I am going to tell you the straight goods about this thing called Chi. It is easy to understand, but you are going to have to give up any thoughts of mysticism. No matter if you study wudan or Shaolin, you are going to have to accept a more logical way of thinking.

First off, this thing called chi is a catch basket. It is a real thing, chi exists and can be used, but everybody confuses it by calling whatever they don’t understand chi. If somebody puts out a candle with a fist at ten feet, it is the chi, but if somebody makes all the green lights, it is also the chi, so the subject of chi has been thrown around and totally confused.

To make chi one must discipline their body so it acts as a coordinated unit, I call this Coordinated Body Motion. In olden days instructors would tell their students to use the body as one unit, but that doesn’t describe what one is actually doing. One must break the body down, piece by piece, and understand all those pieces, if he is going to use it as a whole unit.

All motion of the body must start at the same instant. The fist and the foot move forward together at the same moment. There is no backward push to give forward movement, the movement is only forward, and it must be done at the same moment.

All motion must stop at the same time. The fist and the foot stop at the same time. There is no staggering or swaying, the weight simply plants down at the point of impact.

The parts of the body must move according to their relative size and weight. The hips, weighing more than the foot, must still achieve a smooth arc of motion that begins and ends at the same time as the foot. The fist having a longer arc than an elbow, or a shoulder, must still begin and end at the same time as the elbow or shoulder.

When the body starts and stops at the same time, and all the body parts are properly calibrated for the length of distance they must move and the amount of weight that must be moved, then you will achieve CBM. Coordinated Body Motion is the secret of this thing called Chi. CBM will release Chi.

When you move with Coordinated Body Motion your attention will be off the body and on the target, and then intention will flow. Intention is Chi. Intention will fill up the body with energy, and give you those amazing abilities that true martial arts possess. Of course, this is just the first step, an easy step, and to make your way to the end of the Martial Arts, and to find the True Martial Art, no matter whether you study Aikido or Karate or whatever, you must find the remaining steps of the Martial Arts.

Al Case has practiced martial arts for 40 years. A writer for the magazines, he wrote the column ‘Case Histories’ in Inside Karate. He is the developer of Matrix Martial Arts, which you can find out about by getting his free ebook at Monster Martial Arts.

Tags: Self Defence