"Hang the Flesh off the Bones": Cultivating an "Ideal Body" in Taijiquan and Neigong.

Xiujie Ma,George Jennings

doi:10.3390/ijerph18094417

Abstract

In a globalized, media-driven society, people are being exposed to different cultural and philosophical ideas. In Europe, the School of Internal Arts (pseudonym) follows key principles of the ancient Chinese text The Yijinjing (The Muscle-Tendon Change Classic) “Skeleton up, flesh down”, in its online and offline pedagogy. This article draws on an ongoing ethnographic, netnographic and cross-cultural investigation of the transmission of knowledge in this atypical association that combines Taijiquan with a range of practices such as Qigong, body loosening exercises and meditation. Exploring the ideal body cultivated by the students, we describe and illustrate key (and often overlooked) body areas—namely the spine, scapula, Kua and feet, which are continually worked on in the School of Internal Arts’ exercise-based pedagogy. We argue that Neigong and Taijiquan, rather than being forms of physical education, are vehicles for adult physical re-education. This re-education offers space in which mind-body tension built over the life course are systematically released through specific forms of attentive, meditative exercise to lay the foundations for a strong, powerful body for martial artistry and health.

Highlights

In a globalized, media-driven society, people are being exposed to different cultural and philosophical ideas
Taijiquan and (b) how another group learns about the anatomy of weaponry through historical European martial arts (HEMA)
We offer some conclusions and future directions for research on the re-education of the body through practices and pedagogies informed by Eastern philosophy

Summary

Introduction

Media-driven society, people are being exposed to different cultural and philosophical ideas. 1. Bodies of Contrast in Taijiquan “Hang the flesh off the bones” is a striking mantra that Author 2 (George) first encountered in October 2016, when he checked a potential fieldwork site for ethnographic information on the martial, meditative and healing art of Taijiquan (Tai Chi Chuan). Bodies of Contrast in Taijiquan “Hang the flesh off the bones” is a striking mantra that Author 2 (George) first encountered in October 2016, when he checked a potential fieldwork site for ethnographic information on the martial, meditative and healing art of Taijiquan (Tai Chi Chuan) This began to form the basis of an interdisciplinary, social scientific and empirical, qualitative project examining (a) how adult British students (re)learn about their anatomy through. Over the last two years, Author 2 has immersed himself in the weekly classes and social events of the two case study schools, and this particular article deals with the case of Taijiquan in an effort to uncover some of the fundamental transformative exercises used to develop the idealized body in this art

Objectives

Discussion

Conclusion