I Chin Ching

I chin ching is the basis for the shaolin art. It is an extraordinary exercise program. Over the years I have met 2 people who have been able to do all 49 postures for 49 breaths. Their abilities were amazing. Outside of the Boulder school there is a large green electrical box. One of the 2 individuals was able to take only 1 step and jump on top of it. I watched the other person lift a man nearly twice his size bend over backwards and drop him. Then he stood back up like it was no big deal. I chin ching is also a foundation for the internal arts. It has the chi be evident after a short period of practicing. The masters recommend doing 7 postures a day for 7 breaths. I have found it to be beneficial to do sets of 7 postures for 7 breaths and the start over and do them again. So do 1-7 i chin ching for 7 breaths then do it again. If you do that 7 times you've done the 7 postures for 49 breaths and it's not as hard to get through them. Another thing that I think is important when it comes to the i chin ching is to practice some of the easier postures wherever you can. Use them in your everyday life. A simple example being tying your shoes. When tying your shoes don't sit down to do it, stand up and bend forward like you're putting your palms to the floor(so you get the stretch). When putting your shoes on stand on one foot to do it and practice balancing or even go up on the ball of the foot your standing on. Be creative and find ways to use the postures in everyday activities or in sparring in class. For sparring when someone punches instead of doing a hard block try to bend backwards to get out of range.(Be careful not to hurt yourself)

  Find an i chin ching buddy. Someone to hold you to account for doing the postures daily. One important thing is to have someone you regularly work out with but make sure everyone is getting their I chin ching. Grab someone and say, "hey will you go through these 7 postures with me?" The thing with having a buddy is to get your focus off of yourself and onto helping someone else. You'll find yourself coming up with brilliant things for training that you wouldn't have thought of otherwise. What you want to create is having the other person win and that person having you win. This will lead to a deep understanding of the postures and results. I personally like this method of doing things for everything. Do it at work with something your struggling with. Do it  in your marriage.

Schedule it into your daily routine. We are all busy and we don't usually take the time to do I chin ching everyday but what would be possible if we did. Take 15 minutes a day and do the I chin ching. The most important time to do them is when you have that little motivational dialog in your head say I don't feel like doing these today. If we can start to deal with these postures from a stand point of performance then it really makes no difference if we feel like it or not. We will also get the benefits of doing the postures and knowing ourselves as unstoppable if we do them even when we don't want to. If you haven't done them and your laying in bed at night get up and do a few before bed. Just make sure you remember to release the energy before laying back down.

Get a coach. Coaches are people who have said that you will succeed at what you're committed to. They are someone to call when you don't feel like doing the postures. They are someone who you can make promises to and will do whatever is needed to have you succeed. Your coaches job is to have you win. Your job is to have your coach win. Your coach should be someone who can at least do a better job at the I chin ching than you are able to do. Your job is also to do what the coach says. Have your coach always be right and that will empower him/her to continue helping you on your advancement. For coaches it's an honor to be chosen to coach and have it be an honor for you to be coached.

Be a coach. Find someone who wants to be able to do the I chin ching and offer to have them succeed at that. You can't give something you don't have however so make sure your practicing. You'll find if you miss a day so will the person you're coaching.

Create a promise to someone when you will have the I chin ching mastered. Then play full out to fulfill on that promise. I personally am promising to have the I chin ching mastered by the time I am a 5th black associate master. I test in the year 2014.  Have your promise be a public conversation. This will give it energy and people will keep asking you how it's going. Some people will tell you that you won't succeed. Let them say that. Resistance creates persistance. The best way to have something happen is to have people fighting for both sides. Let's get people talking about I chin ching.