The Art vs. Neigung

[Anonymous]

I’ve recently been trying to get clearer about everything I practice. Something that has been helpful is separating the art from the neigung. Hsing Yi, Tai Chi, and Bagua all use neigung, but they seem to organize the neigung in different ways. Whether or not the way I’ve culled this out correctly, I hope you find it helpful to start seeing the distinction and that it ultimately helps your practice. So here is a way over simplified version of the differences between Hsing Yi, Tai Chi, and Bagua.

Hsing Yi is built on two arcs that meet and form a circle and ultimately can form a sphere. The arcs collide along the center-line creating a yang force that is very concentrated. Put your hands together with the finger tips and thumbs touching like you are making a sphere. Now push them toward each other and allow the palms to get closer. Notice that the center-line (where the finger tips and thumbs meet spread out along the center of the two arcs. That’s how I think Hsing Yi is organized. The whole body and all of the neigung is coordinated to support this structure in the body and ultimately command the center-line. So the wrapping of the brings the arms and hands toward the center-line of the body. What you might not think about is the consonant wrapping from the front to the back that also meets in the back and ultimately projects backward along the center-line. The hands are where you manifest the art from. The this and the that. (I can explain this in another post on karma. It is too complicated to talk about here.) One makes a small circle (this arises) and the other makes a large circle (that becomes). All of the neigung can be used to support this structure. Everything from the most sophisticated reverse breathing to spiral energy body.

Tai Chi is organized different. It is built on a circle which can form a sphere. The most important thing is that the circle is centered at the tan tien. The hands and feet are the outer edges of the circle and typically stay on the opposite sides of the circle regardless of where they are positioned in space or how big or small the circle becomes. This is why the hands never cross the centerline, If they did, you wouldn’t be doing Tai Chi. The art is primarily yin. You have to allow everything to come in and connect to the center point, then you can create from there. The this and the that come from the inter-play between the tan tien and the outer circle. All of the neigung is used to support this structure which ultimately becomes spherical.

Bagua is different and significantly more sophisticated. It is celestial from the start. I think it starts from the feet because of this. The feet are the most obvious place where heaven and earth meet. The whole art is based on the spiral which is the natural way energy moves in the body. It is also based on the interplay of heaven and earth. Why? According to the I Ching not to do so would mean fighting with the cosmos and be doomed to failure. Basically, you have to align with the forces of nature. The whole art is contained in the single palm change. Which might be more appropriately named the single change or just “a change”. If you really look at the single palm change it can be performed like one cycle of the natural pulse of the universe. It becomes a container that allows you to study the nature of a single change. The form contains one single condense and release from start to finish. We rarely perform it this way because we broke it down into pieces to get the hand and foot motions, but when it is done really well, it can be a single smooth change. One compression. One release. One cycle. Cne change. If you find this, you’ll also know where the this and the that are manifested. You’ll also notice the brilliance of the physical form of the single palm change and how it actually manifests the moving, changing lines in the patterns of the feet and hands. You’ll also understand why Bruce sees all of the palm changes as ultimately one change.

So, separate the art from the neigung. The forms and shapes we make aren’t the neigung. All of the internal arts open and close the joints. All of them wrap, spiral, lengthen, etc., but they organize the material in very different ways. The art is not the neigung. The art uses the neigung components.

[Anonymous]

Mm very good explanation

[Anonymous]

James,
Nice.
Thanks.
Bob

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