Xingyiquan and yiquan questions

After trying xingyiquan basics with a spear (actually a broom), I can finally see that the five elements make so much sense as spear techniques. No wonder that in its heyday, xingyiquan must have been the best art for soldiers. The learning efficiency from spear down to other weapons and finally down to empty hands [...]

An Wu Shu

There is a series of videos recently posted on YouTube called “An Wu Shu”. Here is one below on xingyiquan:

They all seem excellent and worth checking out multiple times. The teacher is apparently a sanda and forms champion in various internal arts.

Luo De Xiu Five Elements

Directions of movement

Taijiquan classics mention the five directions, but it seems to me in common practice in so-called internal arts, people tend toward these kinds of directions:
1. taijiquan - backward then forward, yield then issue
2. bagua - forward on a diagonal in a circular way
3. xingyi - forward as linearly as possible - the smallest possible advantageous [...]

Interesting comments on qi, yi, training

Some interesting discussion happening on Formosa Neijia in the past day. I posted comment #8 but I’ll jot some thoughts down here. I don’t think cultivating qi is incompatible with only using yi when training forms or sparring, etc. They are separate parts of training. When fighting or doing sports there is no time to [...]

Mike Patterson interviews Henry Look

Here is an excerpt from a 1994 Hsing-I Journal interview with Henry Look, a student of Han Xingyuan and Yu Pung Shi, who were students of Wang Xiangzhai, and Kuo Lien Ying, a grandstudent of Yang Ban Hou and Guo Yun Shen (teacher of Wang Xiangzhai) and a student of Cheng Ting Hua. Whoa.

Pi quan

Well all I know about pi quan I learned from a video clip on hsing-i.com and some miscellaneous comments around the net. It seems familiar from taijiquan but yet it’s interesting how it’s broken out as a single and main move. Mike Patterson’s demo of standard applications is very interesting. Right now I’m contemplating how [...]