What's the goal or the point of (my version of) 'internal' training? I'm going to explain it here, below. But first my usual disclaimers: do not think I'm living in a total fantasy world. When it comes to martial arts I've knocked around enough to know the score. I do understand ring-real and street-real, both. I'm human and so I'm subject to all the usual dumbass human stuff of ego, attention-seeking, profit-seeking - whatever. But I try to keep those at least under control. I don't claim to be any kind of master of anything, I'm just a reporter with 1st-person pov, that's all. No cult here with my stuff AT ALL.
I also totally respect all other approaches to martial arts and combatives. I have my fun now and then with some snide asides, I'm human, but fundamentally nobody respects the achievements and attributes of real combat athletes more than me. I love Mike Tyson, Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao (I've met him!), and many MMA/UFC figures too, not to mention all the amazing Olympic combat athletes in Judo and other sports there. I'm in total awe of their talents and skill as are we all. And that exteneds to Asian combat sports and 'external' kung fu and others, such as Sumo, Muay Thai, Fililpine MA - everything. They'd all kick my ass and I have NBR (Nothing But Respect) for every one of them - even internal masters who emphasize the physical more than I would, such as the Chen village Tai Chi grapplers, kickass Yiquan boxers, etc. etc. I love them all.
That said, my "program" (if it's even worthy of such a high title) is just DIFFERENT from anything above. But it still retains the faintest yet discernable link to martial arts, I don't view it as pure Qi Gong or Nei Gong or Yoga. So what is that last fragile tie to "martial arts" in my stuff? It's purely ASPIRATIONAL not yet achieved and perhaps not even achievable at all. What can I say - it's mine right or wrong.
It has two parts with reference to any threat (any combative scenario you could possibily imagine): Awareness and Response. Warning this below is going to sound like total fantasyland. I understand that and accept your judgment. But not matter how crazy SOMEBODY has to pursue it in the 1/billion chance that it's possibly achievable, even though I haven't achieved it (yet?) and I've never met anybody who has.
AWARENESS/AVOIDANCE: You don't need me to formulate the goal here, Sun Lutang has already stated it for the ages. Basically Sun laid out the highest level in this dimension as being able to sense and avoid any danger or threat in advance, without any sensory input at all. Basically being invulnerable and yes at least in my formulation that includes ballistics. A beginning glimpse of this is in the old legend (verdad o no?) that Ueshiba dodged sniper fire in Manchuria by "seeing" a line of light like a laser making a path through the air where a shot was about to come. I guess kind of like a psychic reverse laser red dot site or something. But even that (if it's even true) doesn't meet the bar for my full definition here, because it apparently operated in 2 steps: 1. percieve the shot track; 2. move out of the way. By Sun's definition it should be instantaneous oneshot type of effect. Anyway if it's true it's a great starter example towards what I'm talking about here. Even my own material can take you to the point that you can feel the physical movements of people near you without seeing or hearing them (at least in some configurations/situations) by your own internal energetic response. I guess that's a baby start on the thing, or not. I call your facility with this skill your "Automaticity Quotient" or AQ. You can look it up here or in some of my other writings where I talk about it. Internal energy does develop this to some extent. Long ways to go though.
RESPONSE/REACTION: This means what happens if for some reason awareness fails or you deliberately permit contact. Again, strictly aspirational, not yet real for anybody as far as I know. But the ideal here is that that "attack vector and agent" be it a person punching or anything more serious on up, will instantly receive back the entire and exactly proportional force and damage that he attempted to inflict, reflected back on to himself. And YES in my (aspirational) definition that applies to bullets and even bombs, mines and grenades - all of ballistics as well as fists, knives, clubs, multi attackers - everything. Feel free to call me a loon, but that's my GOAL (obviously not my reality - yet lol). The idea of it is well expressed in the ancient Chinese line: 刀槍不入 lit. "sword and spear not pierce" meaning invulnerable. But it goes beyond that in this "reflective" idea, the force and intent must instantly rebound on the attacker, along the lines of the idea of peng energy in Tai Chi, but more badass. Again, just as with the AQ above, I have the most baby-est demo level of this imaginable in the form of push hands skills (totally artificial setup).
Now if you can get up from rolling on the floor laughing, I'm emphasize again that I realize the fantasy aspect of the above. You don't need to send me clips of Asian pseudo masters getting their ass kicked by MMA teenagers. We've all enjoyed those already. But still the internal energy is real. Beyond doubt. Just not strong enough yet. But if there's even the SLIGHEST possibility that the above goals could be reached, even if it takes so much of your life span that in the end it's functionally pointless, still I must pursue it "as though" it's possible.
And why? Just purely out of interest. "Because it's (maybe) there". The journey is the reward! Art for art's sake.