ghtly
lifted by a string from above; relaxing the shoulders and sinking the elbows; relaxing the chest
and waist letting them sink down; relaxing the crotch and bending the knees. When these
requirements are met, one's inner energy will naturally sink down to the dan tian. Beginners may
not be able to master all these important points instantly. However, in their practice they must try
to be accurate in terms of direction, angle, position, and the movements of hands and legs for
each posture. At this stage, one need not place too much emphasis on the requirements for
different parts of the body, appropriate simplications are acceptable. For example, for the head
and upper body, it is required that the head and neck be kept erect, chest and waist be relaxed
downward, but in the first level of kung fu, it will be sufficient just to ensure that one's head and
body are kept naturally upright and not leaning forward or backward, to the left or right. This is
just like learning calligraphy, at the beginning, one need only to make sure that the strokes are
correct. Therefore, when practising taijiquan at the beginning, the body and movements may
appear to be stiff; or 'externally solid but internally empty'. One may find oneself doing things
like: hard hitting, ramming, sudden uplifting and or sudden collapsing of body or trunk. There
may be also be broken or over-exerted force or jin. All these faults are common to beginners.
If one is persistent enough and practices seriously everyday, one can normally master the forms
within half a year. The inner energy, qi, can gradually be induced to move within the trunk and
limbs with refinements in one's movements. One may then achieve the stage of being able to
use external movements to channel internal energy'. The first level kung fu thus begins with
mastering the postures to gradually being able to detect and understand jin or force.
The martial skill attainable with the first level of kung fu is very limited. This is because at this
stage, one's actions are not well coordinated and systematic. The postures may not be correct.
Thus the force or jin produced may be stiff, broken, lax or on the other hand too strong. In
practicing the routine, one's form may appear hollow or angular. As such one can only feel the
internal energy but is not able to channel the energy to every part of the body in one go.
Consequently, one is not able to harness the force or jin right from the heels, channel it up the
legs, and discharge it through command at the waist. On the contrary , the beginners can only
produce broken force that 'surge' from one section to another section of the body. Therefore
the first level kung fu is insufficient for martial application purposes. If one were to test
one's skill on someone who does not know martial arts, to a certain extent they can remain
flexible. They may not have mastered the application but by knowing how to mislead his
opponent the student may occasionally be able to throw off his opponent. Even then, he may be
unable to maintain his own balance.
Such a situation is thus termed "the 10% yin and 90% yang; top heavy staff ".
What then exactly is yin and yang? In the context of practising taijiquan, emptiness is Yin,
solidity is yang; gentleness or softness is yin, forcefulness or hardness is yang. Yin and yang is
the unity of the opposites; either one cannot be left out; yet both can be mutually interchanged
and transformed. If we assign a maximum of 100% to measure them, when one in his practice can
attain an equal balance of yin and yang, he is said to have achieved 50% yin and 50% yang.
This is the highest standard or an indication of success in practicing taijiquan.
In the first level of skill in kung fu, it is normal for one to end up with '10% yin and 90% yang'.
That is, one's quan or boxing is more hard than soft and there is imbalance in yin and yang.
The learner is not able to complement hard with soft and to command the applications with ease.
As such, while still at the first level, learners should not be too eager to pursue the application
aspect in each posture.Never forgetting of course that according to Wikipedia's Wi-Fi Entymology, the yin-yang Wi-Fi logo indicates the certification of a product for interoperability.[22]
…
ility of establishing an Air Traffic Control
System in Germany, as part and parcel of the Marshal
Plan and the establishment of EUROCONTROL •
during my training straight from Grammar School,
as the very first Joint Civil/Military Area Radar
Controller to be seconded to Eurocon trol by the
Ministry of Aviation, subsequent to my duties at
London Radar, on the north side of Heathrow Airport
and Southern Radar based at RAF Sopley, before the
UK even joined the EEC • SO [IT] was that my
soul-mate and I as well as our belongings and an
Afghan Hound, travelled by road and ferry to
Brussels, in our brand new Volkswagen 411 Variant,
which was subsequently utilised, for our various
family visits home to Britain, as well as to our new
homes in Brussels and Sittard NL, following the
opening of the Maastricht UAC in Beek. It was at the
time when we were living in Wilhelmina Straat in
Sittard, next door to the Schouwburg Platz... and opposite the Centraal Ziekenfonds, during the 1970s Oil Crisis, that I was issued with a special pass to drive back & forth to the work at the UAC in
Beek, during the times when there was a driving ban imposed, to save fuel.
…