“What’s the difference between External & Internal?”
Ask that and you’ll get some crazy answers.
The most off-the-wall one I’ve heard is that it’s about where the martial art is from. (Come on, really?!)
Some of the better answers talk about breath & energy (chi) but we all breathe, we all use energy. In fact ALL training is about learning how to use energy.
Yes, even External training.
* Lift weights and your body will send energy to your muscles. To repair them and make them stronger
* Punch a Makiwara (board) and your body will send energy to your fist. To repair it and make it stronger.
* Hit someone in the head (hard enough) and you are sending energy to the brain to cause a KO (or worse.)
The key difference between internal and external is your mind. Internal methods are about learning to consciously direct the energy with your mind instead of using a weight or a board.
So to Internally make my bones stronger I use something like our marrow washing technique. It teaches you how to use your mind to direct energy to your bone marrow. (with a little help from your breath.) Or you could use our internal push hands method to learn how your mind can direct where the force of a strike will go when you hit somebody.
Internal takes work.
We’re all made of flesh and blood so there’s almost always some external component. And External is just easier for folks to wrap their head around.
Internal forces you to use your mind and it takes work but it’s much more rewarding.
Use your mind, work hard & learn how to build an Internal Iron Body with our Tai Chi Iron Body video.
https://www.cleartaichi.com/iron-body
(It includes the Bone Marrow Washing exercise I mentioned earlier.)
I was told that Tai Chi can help me conquer sleep problems. I am having trouble sleeping, I have tried a lot of activities, in fact they worked. I was wondering (before trying Tai Chi) if this really helps. Thanks!
It depends on what you are working on. There are Tai Chi practices that can be very helpful for falling asleep and there are Tai Chi methods that will leave you refreshed, energized and awake.