Frequently Asked Questions
What is inner power in Kung Fu?
Inner power refers to the cultivated strength, resilience, and personal will developed through disciplined Kung Fu training. It helps a practitioner resist external pressures and adversity.
Is inner power the same as chi?
No. Inner power is not the same as chi. While chi (or qi) is an important element, inner power also includes mental discipline, emotional control, and refined intent developed through training.
How is inner power developed through Kung Fu?
Inner power is forged through consistent physical and internal training. The process transforms a person’s reactive habits into stable qualities of focus, courage, and resolve.
Transcript of Inner Power: Kung Fu’s Legacy
Introduction
Hello. This is Master Mike Steenrod at Water Mountain.
The Heart of the Kung Fu Story
The kung fu story is essentially a story of resistance.
If you think about Kung fu movies, you have somebody resisting incredible odds:
Sometimes overcoming injustice, corrupt officials, corrupt police.
Sometimes overcoming dark forces—bandits, drug dealers, human traffickers—whatever it happens to be.
You have an individual pressed up against tremendous odds and working to overcome them.
Success and Failure in Resistance
Depending on where you watch a movie, sometimes that work is successful, and sometimes that work is unsuccessful.
But we have to ask ourselves:
Where does that core resistance that makes up kung fu come from?
What Is Inner Power?
Well, that comes from something that we call “inner power.”
Is inner power the same thing as chi?
No, it’s not.
I’ve written thousands of pages—without exaggeration—on chi, and taught elements of qi gong for decades.
Inner power is not chi.
However, chi is one component of inner power.
Inner Power Through Training
Inner power comes about from the internal refinement of the individual through the training process.
We take something that is mushy and subject to external influence very easily—
Most people, when pressured, fold under that pressure.
If the odds get too adverse, they fold.
Now, everybody has a limit, and that’s realistic.
But the reality is that kung fu hones the power to resist those things.
It takes the mushy self and turns it into a well-cut, well-formed diamond, capable of resisting adverse influences.
Why Arduous Training Matters
Typically in the movies, the person undergoes arduous training.
And that training, of course, is to hone the body,
but more importantly, it’s to build that internal existence—
to give them the ability to stand up to adverse things.
Standing Up to Adversity
When faced with adversity, a person either lies down and takes it,
or stands up and resists it.
And you can be buffeted quite hard by those external influences.
You can even forget the direction that you’re headed.
That adversity can come from a fiendish warlord, or it can come from elements of light.
But your inner power helps you to overcome those particular things.
Final Thoughts
Well worth your time and effort to achieve.
And remember to spend a few moments thinking about:
who you are as an individual,
what you can do in the future,
and that your future is well within your ability to achieve.
Thank you very much.
