Nei Jin

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Nèi Jìn or Nèi Jìng (Chinese: 內勁) is the Chinese term for the "internal power" associated with Chinese martial arts. Theoretically the opposite of brute muscular force, nèi jìn should be characterized by softness, elasticity, and flexibility. When nèi jìn is successfully exerted, body and breathing supposedly work together as a single unit, with no wasted effort anywhere in the musculature.

Proponents of nèi jìn claim that as one ages the power of muscles expanding and contracting in tension gradually decreases but coordinated nèi jìn and its resulting leverage will increase with time if it is cultivated assiduously. This power is allegedly unique to the internal martial arts of China and rarely found in other martial arts, if at all, although different schools define the term differently.

Nèi jìn is developed using "nèigōng" (內功), or "internal exercises," as opposed to "wài gōng" (外功), "external exercises." A famous application of nèi jìn is the "fā jìn" (發勁) used by practitioners of the internal martial arts to generate explosive force, one application of which is to throw opponents great distances away from them. A key aspect of Fājìn is the recruitment of the tendons to release force rather than relying on muscular tension.

Jìn or jìng (勁), or "power," is often confused by Westerners with the related concept of jīng (精), which literally means "semen," and by extension used metaphorically to mean "essence" within the context of Taoist literature and traditional Chinese medicine.

Nei Jin can also be described as the channeling of energetic forces developed through arts such as Chi Gung and internal martial styles. At advanced levels internal martial arts such as Xingyiquan, Baguazhang and Tai Chi Chuan no longer rely on physical momentum but the channeling of these vibrational energetic forces during application to achieve power.