Scuola YangSheng – Medicina Cinese Tuina – Roma
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THE CONCEPT OF MERIDIAN IN CHINESE MEDICINE
Meridians, an almost familiar word by now, but what exactly do we mean when we talk about meridians?
Let’s imagine Qi, the vital energy as a great river that flows continuously nourishing every area of our body; because the meridians or energy channels are the bed and tributaries of this extraordinary river.
We cannot superimpose these paths to anatomical entities, in the Western sense, and yet they connect the internal organs and the different anatomical structures (vessels, skin, muscles, bones, nerves, tendons), thus fulfilling a function of diffusion of vital energy, in every part of the body.
Some features “emerge” from the inside to the surface of the body, in particular points that we treat with different methods or different instruments: fingers, needles, hammer, moxibustion…
The Chinese term Jing-Luo means “network path” and helps us understand the system of energetic intersections that surrounds our body and especially the connections with the most internal structures, explaining why, when treating the external ones, we obtain effects that are they spread deeply to the level of the physiological functions of organs and viscera.
Fajin – Taijiquan & cultura orientale
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THE YIN/YANG BODY
The Yin/Yang principle is used in China to understand all aspects of reality. It is also applicable to the human body and all types of movements it is capable of producing.
Why should we be interested in this phenomenon?
Simply put: it is essential to understanding the intimate nature of martial movement.
In Taijiquan it is often repeated that the objective of the practice is not the learning of forms and techniques, but the construction of the “Taiji body”, and the term Taiji means nothing other than Yin/Yang, the relationship and balance. of opposites.
Therefore, we must learn to understand and find harmony in the opposite and the complementary, identifying it in the different parts of the body and in the different phases of movement.
We know that the body moves in space, thanks to the alternation and coexistence of contraction and relaxation, tension and relaxation of the muscles. If we then want to underline the dynamic and cyclical aspects of essential movements such as walking or running, we realize that the “Taiji” principle is realized as “impulse (Yang) and oscillation (Yin)”. When we walk, one foot and the respective limb press the ground, while the other moves forward, swinging flexibly; Immediately after, the roles are reversed.
Therefore, one foot “fills” with weight, while the other “empties”; the muscles of
one leg contract, while those of the other relax.
Along with the leg that advances weightlessly, the arms also swing, the right arm advances waving together with the left leg and vice versa. No one can deny that in this process there is a perfect Yin/Yang alternation and to understand how important this harmony is, just try to walk swinging your arms ipsilaterally, that is, advancing your right arm together with your right leg and then your left arm together. with the left leg. You will feel clumsy and uncomfortable, a kind of “human robot.”
Within the “Taiji” harmonization principle, many other fundamental martial arts concepts are implicitly contained: how to harmonize hard and soft, slow and fast in movement (characteristics that are generally alternating); or how to balance full and empty, open and closed. These characteristics are dynamic and continually alternating, but they must be constantly co-present. Understanding Yin and Yang within the body structure is not easy. To give a practical example, we can use the “repellent” attitude of Taijiquan.
From the perspective of expanding/contracting or opening/closing we see that the front arm, which intercepts, is Yang while the back arm is Yin; consequently, the intercostals on the anterior side are also “open”, while on the other side they are “closed”; In relation to full/empty, the front foot is Yang (where there is more weight) and the back foot is Yin. This relationship, however, is inverted if we think about the “connection and rise of force” that starts from the back foot (when active it is Yang); this, after passing through the hips and the front leg, “passively falls and bounces” on the front leg and the foot, which therefore – limited to this relationship – are Yin. The force (Yin), passing through the back and shoulders, then reaches the blocking arm (expressing itself in Yang form).
Complicated? Maybe. But growing in practice means managing many things in subtle ways and one of the most important is “how to balance and harmonize opposites in the body and movement.”