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 [...]

Recent YouTube Yiquan vids

Wow Pipes is just great. A series of videos called Yiquan Training Reloaded that I have to go back and watch later. One of them:

from http://youtube.com/user/YiquanAcademy

A humorous story about Wang Xiangzhai

This story is an excerpt from a book called Yiquan: Kung Fu Revolution. Guo is Guo Yunshen, a famous xingyiquan master. Wang would have been only 13 at the time. 1898 was the year Guo died, in his mid-70’s. The story makes me think of several Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon scenes. First, assisting the convoy [...]

Biography of Wang Xiangzhai

The current Wikipedia bio:
Wang Xiangzhai 王薌齋 (1885-1963), also known as Nibao, Zhenghe, Yuseng, was a Chinese xingyiquan master, responsible for founding the martial art of Yiquan.

Biography
He was born in 1885, the 24th of November in the Hebei province. As he was a very weak child, his parents decided to send him to the famous Xingyiquan [...]

Clues to Wang Xiangzhai’s art by looking back at Guo Yunshen?

I assume there is some aspect and explanation of Wang Xiangzhai’s teachings and answers that must hark back to the nature of his lessons with the legendary Guo Yunshen and the age of Wang at the time. From a karate site, http://www.shimakarate.com/sensei_kim.shtml:
“One story says that once, when Guo got cold, and despite of this went [...]

Right brain perceives the “energy” - neuroscientist describes her own stroke

This video is quite extraordinary. An expert in neuroscience and advocate for people with mental illness, Jill Bolte Taylor, suffered her own stroke and, amazingly, had enough clarity during it to realize she was having a stroke and she should take advantage of a rare opportunity to try to study the brain from the inside [...]

Yiquan and taijiquan pt 2

I think there are several reasons why I seem to be drawn to yiquan. For one thing, I’ve been around taijiquan all my life, sometimes learning a bit of it, sometimes not. Since I grew up around my dad and others practicing it, I doubt my fascination with it is the same sort of fascination [...]

Yiquan and taijiquan

This interview is quite an amazing read. In several parts, Yao Chengguang coments on yiquan and taijiquan. In one section, Yao says:
Yiquan develops hunyuanli via zhanzhuang (standing post) practice, while Taijiquan seeks hunyuanli via the form practice.
I think that is probably true for most serious students of taijiquan who are mainly absorbed with form [...]

Tabby Cat mentions gyroscopic effect

See this great article on his recent yiquan revelation.
It’s like, you know when you’ve got a little gyroscope really, really going fast, and you cup that in your hand and it doesn’t exactly move you externally but you can feel the coolest, smoothest feeling of whirling power from within it. Now imagine every body organ, [...]

Rick Matz introduction to YiQuan

here at Cook Ding’s Kitchen.