From External Martial Arts to Internal Martial Art

Most people, when they begin a study of the martial arts, get involved in what is called an external martial art. This includes such arts as Taekwondo, Karate, some kinds of Kung Fu, and so on.

External means that the art depends on the fact of muscular exertion. An internal Martial Art would be something like Tai Chi Chuan, or Pa Kua, or Aikido. These arts don't depend upon muscular exertion, but rather the flow of energy through and between bodies.

But every art can become internal. It depends upon the teaching method, and it depends upon whether the concepts and techniques of the art are properly aligned.

One can look to Matrixing to align an art, but, matrixing or not, an art can become internal merely through years of practice.

Simply, the student gets tired of doing things wrong, and starts doing them right.

Weird concept, eh?

But that is the truth of the matter.

You see, it takes energy to do something wrong. And all those hours on the mat, doing forms in the training hall, and a student will start looking for an easier and simpler way of doing things. And, even in the worst of arts, the art will begin to progress, and the student will begin to transform.

The real trick is to do this sooner in your practice, rather than later. Why spend a life time exerting muscle, sweating blood, and finally, when you have a few years of martial life left in your legs, figure it out?

So you have to align the body, make it efficient. You have to examine the techniques and look for short cuts, look for simple ways to get complex tasks done.

You have to learn how to apply your intelligence.

This is sometimes a hard thing, as we are, most of humanity, a herd creature. We depend on what the other guy says works before we are brave enough to venture forth and try something new.

But the martial arts are a cure to this herd mentality, if we have the will to progress. And the cure, as stated earlier, is through the application of intelligence to the martial arts.

External means that the art depends on the fact of muscular exertion. An internal Martial Art would be something like Tai Chi Chuan, or Pa Kua, or Aikido. These arts don't depend upon muscular exertion, but rather the flow of energy through and between bodies.