The internal training required of Taijiquan and other internal martial arts is often dismissed by some as some kind of esoteric practice. However, it is interestingly to note that many elite level mainstream sports coaches now acknowledge the critical importance of the “inner world” of the athletes under their charge. None more so than top sports psychologist James Loehr, who has trained world-class athletes in many different sports, who asserts that in the final analysis even the thoughts inside an individuals head must be considered as a physical aspect to be rigorously trained if they are to achieve excellence in their chosen discipline: “This may sound quite shocking coming from a psychologist, but all the evidence is there. The body is physical; talent and skill are physical; emotions are neurochemical events and are therefore physical; and thinking and visualising are electrochemical events in the brain and are also physical… let’s get it straight once and for all: thoughts and feelings are physical stuff too; they are just as real and every bit as fundamental to achievement as talent and skill” Loehr, 1995). [FIRST PUBLISHED 15/10/2012]
Source: The Essence of Taijiquan
