Internal vs External Power Explained Simply

Tai Chi is an Internal Martial Art but many students do not understand what internal power is so they are not able to do the movements internally. This short video is loaded with tips and imageries for you to explore the concepts of what is internal vs external power. If you have ever played air hockey and had the air run out, you will understand the difference between internal vs external.
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#taichi #internalenergy #internalmartialarts

[@jasonsecretsword7606]

The Taiji body is strong and healthy. That is much more attractive than thin and frail. Very good explanation and example here.

[@AipingTaiChi]

I agree! Strong and healthy is 🔥 Thank you 🙏❤️

[@trandyan]

Just took a slightly deeper dive into your content. Thank you! You are one of the much more generous yet clear and practical teachers on YT for sure. Will keep learning. So informative.

[@AipingTaiChi]

Thank you so much 🙏❤️ I really enjoyed sharing my practice. I only wish I had more time to make more videos.

[@romedbucher2854]

Great explanation of the internal principles. I like the air hockey allegory, it's a very helpful visualisation. I've been imagining gliding through the form without resistance, but in a more abstract way, you delivered a nice visualisation, thanks

[@AipingTaiChi]

Thank you 🙏❤️

[@lsporter88]

That's the best explanation I've heard yet. Thank you. Great video.

[@AipingTaiChi]

🙏❤️😊

[@georgekim2058]

I thought very long and hard about this in terms of sports and this is what I came up with, it's a bit long but I'd love to hear other people's impressions on my analysis, to me the main difference is that external movements are more segmented and the goal is velocity built up over the entire movement, whereas in internal movement aim is to generate power from the ground that is transferred instantly via bones and tendons and not over some huge segmented movement: Swinging a baseball bat and swinging a golf club are both complex motor skills that involve the entire kinetic chain, but they differ in specific mechanics and the way they emphasize the principles of internal versus external movements. These differences influence how each swing is performed, the type of training required, and the outcomes in terms of power and precision. ### **Kinetic Chain Activation** 1. **Baseball Bat Swing**: - **Starts with the legs**, which generate the initial force from a more dynamic stance, often including a step or a shift of weight to increase momentum. - **Hip rotation** is aggressive and quick, contributing significantly to the bat's speed as the upper body begins to engage. - **Shoulder and torso rotation** follow, with a pronounced, fast turning to whip the bat through the strike zone. - **Arms and wrists** are the last to come through, focusing on timing to meet the ball with maximum bat speed. The wrists snap to add extra speed at the moment of contact. 2. **Golf Club Swing**: - **Begins also with the legs**, but the movement is more about stability and creating a solid base than generating forward momentum. - **Hip rotation** is controlled and less about speed, more about maintaining alignment and balance as the swing progresses. - **Torso and shoulders** rotate smoothly, focusing on maintaining a fluid, uninterrupted motion that keeps the club on a consistent path. - **Arms and wrists** maintain a more constant relationship with the rest of the body throughout the swing, aiming for precision and control, with less emphasis on a snap and more on a smooth follow-through. ### **Internal vs. External Movements** - **Baseball Bat Swing**: - **Externally focused**: The movements are larger, more dynamic, and intended to generate maximal external power quickly. The emphasis is on speed and the explosive delivery of force, typical of external martial arts where the visible output (the speed and power of the bat) is critical. - **Training** focuses on building strength, speed, and explosive power, with drills often emphasizing muscle activation and reaction time. - **Golf Club Swing**: - **More internally focused**: While still involving significant external movement, the golf swing requires a high level of internal coordination and control, where subtle shifts in body position and alignment have a large impact on the outcome. This aligns more closely with internal martial arts, where the focus is on precise control of energy and maintaining balance and flow throughout the movement. - **Training** often includes elements of muscle memory development, balance training, and fine-tuning of motor skills to achieve consistency and accuracy. ### **Conclusion** While both swinging a baseball bat and a golf club involve activating the kinetic chain from the ground up, the baseball swing is characterized by faster, more explosive movements aimed at generating maximum speed and power. In contrast, the golf swing focuses more on precision, alignment, and the controlled flow of movement, making it subtly more aligned with internal movement principles, though it still prominently features external dynamics. This reflects in their respective sports' strategies-where baseball values speed and power, golf prizes accuracy and technique.

[@Downhaven]

Fantastic teaching as always, thank you.

[@AipingTaiChi]

🙏❤

[@Sofialee300]

This concept of a ball around your ming men and tan dian is very interesting, needs obviously a lot of practice to feel the ball and the chi. Very interesting analogy and teaching thank you.

[@AipingTaiChi]

I'm so glad, thank you 🙏❤️

[@Sofialee300]

I really enjoy seeing you teach taichi. You give students a very good idea of what is involved both externally and internally. Congrats!

[@ZOMBiEmovieHD]

Amazing, what an eloquent articulation of expressive movement gj

[@AipingTaiChi]

🙏❤️😊

[@onedirection3510]

Excellent explanation! I’m glad you “expanded” (😅) on that topic. I have to admit, I laughed out loud when the beach ball appeared on the screen lol. The air hockey analogy was very interesting, and most unexpected. I agree about not obsessing over six pack abs, but I also think some people take their “chi belly” excuse a little too liberally lol. Do you have any internal vs external striking examples, or explanations?

[@AipingTaiChi]

Thank you ❤🙏Chi / Beer Belly, LOL! Let me direct you to someone who has made a lot of really great videos on the striking side of internal v external. My friend Guan Nan (Chris) Wang is in South Africa and I love his content. He utilizes playlists really well and has 2 devoted to understanding internal martial arts. All his content is great. But I should mention that he doesn't hold back his dislike for Chen Tai Chi coming out of current Chen Village and that might offend some people. His channel: www.youtube.com/@TriEssenceMartialArts

[@damianneve]

Awesome video. Pretty sure this is also the best asmr channel on the web! 😂❤

[@AipingTaiChi]

Thank you so much 🙏❤😊 It really means a lot to me that you think I'm explaining it right. Part of my mission is to get more people to be able to understand and exhibit the basic concepts so more people can take the path further down to be able to learn what you and other teachers who can teach the fighting side of things. I think having to choose between Tai Chi for Health/Exercise and Tai Chi for Martial Arts is a false choice created by people who want to take Tai Chi away from the martial arts world. I believe the practice should always be able to build on top of itself so you can practice it for the health side but everything you learn should also provide you the foundation to do it for the martial side. So I'm using my platform to incept martial arts back into Tai Chi for the wider public :) I've had people request ASMR and when I was Twitch streaming people mentioned they were tuning in not to follow movements but just to listen for the ASMR, lol. I have been thinking of recording some meditations. Maybe in near future.

[@damianneve]

@@AipingTaiChi I'm honored my opinion means anything and appreciate your work greatly 🙏. I've actually mentioned you in a few of my live streams and said nearly exactly word for word what you just described about yourself. (Just added if I had two weeks with you and got you angry and hitting stuff you wound be pretty damn scary) Even added you to the recommended channels on my page which I just fixed up. I know you are a really good hearted person but I see some serious spunk hiding behind the sweet voice! I wouldn't mess with you 😄 you're definitely a fighter in your own right especially to be here this long and keep your composure. I can only imagine the bs especially as a female instructor and with all the tai cheaters. And twitch can be so toxic! (I was a pro gamer and was there a few years) Ppl can't learn the health side if you abandon the fundamental body mechanics that made it a martial art. Even if just historical reference the alignments must be maintained. And it's just disrespectful to the culture what these fake online certification people have done. It's "Adult daycare" and not training. It weakens an already decaying society. To be honest if I could take the softer road I would, in my personal life I am just a hermit monk. I'm afraid right now we have way too many gardeners in a war and no warriors in gardens. So I'm just trying to play my karmic duty as needed. You really do have the "it" factor and will help the taiji movement way more than I think you even understand yet. You definitely should do the mediations and maybe even just audio lectures or maybe podcast? I don't know enough about the space but you naturally have the hypnotic voice roll technique, your understanding of body mechanics is near perfect, and I'm pretty sure most of the guys are crushing on you so you kinda got to save the would and stuff 😆 if you ever need a bodyguard I'm available 😉

[@AipingTaiChi]

@@damianneve I am so humbled, thank you so much 🙏❤️ My journey into martial arts began with hard arts at a mixed martial arts school. We did a lot of kempo and kajukembo and other styles. When I was a yellow belt, I was invited into the instructor training class that was open to black belts and invite-only for lower belts. I think I was the only yellow belt they ever invited into the instructor training class. I loved it but it was also very obvious I would never be able to apply any of the applications I was learning in a real situation because they weren't made for small framed women to pull off against bigger men. I started feeling like women could only cosplay martial arts, but not really utilize it. It wasn't until I moved to CT and found Master Aiping that I understood how martial arts can be honed for women. I will never have even a fraction of her physical skill but the Tai Chi martial arts principles have enabled me to win many life battles. How my body moves directly shapes my mind and perception. I have goals and ambitions that take me to places many people feel I have no right to go so I am always in battles and I'm able to maneuver and advance because I apply the Tai Chi principles I know. I am happy to engage with anyone and my blood pressure stays low even when the interaction gets ugly. I want more people to learn how to do that. I think the world would be a saner place if more people could do that

[@damianneve]

@@AipingTaiChi ❤ 🙏 ❤ 😭 that's so damn sweet I can't even 😭 😫 😆 you're the best. If ever a loud mouth Brooklyn boy can help, we are just around the corner

[@lsporter88]

@AipingTaiChi 🥰😎👍🏾.

[@garygillis105]

I will share your video with my Yang style class mates. Thank You❤

[@AipingTaiChi]

Thank you so much 🙏❤️

[@dantehill390]

I’d love to see a video talking about this same concept but with the chest and neck

[@AipingTaiChi]

Great suggestion! I will try to incorporate that in a future video

[@ytb460]

I learned the Huang form first as just external postures and then caused by internal movement. Completely different. The internal concepts create the movements. The great internal ppl I met were solid and their midpart was huge. The middle lower back is the most important imo. It must be alive and move, like the middle or centre of the DaVinci man. Also as connected to the kidneys, you see why it is important.

[@AipingTaiChi]

🔥❤️

[@patrickduff805]

Hi , many thanks for the explanation for the balloon . Could you please let me know if I must always keep my lower body ( lower dantien and the ming meng) full as a balloon when I do the movements even when I exale it must remain a balloon. Please I am a bit confused. Sunny regards Patrick from Mauritius

[@AipingTaiChi]

Hi Patrick. Thanks for your question. The lower back should always be relaxed and ming men should be expanded out into the back. But not with force. The lower back is the hardest part of the body to release tension. The more you can relax the lower back, the more you can let the ming men "open"

[@patrickduff805]

@@AipingTaiChi Many thanks for your explanation. I'll try to relax my lower back as from now. Sunny regards Patrick From Mauritius

[@colemanstarr5404]

Really good

[@AipingTaiChi]

Thank you 🙏❤️

[@johntak9]

Very good

[@AipingTaiChi]

🙏❤

[@misterlau5246]

That's CHI. Correct way to breathe, chi kung

[@JussiTuukkanen]

interesting

[@JussiTuukkanen]

and inspiring

[@AipingTaiChi]

Thank you 🙏❤️

[@J3llyBean423]

AVP /...I bet ...but yeah it's a / .../... yeah I do / but everything straight?/...

[@J3llyBean423]

AVP right/ no communication/ and then ... talking with no communication/.

[@KelvindeWolfe]

That’s a nice explanation but nothing to do with internal.

[@AipingTaiChi]

I would love to hear your explanation of internal. It is so interesting to be those of us who study internal martial arts have different concepts of what internal is. I would love to hear yours.

[@KelvindeWolfe]

@@AipingTaiChi Sure Internal is when you create an electromagnetic version of yourself, separate from your inside your physical body. This is done buy moving without moving (moving in stillness) which activates all the nerves up to , just before the calcium gates discharge into muscles contraction. The next stage is to counter move these movements without moving to build a capacitance charge. When you’re able to do this you realize that if you physically move the charge will disappear so you have to learn to move very slowly keeping the charge. As you get better you start to move faster.

[@AipingTaiChi]

I like that explanation