Yesterday, I took my first step into the world of Nei Gong.
The premise is deceptively simple: instead of building outward mass, you cultivate internal strength. You stop trying to "force" the body to grow and start allowing it to integrate. As I listened to the principles of this ancient internal art, my mind immediately jumped to a modern management classic: Eliyahu Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints (ToC).
It might seem like a stretch to link 12th-century Daoist practices with 20th-century industrial logic, but they both point to the same fundamental truth: Real power isn't about how much "stuff" you have; it’s about how much "flow" you can sustain.
The Trap of the "Cost World"
In the Theory of Constraints, the Cost World is a place of diminishing returns. You try to optimize every little piece, cutting pennies here and there. In the physical world, this is the "bodybuilding" mindset. We think that to be stronger, we must be bigger. We add more muscle (the cost) and hope it translates into more power.
But there is a hard ceiling to the Cost World. Eventually, the weight of the muscle becomes a tax on the heart, a restriction on the joints, and a drain on your recovery. You’ve optimized the parts, but you’ve burdened the system.
Entering the "Throughput World"
Goldratt’s Throughput World is different. It says: Don't worry about the cost of the parts; worry about the speed and volume of the output. This is exactly what Nei Gong proposes. It views the body not as a collection of isolated muscles to be "inflated," but as a system of pathways.
- Throughput is the goal: In Nei Gong, this is the "Song" (intentional release) and the flow of energy.
- The Constraint is Tension: Every knot in your shoulder or tightness in your hip is a "bottleneck" that chokes your throughput.
When you focus on the internal, you aren't spending energy on building a bigger engine; you are spending energy on removing the friction in the transmission and increase the flow.
The Unlimited Ceiling
The most beautiful part of this comparison is the "Limit."
- In the Cost World (Muscles), you hit a wall. Biology says "no more."
- In the Throughput World (Internal Skill), Goldratt argued "the sky is the limit" because you can always find a new way to improve flow.
Nei Gong teaches the same. You don't get "too big" to move; you get "too clear" to be stopped. Strength becomes a byproduct of alignment rather than an act of will.
Reflecting on the practice: We spend our lives trying to add more to ourselves—more knowledge, more muscle, more "assets." Maybe the real "Internal Skill" is identifying the constraints that keep us from using the power we already have.
I’m just at the start of this Nei Gong journey. If you’ve practiced internal arts or systems thinking, I’d love to hear your perspective on where these two worlds meet 🤗
