutually exclusive.
The Taijiquan master Yang Chengfu used the concept of ‘song’ as a benchmark in his daily teaching. It was his daily routine to keep reminding his disciples to ‘song’ thoroughly more than 10 times when he inspected them.
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