It should be obvious that this is only possible in a limited sense. You cannot turn yourself into superman, and I do not care what the claims are to the contrary. Knives and guns will always beat the greatest master of Iron Shirt that ever lived, as will a kick in the balls or a stick in the eye. On the other hand, it is possible to increase your ability to take punishment end to decrease you sensitivity to pain and susceptibility to injury. In the west we call this ‘toughening up’. Ken Shamrock’s Lions Den boys call it ‘callusing’. The soft style eastern traditions, as usual, do this from the inside out as opposed to the outside in. You should not expect any Kung Fu movie skills, but can expect to increase your ability to take punishment. For those of you who have declined to do so thus far, it is probably critical that you go to www.hsing-i.com and view the videotape of a teenaged Mike Patterson demonstrating Iron Body. This will give you a realistic idea of the level of skill that can be attained in a few years of dedicated and correct training.
As you may surmise, this is accomplished by giving yourself punishment. Less than the hard style, but the process will involve discomfort at best. If this sounds like fun to you, let’s get to it.
Iron Board Gong
In this exercise, place a hardback chair against a wall. Set another one facing it a short distance away. Lie on the chairs with your feet on one and your upper back and shoulders on the other. That’s all there is to it - keep your body rigid and straight, but relax as much as possible. This may sound incongruous, and it is, but try anyway - straight and rigid is the most important factor, but only use the necessary muscles to do this. Try to keep the uninvolved musculature fully relaxed. Breathe normally (for us) - in through the nose, out through a small hole in your mouth, tip of the tongue against the roof of your mouth behind the teeth.
After practicing for a good long time, begin to increase the distance between the chairs. Your eventual goal is for your heels to be on one and your head only on the other. This should take at least a few months to achieve. Don’t rush it, please.
Once you can hold the fully extended position without discomfort for at least five minutes, we start adding weight. I can stack 4 45-pound plates on my lower abdomen and can hold the position for up to an hour (I need someone to put on the plates and take them off). Note that I decline to practice this gong every day as is recommended, but I have been doing it for over twenty years. Also, it is clear that this kind of intense core training in my youth has benefits for squat and deadlift today - it may be worth considering similar exercises even if you don’t care about martial arts. When you get to this level, you will have incorporated abdominal breathing as described below, and an observer should be able to see the plates move a reasonable distance as you breathe. You should start light and build up over many months. Probably a year of hard training will pass before you add weight, and you should attempt only a 10 or 25 pound plate at first.
About the time you make it to full distance between the chairs, add the breathing exercises and meditation exercises from the Iron Palm section. Still do only ten reps of the Cleansing Breath exercise and do them first. This is supposed to eliminate toxins from your lungs. The remainder of your session will be spent doing the Filling Breath breathing, which expands your lung capacity and increases the size of your rib cage gently over time.
This exercise is very taxing of your back, neck, hips, abdomen, etc. Be very careful if you decide to try it. If the first part with the chairs close together is too hard, place your hands on the chair around your ears. This will make it much easier. Otherwise, fold your hands on your lower abdomen, which adds stress and allows you to feel your tan tien move.
As time progresses, you should add Small Circulation visualizations to Iron Board. This is a basic exercise when performed lying, sitting, or standing in a static posture. There are many variations, including reverse breathing, various points of mental focus, etc. In this version, you will do the following, but if you already know this exercise, you can add the visualizations you are already familiar with.
When you inhale, imagine Qi being inhaled. Visualize it flowing to your lower abdomen. As you begin to exhale, imagine the Qi moving to the end of your spine at the coccyx. On the next inhale, it flows to the upper back, between your shoulder blades. Upon the final exhale of the cycle, it flows up your neck and the back of your head, down and out of your nose.
This cycle of Qi movement flows under the skin, perhaps an inch or two deep. Visualize it actually in your spine when it is moving up your back, and between your skull and your skin as it goes over your head. Match the pace of flow with your deep and slow rhythmic breathing. The eventual goal of such practice is to always feel this cycle occurring, without visualization or otherwise thinking about it.
This visualization / Qi flow technique can be added to any martial arts movements or postures that you currently practice, and should assist with power, root, and overall sense of well being.
Beating Gong
You can make what you need with an old pair of trousers. I like jeans, since they are reasonably durable. Cut off the legs. Sew one end closed, and stuff as many dried peas or beans in as possible. Sew the other end closed. Fill the other one with sand. You are going to hit yourself with these, which is a modification of the traditional gong. In the standard method, someone else hits you. If you have a training partner or someone who doesn’t like you, please ask them for help.
The basic deal is big, jarring shots instead of sharp ones. That’s why a large diameter beating bag is required - if it were slimmer, you would be doing hard style conditioning. We are looking to accomplish two goals - basic conditioning and Qi movement to the area being stressed.
Develop a routine of hitting, starting with the beanbag and moving to the sand bag after a long period of training. With a partner, he or she would start in the center of your body, delivering a few wallops as you brought your intent to the point of impact. It is critical that you have developed the ability to continually feel the small circulation at all times without concentration before you begin this training. That way, your intention will not be split. The Qi must circulate by itself, and you must bring it to the point of impact with your intention.
As this is a soft gong, take it very easy and build up the intensity of impact and duration of the training over a long period. When you cannot maintain focus it is time to stop training for the day. The increased concentration requirements here are the reason you performed (and continue to perform) the meditation exercises described above. Here, practicing concentration and focus of intent while being struck increases these abilities and assists in your ability to concentrate in combat or other chaotic situations.
Anyway, it is traditional to start on the front of your body, in the center, and move in a clockwise circular manner until the entire body has been addressed. Have a care - it is traditionally believed that Qi can be brought to the testes to protect them, but you will not want to test this tradition for a while. Eyes, too. For more advanced genital self-massage components, please consult the excellent works of Mantak Chia or Yang Jwing-Ming.
The desired result of this component is to be able to bring Qi to a specific area at the speed of thought, which is believed to protect against most injuries. When coupled with proper structural alignment, trainees can expect to be able to take a sledgehammer in the gut like Mike Patterson.
Standing Meditation and Breathing Exercises
These are from Xingyiquan, as there is no such thing as standing still in Baguazhang. It is not possible, in my opinion, to learn the eight mother palms of Bagua without direct instruction, so we will use other exercises to achieve the goals of Iron Body.
Basically, it does not matter what posture you assume as long as it is structurally sound. There are many valid ones, and we will pick Embracing the Tree, which appears in every Xingyi tradition of which I am aware (perhaps under other names).
Stand with your feet somewhat wider than shoulder width apart. Bend your knees slightly, with your toes pointed forward. Center your weight in the middle of your feet, align your hips and shoulders over this central point. Maintain a natural curvature in your spine, but attempt to elongate it by standing up as tall as possible. Use the slight forward tilt of your head and imagine that it is suspended by a string from the crown. Relax completely while still holding correct posture.
Stand like this for a moment or two, breathing deeply and slowly. Take a mental inventory of your posture and relax any discernable tension. You can use a modification of the relaxation self-hypnosis meditation here to help dissolve tension in the posture. Once you are completely relaxed, you will raise your arms at which point you will repeat all of the above relaxation steps as necessary.
Arms are raised to shoulder level and rounded as if you are, in fact, embracing a tree. Fingertips touch lightly, with the hands relaxed but fingers held together. Think round in every aspect - your scapulae and shoulders, your arms, elbows, wrists, and hands. Elbows should droop slightly. Do what it takes to completely relax, as above.
Now the exercises start. Hold the posture and remain relaxed. As always, stop when your concentration is broken. Try to do this someplace where distractions are minimal, therefore.
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