BONE MARROW CLEANSING AND OTHER CHI KUNG ARTS IN KUNGFU AND HEALING
Lifting the Sky in Eighteen Lohan Hands
Question
Is it possible to transfer the skill of Bone Marrow Cleansing into Kung Fu and healing? What would be the benefits?
Could you kindly explain the differences (in terms of aims, objectives and benefits) between our Chi Kung Sets in Shaolin Wahnam, especially those of 18 Lohan Hands and 18 Lohan Arts?
Sifu Anton Schmich
Answer
As both kungfu and chi kung healing will become better with an increase of internal force, and as Bone Marrow Cleansing is a powerful exercise to increase internal force, practicing Bone Marrow Cleansing will improve kungfu performance and healing results.
For example, before practicing Bone Marrow Cleansing, a kungfu exponent may lack power in his defence and attack. Practicing Bone Marrow Cleansing can give him the power to make his defence and attack effectice. Before practicing Bone Marrow Cleansing, a healer may become tired easily if he channels energy to help his patients. Practicing Bone Marrow Cleansing can give him the power to be more effective in his energy channelling.
With this background we can now look more specifically at the skills derived from Bone Marrow Cleansing that can directly be transferred to kungfu and healing to improve their results.
The specific skills in Bone Marrow Cleansing are related to the five levels of energy flow, namely along the skin, the muscles, the meridians, the organs and the bones and bone marrow,
With the skill of generating energy flow along the skin, a kungfu exponent would be better able to sense an opponent when their arms are in contact. The skill of generating energy in his muscles makes the kungfu exponent powerful and makes his attack and defence movements more effective. The skill of generating energy along his meridians enables him to channel his energy more easily to various parts of his body, especially to his arms and hands, for combat as well as to clear internal injuries..
The skill of generating energy to his organs enables him to clear injuries at the organs as well as to strengthen them for general efficiency for combat. The skill to generate energy along his bones and bone marrow, which in Chinese medical paradigm includes the nervous system, is the most important. It provides him with a lot of internal force and mental clarity, and enhances his sensitivity and responses. It also gives him courage and moral integrity, which are very important to the development of a high-level martial artists, though this may not be obvious to many ordinary people.
The beneficial transfer of skills from Bone Marrow Cleansing to healing is not so obvious and direct, but is nevertheless present. The skills of generating energy flow along the skin, the muscles and in the organs give a healer radiant health and vitality, thus enhancing the confidence of his patients. The skill of generating energy flow along the meridians enables him to understand better energy blockage in his patients. The skill of generating energy flow along the bones and bone marrow gives him a lot of internal force, mental clarity and enhanced sensitivity that enable him to have more power in his energy transmission when needed, and to have a better understanding of his patients' problems and needs.
The general aims of the various types of chi kung are the same, namely for good health which includes overcoming pain and illness, for vitality, longevity, mental freshness and spiritual joys irrespective of religion. The detailed objectives and benefits, however, may be different.
Relatively, the Eighteen Lohan Hands are for health, whereas the Eighteen-Lohan Art is for combat efficiency. This does not mean that the Eighteen Lohan Hands do not contribute to combat efficiency, and the Eighteen-Lohan Art does not contribute to health. The difference is one of emphasis. Indeed, the health benefits of the Eighteen-Lohan Art are generally more powerful than those of the Eighteen Lohan Hands. This is because demand as well as the level of health for a martial artists are higher than those of ordinary people.
This does not necessary mean that for one to overcome illness and maintain good health, it is more cost-effective to practice the Eighteen-Lohan Art than the Eighteen Lohan Hands. It is because for many people who are not trained in martial arts, the Eighteen-Lohan Art may be too powerful, and thus less effective than exercises in the Eighteen Lohan Hands.
It is pertinent to mention, though many other people may not be happy with my following statements, that these observations are applicable to us who practice the Eighteen Lohan Hands and the Eighteen-Lohan Art as high-level chi kung. The observations do not apply to many other people who practice these arts as gentle physical exercise, in which case it does not matter much which of the two arts they practice, as the gentle physical exercises only give them benefits like loosening their muscles and make them more relaxed, but without giving them genuine chi kung benefits like good health, internal force and mental clarity.
For other chi kung arts, the objectives are usually indicated in the name of the arts, and their benefits related to the objectives, like Generating Energy Flow, Massaging Internal Organs, Cosmic Shower and Merging with the Cosmos. Their benefits are respectively overcoming illness, strengthening organs, purification and spiritual expansion.
The objectives of stance training are to develop internal force and mental clarity, and the benefits are to enhance combat efficiency as well as daily life. The objectives of the Small Universe and the Big Universe are to generate an energy flow around the ren and du meridians, and to let energy expands from the dan tian and beyond the body. The benefits are for longevity and spiritual expansion.
Please note that the names of some chi kung arts relate to techniques, like Eighteen Lohan Hands and Eighteen-Lohan Art, and some relate to skills, like Generating Energy Flow and Merging with the Cosmos. Hence, exercises from Eighteen Lohan Hands and Eighteen-Lohan Art, for example, can be used to generate an energy flow to overcome illness, or to merge with the Cosmos for spiritual expansion.
The above question-answer is reproduced from the thread 10 Questions to Grandmaster Wong on Bone Marrow Cleansing and Eighteen-Lohan Art in the Shaolin Wahnam Discussion Forum
Swallow Flying through Clouds in Eighteen-Lohan Art
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