Internal Iron Q&A

Here’s a question that was asked about this video over on youtube:

goodawood:
How long does it take for you to build up your body in order to be able to absorb and disperse the energy?

When you disperse the energy into the body does it break the blood vessels in the tissue and leave a deep bruise?

Sifu Clear:
Thank you for these excellent questions. I will answer in the order that they were asked.

Q. How long does it take for you to build up your body in order to be able to absorb and disperse the energy?

A. The answer to this is very dependent on how much shock or impact force you are asking about.
Most people are able to learn how to disperse some shock / impact within a couple of lessons and quite often in the first lesson. As for more serious shock / impact then the answer will vary quite a bit from person to person and also depends on how much shock / impact force you are referring to.

Absorbing and then dispersing the impact takes a bit longer. For the amount of impact that Scott is receiving in the video clip the average person has to work on the material for 6 months to 2 years or so. After that your ability will depend on your skill level and how much you practice and work at it. Being soft and connected is very important for the more advanced levels of this and some folks gain understanding quickly and some folks take quite a bit longer before they really understand.

Q. When you disperse the energy into the body does it break the blood vessels in the tissue and leave a deep bruise?

A. If you are referring to the idea of receiving force and then dispersing it the simple answer is that you are not dispersing the force into your body. So, as long as you disperse the energy properly there is no bruising or broken blood vessels because you are allowing and helping the force to pass through and out of you so that it is diminished and dissipated with no residual effect in your body.

If you are asking if when I strike or send the incoming force back into the attacker if it can break the blood vessels in the tissue and leave a deep bruise then the answer is yes and it can do less of this or much more damage depending on your skill level and ability.

I hope this helps. If I misunderstood your questions and you are actually asking something different than what I have written here then please restate and I will be happy to try to answer again. Also, please ask if you have any other questions.

Best Regards.
Sifu Clear

Comments

  1. Mr Clear,

    I was hoping you could expand a little on what you said in the clip about the ‘internal iron’-‘steel wrapped in cotton’ concept in tai chi as being the internal equivalent to shaolin iron palm/body. I know that shaolin proponents spend a lot of time on their iron skills/bone hardening through hitting hard objects & I was wondering what the simple answer is as to how this happens in tai chi & in what sort of timeframe?

    • Sigung Clear says

      Breathing and Nei Gung (Internal Work) such as Bone Marrow Breathing and internal body alignments. We are able to get participants to feel some results from practice after the first full day session of training. It normally takes between 100 Days and 9 months for the practitioner to feel real lasting results with the Internal method.
      Regards.
      Sifu Clear

  2. Craig Pirkle says

    Mr. Clear,

    Six years ago I visited your schools in Florida. During an introductory class I asked your instructor about something he had said. He asked me to wait for the intermediate class to come in to show me.
    Taking one of these students aside he told me to hit him hard and when I asked him where, he said, “Try the solar plexus.” Mr. Clear, I have virtually no experience in boxing, etc., but I wound up and hit this guy as hard as I could several times and while one hit made him take a step back, he was unharmed nor did he even seem concerned. I may as well as have been giving him friendly pats on the shoulder. I am 6’5″ and weigh 270 so I’m not a lightweight. If anybody hit me with any force in the solar plexus I am pretty sure I’ll be on the ground.
    Mr. Clear, what happened there, please?

    Thank you,

    Craig

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