(Yang Shao Hou - slight of build but known to have formidable fighting prowess)

In the Tai Chi world there is this ongoing debate around the concept of ‘internal’ vs ‘external’ power. Those of you that do any kind of eastern martial arts will probably be familiar with it to some extent. It also ties into the concept of ‘Qi’ and the more spiritual or esoteric aspects of these arts.

Basically the debate is over whether the human body can generate different types of martial power, different forces. Or is all power just based on ‘Newtonian mechanics’ and known physics - the equation force = mass x acceleration.

In other words is martial power only created through mechanical means i.e. contracting muscle against bone to create leverage. Or are there other means to create power - based on ‘Qi’ energy for example, or something else? And what is ‘Jin’.

Ok this is quite a complex discussion and there is basically no consensus at all from what I have seen - in Tai Chi or in any other martial art that I have practiced. In fact most martial arts and by extension most styles of Tai Chi all have their own unique methods for creating martial power or ‘jin’ .

In the Yang Style of Tai Chi there are in fact many jins and each school has its own flavour and specialty in both the methods utilised and the skills that arise.

I can only give you my experience and tell you what I have seen and the methods that I train in. In actual fact Tai Chi remains a mystery to me in many respects and the more I learn the less dogmatic I tend to become. These terms are controversial and much argued about but I’ll give you my take anyway.

So what is 'Li' and what is 'Jin' ? From my experience a good way to describe it is that ‘Li’ is the clumsy and overtly muscular type of force that I had when I started training in my early 20s. Some schools call it ‘stupid force’ because it is unrefined, unskillful and will probably end up with the student thrown on his bottom at some point.

Li in Tai Chi also means ‘mechanical force’, ‘physical’ and contractive strength. The term ‘external’ is also used. However Li is not useless and actually the practitioner needs to start with training and developing Li first before he can move on. It is a foundational area of training where the body becomes muscularly strong, connected and flexible. Without developing some Li first it is extremely difficult to move onto the next levels of training.

Now ‘Jin’ or ‘nei jin’ (internal power) is generally referring to a more refined ‘inner force’ that is considered a higher level of attainment and therefore takes a fair amount of training to achieve. All of the skills in Tai Chi eventually come from having developed nei jin. Nei jin is fascinating because it gives rise to many martial skills that appear to go beyond mere body mechanics or normal levels of strength.

Developing nei jin also gives rise to the many health benefits of Tai Chi. Nei jin often has an ‘elastic quality’ to it and therefore is sometimes known as ‘elastic force’. It requires a flexible, open and grounded body to produce this quality of jin. From my perspective Tai Chi became much more fun and fascinating when I got to this level and my body felt stronger and more robust. My health improved immensely.

It is my belief that developing nei jin indicates an intermediate level of skill. Some schools call it 'entering the door'. What I mean by this is that there are higher levels. It is said in the Yang style that the practitioner moves through various levels over many years of practice. Li, Jin, Yi, Qi, Shen and beyond. However truly achieving the higher levels is extremely rare and requires skills in meditation and other esoteric knowledge.

The training methods I have described in my previous posts around ’Song’ and ‘Zhan Zhuang’ (standing practice) are relevant to developing Li, Jin and aspects of focus and intention or ‘Yi’. The levels beyond that I will leave to the masters.