Transmitting Health Philosophies through the Traditionalist Chinese Martial Arts in the UK
Abstract
:1. Martial Arts, Eastern Movement Forms and Health Philosophies
2. An Overview of Structuration Theory, Discourse and Narrative
3. Methodological Considerations
Participant | Martial art(s) | Martial arts experience | Age | Sex | Ethnicity/origin | Occupation | Religion/Philosophy | Education | Health philosophy |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sarah | Wing Chun and Capoeira. | 5 years. | 31 | Female | White British. | Massage therapist and administrator. | Daoism. | Diploma in Massage and Tuina Chinese massage. | Contemporary Daoist. |
Kelly | Hybrid Kung Fu System. | 4 years (1 year as instructor). | 24 | Female | White Zimbabwean. | Exercise and Sport Science student. | Martial arts and philosophy; interest in Qi energy. | Ongoing B.Sc. studies. | Western Scientific / Contemporary Daoist. |
Emma | Wing Chun. | 14 years. | 35 | Female | White Cornish. | Social worker. | None stated; interest in “energies.” | Specialist training. | Western Scientific. |
Terry | Wing Chun (previous TKD and Karate). | 20 years (12 years as instructor). | 38 | Male | Mixed heritage British; Merseyside | Unemployed. | None stated: Catholic upbringing. | Diploma in Holistic Therapy. | Western Scientific. |
John | Wing Chun; San Sau (Sanshou); Lion Dance; Choy Lay Fut. | 28 years (18 years as instructor). | 42 | Male | White British; London. | Full time TMCA instructor. | Interest in Buddhism. | Ph.D. in Theology. | Western Scientific. |
Dave | Wing Chun. | 4 years. | 34 | Male | White British; London. | Photographer / assistant editor. | Magic and esoterism. | B.A. in Photography. | New Age. |
Zack | Wing Chun. | 9 years (2 years as instructor). | 38 | Male | White Cornish. | Chef / builder’s labourer. | Martial arts philosophy. | On- the-job training. | Western Scientific. |
Ben | Yang Taijiquan (Zheng Manqing). | 10 years (2 years as instructor). | 50 | Male | White Cornish. | Prison warden. | Daoist and Confucian philosophy. | Specialist prison training. | Contemporary Daoist. |
Joe | Yang Taiji quan (simplified 24- and 48-step and Zheng Manqing). | 14 years (8 years as instructor). | 36 | Male | White British; Southern England. | Professional Taijiquan instructor. | Daoist philosophy; Catholic upbringing. | B.A. in Philosophy | Contemporary Daoist. |
Ted | Wing Chun. | 18 years. | 68 | Male | White British; London. | Retired accountant and banker. | Martial arts philosophy. | B.Sc .in Actuary. | Western Scientific. |
Edward | Yang Taijiquan. | 16 years. | 55 | Male | Chinese British; Hong Kong. | Engineer. | Confucianism. | B. Eng. in Nuclear Engineering. | Western Scientific. |
Nick | Wing Chun. | 12 years (4 years as instructor). | 36 | Male | White British; South West. | Professional photographer. | None stated; Indian philosophy. | Diplomas in photography. | Western Scientific. |
4. Discussion: The Health Philosophies in Principle and Practice
4.1. The Western Scientific Health Philosophy
When I did my instructor training (with Chris’ teacher), I felt it was all very wishy-washy. It was like: “Can you do the form? Yep, great, carry on.” OK, there was no passing down of any real teaching. They didn’t check that you…not only that you could do it, but that you could teach somebody else how to do it and show them how to do it. If somebody’s moving into a posture, what’s the most important thing? Is it the alignment? Some people just can’t be aligned. They’re that stiff. What do you do first? Do you straighten their backs? Do you check their knees are good? Do you check their breathing’s OK? Do you keep their head up? How do you break it down? What is the formula behind what we are doing? All these kind of questions: I looked back on the course and I think, ‘Ahh, it was rubbish!’ And that’s why I’m quite interested to learn to teach with Steven, because he’s got a year-long instructor training course which, in a year, I think you could learn quite a lot.
The Chinese talking about energy and Qi and all that, it’s like…not necessarily metaphorical, but it’s a bit wishy-washy. And I think it also shows that we don’t actually understand what’s going on. Training internally, standing for an hour, standing still…what is it that it does? How? Why? What changes in your body? What am I doing? And until Western science has actually properly studied it and given us an explanation that we can understand and comprehend, then we have to use a metaphor to describe the ideals behind it a little bit, I think.
The health benefits flow directly from the requirements of Internal Martial Arts practice. To develop Internal Power, it is necessary to have the whole body connected so that it moves as one unit. In order to achieve this, the movements are performed in a slow, relaxed and unhurried manner, and with a great deal of concentration. This is obviously greatly beneficial in reducing the level of stress—and stress is one of the biggest problems of modern life. All movements should be performed with an all-pervading spiral motion which benefits circulation, helps with many joint problems and improves digestion and other functions of internal organs. In recent years, there have been many studies done which document the benefits one can gain from practicing Taijiquan. Similar things can be said of the other Internal Martial Arts, too.[73]
After a period of regular practice, the effects can be felt in oneʼs enhanced physical, mental and emotional well-being. On the physical level, the body becomes suppler and movements gain poise and become more graceful. On the mental level, one can think more clearly and one’s concentration is greatly improved. On the emotional level, one becomes more relaxed, tolerant and generally happier.[73]
“The purpose of all this training, the discipline, the power and inner strength, is to better ourselves, but only in the sense that we will then be better for others.”(Steven Jones)
4.2. The Contemporary Daoist Health Philosophy
I had a retired lady who was 70, 69 when she started training with me, and she had some sort of problem with one of her feet. The foot and the ankle. She didn’t tell the specifics of the problem, but after doing six months of doing Taiji with me, she said, “Do you know what? My foot is 100% better.” She said, “My doctor said to me, ‘There are only two options. One is to operate on you and do surgical intervention. And the other one is to give you powerful injections to kill the pain.” She said, “Those two make me sick to the heart. There was no way I was going to have those. But I don’t need to worry about that. My foot’s 100%. It’s just normal now.” But if she hadn’t done Taiji, the only option would be that the foot and ankle combination would have got worse and worse and worse and worse, and she would have either been crippled or would have to have a really dodgy operation. How fantastic is that?
Obviously, it’s to improve people’s health and fitness. That’s absolutely fundamental. So many people are so unfit and unhealthy. But in some ways…loads of students come to me with long-term, quite often long-term, chronic conditions: Back ache, knees, all sorts of aches and stains and pains. And I found through the teaching, through the years, more often than not, Taiji will just eliminate those problems. So that’s one of the key reasons why I teach. Is just because it helps people. Fundamentally, I teach because it helps other people. And it helps them to get fitter, and discover other levels to their human experience. That mind-body-spirit connection.
Long-term physical condition, it starts from nothing and then it just builds up. Then all of a sudden, something will happen in their lives where maybe they lose their job or their relationship breaks up, then their whole body health kind of disintegrates. They think it’s happened overnight, but actually, there’s been a very gradual build up. So Taiji can help to reverse that. And it also stimulates and revitalizes the internal organs. In the Western world, we’re fixated on how we look on the outside, the outer body, is more important than the inner body. So Taiji addresses…it flushes through the internal organs with energy. It energizes it. And that makes you smile inside. So it’s a win-win situation every time. I’ve had so many different stories of people telling me how their health is improved. I don’t ask. They just tell me. It’s just amazing. It’s amazing every time. I feel really humbled that I’m able to be a facilitator for them. It’s not me that’s doing it, ‘cause they stand in the lessons. They do the work, but I’m guiding them in the right direction, posture and everything. You’ve got to have good posture. But they’re doing the work. So they’re doing it for themselves. And that’s very empowering as well. It’s not like they’re coming to me, and I’m giving them a pill. The pill has fixed them.
We follow the principles and philosophy of Qigong from the Chinese Health Qigong Association (CHQA). The CHQA has its headquarters in Beijing, and is a member of the China Sports Federation. The Association promotes research into the health benefits of Qigong, and provides world class instruction from experts qualified to Master and Grandmaster level. The centre benefits from regular training with these high level Masters, who travel extensively teaching and promoting the wonderful health benefits of these exercises. Their vision is to “carry the wonderful work of China forward”; some of the exercises themselves are 2000 years old. Qigong exercises were designed to offer excellent physical and mental health benefits, and help combat conditions such as arthritis, osteoporosis, high blood pressure, heart problems, stress and depression.
4.3. The New Age Health Philosophy
I do many things, many practices. Wing Chun right now, in my life, is very important. It’s given me something that I need. A certain kind of energy, because there’s many kinds of energy. The Chinese reckon there are more than thirty different kinds of Qi. For instance, Reiki is a very high vibration of Qi. The Wing Chun is a lower vibration, but that doesn’t mean it’s lower in what it gives you. It’s just lower in connection to Chakras. It’s lower in Chakras, it’s connected to the first, second and third Chakras, especially the Dantien. You know, you punch from here, you punch from the solar plexus - Your energy, your centre, needs to be here. So you need to be aware of both. And you also need to be open in the root Chakra to allow the energy to come up my feet from the earth. Like, you sink in the seal of the Dao. You sink in the Qi. Yin sinking, Yang rising.
For me, Qi is a vibration of particles and molecules bouncing off each other. Which, normally, we cannot see. They’re invisible. Unless you have heightened awareness. Now, John (his Wing Chun instructor) can see auras. He has told me things like he said one day, he said to me, “You have a problem with the circulation in your hands, don’t you?” He wasn’t touching me—he was watching me. And I said, “Yeah, I do. But how do you know?” He said, “I can see it in your aura.” And…I knew that was true. I knew he could see that. Because I myself can sometimes see auras. If I’m working a lot with energy and ceremony, and Reiki, then my awareness gets heightened, and I get more aware of this light that we can’t normally see. And it is a light. Sometimes you can see it as white light. Sometimes it’s golden. And this is Qi. This energy flows through us through our Chakras. We have seven main Chakras. And we have a lot of smaller Chakras. We also have Kundalini energy, which flows through our spine. This is related to awareness and self-realization. We also have the energy that is connected to the earth. The bottom three Chakras. And in Qigong and Kung Fu and Taijii, this is the energy you are working with. It’s a necessary energy. If you want to live a life a long, healthy life, then to work with your Qi is very positive. You can increase your Qi and be healthier. So, Kung Fu is working with that energy. You can be healthier when you do that Kung Fu.
For example, when I was doing Yoga at first, and I was vegetarian and I didn’t drink, smoke, blah, blah, blah. Nothing. I mean, I was even celibate for six years. I was so like on this fucking path of energy that I needed to fully give it everything. But in some ways, I was too rigid. Like, if my pattern, if my routine was interrupted, I would lose energy. I was so rigid in my, ‘I have to sit twice a day. I had to do three hours of Yoga. I have to eat not much, to drink plenty of water.’ I became very rigid. I may have had this high fucking energy and self-realization, but I couldn’t even go in a pub. It would pollute me. I was too pure. And now, OK, I indulge a bit in things. If I want something, if I meet a girl and I want to have sex (laughs), and we both want to, then I do it. It’s like…If I want to eat food that I enjoyed as a child, sometimes I’ll have it. It’s not always about giving everything up. It’s about giving some things up, but also doing other things. Because we are the gods. We have the choice of doing everything and experiencing everything. So if you want to have an ice cream, you know, shit, it may not be perfect for you. A bit of chocolate. It’s good to have that. It’s something that we need as well. It’s good to have a good diet and do exercise and practices, but constant moment-to-moment meditation.
5. Concluding Comments
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
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Jennings, G. Transmitting Health Philosophies through the Traditionalist Chinese Martial Arts in the UK. Societies 2014, 4, 712-736. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc4040712
Jennings G. Transmitting Health Philosophies through the Traditionalist Chinese Martial Arts in the UK. Societies. 2014; 4(4):712-736. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc4040712
Chicago/Turabian StyleJennings, George. 2014. "Transmitting Health Philosophies through the Traditionalist Chinese Martial Arts in the UK" Societies 4, no. 4: 712-736. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc4040712