I-Chuan Test of Power By Sifu Gregory Fong (via taichipdx)
excellent form and if you think those pushs and pulls towards the end of the clip wouldn’t hurt…then you got another thing coming.
You need to have Scrib account to dl, but interesting read nonetheless.
Yiquan from Warriors of China Movie. Empty Mind Films (via emptymindfilms)
A clip featuring Yiquan or Mind Fist Chinese Martial Art. This is the remote training center of Cui Rui Bin, a famous Yiquan master.This is part of the Warriors of China DVD, available at emptymindfilms.com
JB: How did the progression of change go about; via the push hands training, and San Shou training under Wang, or was it something else?
Mike: He went about it in a very nice way. Wang never knocked any style or teacher. After a few months of training with him I sat down for dinner at his house, and Wang stated that I was going about learning his stuff the wrong way. He said I was trying to use his ideas with the techniques and theory of what I had trained in the past. He said everything I had learned was good, but he also asked me to open my pocket and put it away for another day. Let me re-shape you, and when you open your pocket later you will see a whole new spectrum of colors. And he was right!
I was trying to use the technology without a decent engine. Wang wanted to build me a decent engine so I could then later go back and apply all the technology I had learned. It is like putting a Ferrari engine in a Tonka truck. If you rev that engine the Tonka truck will just blow up. On the flip side of that coin if you have a body that LOOKS like it will speed away, but have a weak engine inside, then again that is a waste.
And that was me! Basically at that point I had a Ferrari frame, but no engine. That was Wang’s point, I move beautifully but I am empty, I have nothing behind it.
JB: Can you describe some of the methodology Wang used to rebuild your engine?
Mike: Well he made me start by finding my body, getting in tune, truly in tune with my body. And he used push hands as the medium in which to get me in tune with my body. He started with my hips and the theory of Zhan Zhuang (Pile or Post Standing) via the Ba Shi (eight stances) of Babu Tanglang (Eight Step Praying Mantis) because I was familiar with this already. But you must understand Wang’s Zhan Zhuang is not about standing still, but it is about cultivating energy, this is very important. I asked him about Qigong, Neigong, all that stuff and he told me to forget about it because he does not do any of those things. Wang felt these exercises were a way for people to distract their minds and gives them fodder to argue about internal versus external, and it has nothing to do with hand to hand combat. Teacher Wang’s point was that their was none of this back in the day, you either practiced martial arts or you didn’t! All martial arts are based in combat. It would be like asking a boxer if he is doing internal or external training. It just IS boxing. There is no special breathing technique to make you better. All these skills are acquired via practicing with a partner. Different partners. Constantly interplaying with each person’s energy and technique. Knowing how to deal with force. This is how teacher Wang helped me to see myself, to see my weaknesses and strengths. Teacher Wang’s calligraphy hangs in my house and one of my favorites is “To nourish ones skill’s through combat. To complete ones training through the master’s guidance”
- So anyway, I was working on the zhan zhuang, and feeling pretty comfortable and relaxed. As I settled into it, I was aware of the clean air, of the birdsong and grasshoppers, and slowly my mind became clear and still. And then something odd happened: I began to hear chanting. It was clear, but I couldn’t quite place where it was coming from. It seemed to last for a minute, and was several voices, in some language that didn’t seem to be Chinese or Sanskrit/Pali, but more… well it seemed Mongolian, though I’m not sure why I would think that. As I started to look around, trying to place it, it abruptly cut off. I stayed there for a while longer, but didn’t hear it again.
- I’d walked around the whole area before I’d started the zhan zhuang, and there were a couple of individual farmers nearby in their fields, but no groups. It wasn’t amplified music, such as from a radio – and there are few enough of those in the village anyway.
- Now, I’m not sure that I would even credit myself as even “a minor precognitive” – generally speaking, I don’t do psychic. However, even I have had my moments. During my teen years, I found that I when I was shaking dice, if I visualized the result I wanted I would usually get it – which was a great asset in board games! I’ve had my precog moments as well, though I probably wouldn’t need two hands to count them; these are moments when I simply knew that something would happen – usually jobs, once knowing that I was going to live in a place that I hadn’t ever visited, in one case a relationship. It’s hard to describe the sensation; I knew it in the way that day is light and night is dark, in a way where you wouldn’t even consider an alternative to be conceivable – except that it was a future event. Plus of course, I’ve met people whose world is very different to my own (that’s a link to an earlier version of this blog). Enough, in short, to wonder what on earth I had just experienced.
- Later, I asked my host whether there are any ghost stories connected with the village – it’s stood there for 3000 years, after all! He told us about the village’s origin story, which involves two dragons fighting over a pearl, and an intervention by the King of Heaven. It didn’t seem to anything to do with the chanting, so I asked him whether there had ever been a temple to the north-west of the village. That surprised him. Apparently, there had indeed been a temple, to those same dragons and Heaven King. It was several hours’ walk from the village, from where its location is not visible. I’m not sure when it was built, but it was destroyed during the wars that preceded the Ming dynasty. It was rebuilt during the Qing dynasty, but destroyed again during the Cultural Revolution. More recently, several villages had collaborated to rebuild it once more. My host thought that to have heard the chanting, I must have some kind of connection with the temple, and told some other stories about it, which suggest that it is a powerful location. He’ll take me there on my next visit, he said, which I am very much looking forward to.
- Sorry if this sounds weird or unexpected to you; I’m simply telling you what happened.
(original link above has a nice video of the spot of the practice)
Eight Frequently Used Fighting Ways in Dachengquan prt 4
G. Smashing and attacking
When the opponent attacks your chest with his two palms, you can swiftly raise two hands to cut and smash his two forearms and destroy his balance. Then, suddenly attack his chest. (Figure 19—21)
H. Avoiding and punching
When the opponent punches your chest with his right fist directly, you can quickly move your body to the right side to avoid his fist, then, quickly step up and use your right fist to punch the right side of his costal region in the way of Bengquan. (Figure 22—23)
Eight Frequently Used Fighting Ways in Dachengquan - prt 3
E. Direct punching
When the opponent punches your face or your chest with his left fist, you can swiftly use your right fist to punch his throat. Note: in the way of punching his throat, you must use your right forearm against his left forearm closely and let his left fist can’t be effective. (Figure 13—15)
F. Cutting
When the opponent wants to attack you, you can step forward swiftly and at the same time raise your palm highly to cut his him, to cut his head, his face or his arm. (Figure 16—18)
Eight Frequently Used Fighting Ways in Dachengquan - prt 2
C. Pushing and punching
When the opponent hits your chest with his two palms, before his palms reaching your body, you can quickly and powerfully push his two arms to the left side or the right side. You must destroy the balance of his body by the pushing. Then, punch his chin with your hand. (Figure 7—9)
D. Blocking and cutting
When the opponent punches your face or your chest with his right fist, you can swiftly raise your left hand, use the forearm of your left arm to block and push the inside of his right forearm outside. At the same time raise your right palm to cut the right side of his neck or his collarbone. (Figure 10—12)
Eight Frequently Used Fighting Ways in Dachengquan -prt 1
Writer: Yang Haiqing
A. Intercepting and Cutting
When the opponent punches your chest with his right fist, before his fist reaching your body, you can quickly raise your left hand and use the root of your left palm to intercept the crook of his right arm. Let his fist can’t hurt you, and at the same time raise your right palm highly and then to cut his face heavily. (Figure 1—3)
B. Pulling and punching
When the opponent pushes your chest with his two palms, just before his palms reaching your body, you should quickly catch his two forearms with your hands and pull them to the outsides. (Let the left to the left side, the right to the right side to destroy the balance of his body.) Then, punch his costal region with your hand. (Figure 4—6)
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