November 14, 2022
The first step towards enlightenment is to establish a strong will, without which you will not finish the training.
October 31, 2022
“…if you can control your consciousness without falling asleep, you can build up a better sensitivity for energy correspondence with the outside world. This is one of the desired states in meditation practice.”
April 18, 2022
This is Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming's official YMAA External Arts Curriculum, which outlines his recommended order of study for Kung Fu students.
February 28, 2022
China has more than seven thousand years of history. The greatest contribution it can make to benefit the human race is to share the knowledge it has accumulated in the field of Qi.
April 22, 2019
At YMAA, students learn qigong (energy cultivation) as part of their taiji or kung fu classes. In ancient times, Shaolin monks trained the cultivation of qi (energy), and realized muscular power could be enhanced to a tremendous level, making martial techniques more powerful and effective. This was the beginning of internal cultivation in Chinese martial arts, starting around 550 AD /CE. In internal styles, YMAA focuses mainly on traditional Yang-style taijiquan which originated from Yang, Ban-Hou (楊班候).
You should know that in our body, there are six Yang organs and six Yin organs. Each Yang organ is associated with and harmonized by a Yin organ.
It is not enough to just breathe in and breathe out, or even sigh and linger. You need to develop the skill of moving the air into specific areas within the lungs. Some disciplines call them chambers; some call them sections, and others call them areas, or rooms. I created friendly names and images for the different areas in the lungs—images that will help direct the air or the breath to wherever you desire it to move.
Every qigong form or practice has its special training purpose and theory. If you do not know the purpose and theory, you have lost the root (meaning) of the practice. Therefore, as a qigong practitioner, you must continue to ponder and practice until you understand the root of every set or form.
Here will briefly review the twelve primary Qi channels along with the eight extraordinary meridians. You should also know the organ's Yin and Yang. In our body, there are six Yang organs and six Yin organs. Each Yang organ is associated with and harmonized by a Yin organ.
I would like to stress that the following exercises are based on my personal understanding and treating experiences from both the Western and Chinese medical point of view about lower back pain. I urge you to keep your mind open, study, and absorb other sources of information about back pain treatments.
Out of all the Chinese martial Qigong developed in the last fifteen hundred years, there are only a few styles which pay attention to the torso’s strength, especially the spine. These styles are: White Crane, Snake, Dragon, and Taijiquan. The reason for this is simply that these styles are classified as either soft or soft-hard styles of martial arts in China.
The nuns at the Druk Gawa Khilwa Nunnery in Nepal train kung fu each day in the early morning. A few years ago, several Vietnamese nuns were asked to visit the nunnery in Nepal to teach Kung Fu there. Another Drukpa nunnery in northern India has expressed interest, and the Vietnamese nuns will go there to teach as well.
Most Eastern arts seek ways for the practitioner to spend more time in a deeply relaxed state, that is, with a meditative mind. This deep level of meditation is an essential step for achievement in all Eastern disciplines.
In ancient Chinese society, most emperors respected the scholars and were affected by their philosophy. Doctors were not regarded highly because they made their diagnosis by touching the patient's body, which was considered characteristic of the lower classes in society.
Short weapons can be divided into two classes based on length. Very short weapons measure less than two Chi (approximately two feet). Often they are no longer than the distance from the hand to the elbow. While short weapons range in length from two to five Chi.
A country as vast as China encompasses many types of terrain. Whereas deserts and high plateaus cover the northern territory, mountain ranges dominate the west. The southeast coast and central zones, favored by the Chinese for thousands of years, are lush and warm with many lakes, ponds and rivers.
A Chin Na expert must also know how to escape from an opponent's Chin Na control, and be able to counterattack and reverse the situation. To escape from an opponent's control, you must master several techniques in addition to those explained in the previous section.
Chin Na literally means "seize control." Chin Na covers a wide scale of defensive and offensive techniques, from very fundamental hand grappling to the very advanced Dim Mak. The fundamental techniques can be learned by any martial artist or even by someone without any martial arts experience.
Shuai Jiao is a Chinese fighting style with over 4,000 years of history. It specializes in countering against punching and kicking, using defense as the offense. Shuai Jiao is commonly used for short range fighting and throwing down an opponent.
China has more than seven thousand years of history. The greatest contribution it can make to benefit the human race is to share the knowledge it has accumulated in the field of Qi.
The first Shaolin Buddhist Temple was built in 377 AD on Shaoshi Mountain (少室山) in Deng Feng (登封) county of Henan (河南) province, by order of Emperor Wei (魏). Bodhidharma (菩提達摩), or Da Mo, came to Shaolin from India to teach Buddhism around 527 AD.
It is very important to keep the Qi (internal energy) circulating smoothly in your body. Many different kinds of Qigong exercises have been created to achieve this, but they can generally be categorized into five groups according to the main purpose of the training.
May is National Arthritis Month: One of the challenges we have in this country as well as in the rest of the world, is how to approach the health care goals of the growing wave of our aging population. We are living through special times. We can see a shift towards greater acceptance of new methods and treatments for various debilitating diseases such as arthritis.
In modern times, we mainly use only the narrow definition of Qi, which refers to the energy circulating in the human body.
The Chinese word "Qi" translates in English to "energy". Qi is the energy or natural force which fills the universe. The Chinese believe in Three Powers (San Cai) of the universe: Heaven, Earth and Human.