Internal Arts Principles Articles
I feel safe in the presence of stress and aggression. I speak bravely and hold a confident attitude because I can kill with my bare hands. What silly rules of etiquette, scary social norms, or sadistic corporate policies stand in my way? What deviant criminal or sadistic fool can harm my good will? None. I can remain calm and watchful in the midst of aggression and chaos.
I won’t need to compromise my principles. I can protect folks close to me (including myself), my family, my friends, and anyone who stands nearby. And I cannot be provoked, with pushing or screaming, into chaotic scenarios. T’ai Chi Chuan — the system of martial-art training methods including martial pushing hands and death point strike training — lets me live so well.
Read Death Point Striking For Peace »
The word self-defense usually conjures images of how to deal with physical violence. I imagine a class where the martial arts instructor goes over attacks and attack scenarios along with techniques and/or drills to deal with them. As I learn methods to defend myself physically I also like to remind myself that violence never happens in a vacuum.
There are warning signs, choices to consider, escalations happening, body language to evaluate…etc. The actions I choose, based on my awareness of incoming sense data, can help keep me safe, though no action, or lack of action, can keep me safe from violence 100% of the time. Preemptive awareness provides the key to early intervention, providing more choices and additional time to choose a course of action. Try the following preemptive awareness techniques.
Read 5 Simple Ways to Avoid Violence »
I dare you. I don’t think you’re willing. Your dependence on crabbiness and moodiness gets you what you want, and acting bitchy and aggressive serves you just right. Maybe. Maybe not.
So I dare you, because it’s difficult to mash mean moods and sever silly sufferings. It’s tough to create compassion, kindness, and kick-ass, cool-heartedness. Our world needs it now. You can do it. You are The One. So take this Dare-Pill and see how far this Post-Hole goes.
I dare you.
Read Six Daring Acts to Lighten Up »
Minimizing the Arc of Movement With Qigong
“No pistol shooter, no matter how expert, can hold a pistol in firing positions without some motion. This is called the arc of movement. The very best that any shooter can do is to keep the arc of movement at a minimum—it cannot be eliminated.” The N.R.A.’s Basics of Pistol Shooting (57).
For humans, perfect stillness does not exist in the living. Our bodies constantly make adjustments, large and small, to maintain even simple postures. In marksmanship, constant adjustments add up to what is called the arc of movement. The arc of movement is the amount that the firearm moves as a result of a body’s natural inability to maintain perfect stillness. The greater the arc of movement, the more difficult it is to maintain proper site alignment which leads to inconsistent marksmanship.
At first we might think that to minimize the arc of movement we need to force our arm into stillness. This severe willing of stillness inevitably leads to muscles contracting, causing tension as well as motion. Anyone who has tried showing off their bicep could tell you that intense muscle contractions cause trembling in surrounding muscles. We can conclude that forcing our arms into stillness leads to a greater arc of movement, the exact opposite of what we want.
Read Pistol Qigong Is A Blast »
Relax. You know how. You do it everyday. You sleep for example. And you, nevertheless, crave more of it! You desire more methods, more skills, more prowess to let go, let up, and let loose.
Relax. Stop pouring effort and emotions and energy and reasons and time and money into machines and lessons and language and schools and therapy and workshops. Stop trying, real hard, to relax.
Relax. No pressure, no need to worry. Relaxing is easy — go deeper with the following five free methods.
Read Five Little Known Ways to Relax »
§ Steven Smith’s Wisdom in a Nutshell
One posture point depends on another. You could Knee, Knee without Cat Feet, but you’d miss the subtlety of Cat Feet—the sinking. Likewise, with other posture points. So work your way down this list. Find each point’s point from the ground, up.
01 Cat Feet
Gently draw your feet up into cat paws. Lightly curl your toes; squeeze the ground, lightly gripping. The tips of your toes grasp softly. Sink your weight straight through your tibia (your big, sharp shin bone) through your foot, into the front of your heels, deep down in the ground.
02 Knee, Knee
Bend your knees until over your toes, you sink. Weight through heels, relax. Sink. The detail: sink into the front part of your heels, not the center of your foot, just behind the center.
While we’re on the subject: your knees are transfer joints, not weight bearing instruments. Wha-what?! That’s right: your knees transfer weight from your hips into your ankles into the ground, gently. Any knee pain you experience is not because the knee is the source of problems—the trouble resides in the hips and/or ankles (usually hips). Your knee may feel the pain, but movement distortions in the hips cause the distortions, dysfunctions, and the pain; it’s not the knee. The knee is a victim of anal-retentive hips—let go! Really, seriously…never get knee surgery for knee pain…it’s your hips.
For people with knee pain, this concept is a hard sell…oh, well. Do some research with your body, use your intellect’s internet research to support your body, not the other way. Go see a Soft-Tissue Expert, like a Massage Therapist before a Surgeon and get some Structural Integration or Cranial-sacral work before seeing a Common Medical Practitioner. Note that this advice is about knees, and I disclaim any responsibility for your pain. Get some Bodywork, and do real Qigong.
