Articles | YMAA

Brain Damage: Do Football Helmets Help?
September 5, 2016
Recently, the National Football League is facing a 765-million-dollar lawsuit filed on behalf of more than 4,500 former players regarding the concussions and potential chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) sustained during their careers. Similar lawsuits are underway against the National Collegiate Athletic Association as well as the National Hockey League, and football helmet maker Riddell is facing multiple lawsuits over claims about the effectiveness of their helmets at protecting athletes from concussions.
Foam or Knuckles—Navigating the Illusion of Safety
January 18, 2016
If you really want to understand how gloves contribute to the safety of our athletes, especially when it comes to their brains, take a closer look at the physics behind taking a punch with a bare fist or a glove.
Guns, Knives, and the Hollywood Death Sentence
September 21, 2015
In order to become a successful screenwriter in Hollywood, you need to watch a lot of movies, so you can learn from the screenwriters who came before you, and so you can get a feel for what else is out there and popular today.  Unfortunately, this important part of a screenwriter's education is also how Hollywood ends up propagating and recycling incredibly stupid ideas over and over again to the point where the audience just accepts it without question.
Marshal Yue, Fei's Ten Important Theses—Part 6, Final
March 9, 2015
Grab the right, enter the left. Grab the left, enter the right. When stepping forward, the heels touch the ground first. The tip of the foot uses the toes to grab the ground. The stepping must be steady and the body must be solemn. The strike must be firm, solid, and have Li from the bones. While going (i.e., attacking), the hands are relaxed and when they reach the opponent they become fists. When fists are used, curl (the fingers) in tightly.
Marshal Yue, Fei's Ten Important Theses—Part 5
February 23, 2015
It is the stepping, which gives your strategy life and creates the hundreds of variations. It is also the stepping, which allows you to react naturally to an attack and avoid or escape from dangerous situations.
Marshal Yue, Fei's Ten Important Theses—Part 4 - February 9, 2015
Xin combines with Yi, Yi combines with Qi, and Qi combines with Li are the three internal combinations. Hands combine with feet, elbows combine with knees, and shoulders combine with hips are the three external combinations.
Marshal Yue, Fei's Ten Important Theses—Part 3 - January 12, 2015
This discussion starts with striking and postures.  When talking about about postures, we first discuss Qi.  Man has five viscera, which therefore form the shape. From the five viscera, the Qi is born. Therefore, the five viscera are really the original bearers of human nature (i.e., life) and the source of growing Qi.
Marshal Yue, Fei's Ten Important Theses—Part 2 - December 28, 2014
It is seldom heard that he who discusses striking, also discussed Qi. About the Qi, it is mastered as one but can be divided into two. What are these two? They are inhaling and exhaling. The inhalation and exhalation are the Yin and Yang. The striking cannot (be done) without moving and calmness.
Marshal Yue, Fei's Ten Important Theses—Part 1 - December 22, 2014
Marshal Yue, Fei's Ten Important Theses on Xingyiquan can be considered the essence or the root of the art. We can clearly see that all of the available documents and books written in the last 60 years derive almost all of their theories and principles from these theses.
Principles Common to Both Qin Na and Ground Fighting - September 30, 2013
A lever is the simplest of machines, which utilizes a rigid bar to rotate around a fixed pivot point called a fulcrum in order to exert force on an object (load). If the resistance or load exceeds the strength of the bar, the bar will break. Biomechanically speaking, the arm is a bar, and when the fulcrum is at or above the joint, breakage can easily occur.
Popular Chinese Internal Martial Arts - July 8, 2013
Because all Chinese martial styles utilize some Qigong training, it is difficult to distinguish the external styles from the internal. Traditionally, almost all of the Chinese martial styles were taught in secret, and it was not until the last 100 years that these secrets were gradually exposed to the general public. There are many styles that are still taught secretly.
Celebración 30 Años de la YMAA - January 10, 2013
Estoy muy feliz de decir que hoy se celebración 30 años de la YMAA. Desde enseñar a 5-6 alumnos en mi estacionamiento, hacer mi primera visita a Polonia en 1986, hasta ver como YMAA International (YMAA Internacional) crecía país por país y funda YMAA Publication Center (Centro de Publicaciones YMAA), publicando muchos libros, videos y artículos, han sido 30 años lleno de hitos.
YMAA 30-Year Anniversary - October 1, 2012
I am happy to say that today is YMAA's 30th anniversary. Today, we are an international organization with over 50 schools in 18 countries, and we are recognized by people all over the world. I would like to thank the many YMAA teachers, students, and supporters for all their support throughout the many years. I believe that together, we will be able to successfully propagate the healthy lifestyles of Qigong and the hard-working culture of traditional martial arts.
Fight, Flight or Freeze: Trained and Untrained Responses - July 2, 2012
School is out for the summer and it is a normal day, like any other. The sun is shinning, birds are singing in the trees and you’re working part time at the local grocery store, bagging groceries to pay tuition.
Fundamental Moving Patterns of Xingyiquan - December 6, 2010
We will begin this discussion by introducing the most basic stationary posture of Xingyiquan, the three body posture (San Ti Shi). This posture is also commonly called the three power posture (San Cai Shi) or Taiji posture (Taiji Shi).
What is Xingyiquan? - October 6, 2008
In order to survive in what is oftentimes a violent and cruel world, animals must very quickly develop the ability to protect themselves from natural dangers and other animals.