April 8, 2024
What is Tàijíquán? It is a martial Qìgōng study. Its training procedures are not different from those of other general Qìgōng (practice) and must follow the (same training) theory. These training procedures are nothing else but: regulating the body, regulating the breathing, regulating the mind, regulating the Qì, and regulating the spirit—five regulatings.
7 Min Read
March 25, 2024
“When the highest type of men hear the Way, with diligence they’re able to practice it; When average men hear the Way, some things they retain and others they lose;
When the lowest type of men hear the Way, they laugh out loud at it.
If they didn’t laugh at it, it couldn’t be regarded as the Way.” —Lao Tzu, Te-Tao Ching.
5 Min. Read
March 18, 2024
The principle behind the Tiger Claw Set is simple: drop your attacker’s primary sensor system at the earliest opportunity before striking other various vulnerable targets until you can escape to safety. 5 Min. Read
February 26, 2024
With the abundance of martial arts resources and the power of today’s communication technology, YMAA staff writer Gene Ching ponders what effect it might have on the traditional arts for the next generation. 5 Min. Read
January 22, 2024
If you are able to understand the theory of calmness, then you can comprehend the applications of Jìng (i.e., martial power).
Reading Time 6 minutes
Live In the Moment, Not For the Moment. One of the great benefits of martial arts practice, and especially internal arts such as tai chi, is the underlying theme of being present to oneself –of being in the moment.
Technique is important. But techniques change, adapt, and evolve. Principles are timeless. Bruce Lee recognized this truth, and advised to “absorb what is useful, discard what is useless and add what is specifically your own.” To Lee, there was no single superior style of fighting. He even referred to his methods as the “style of no style.”
Everyone knows that any fighter can win or lose on any given day. There is even a saying among fighters that there is always someone bigger and better. No one can consistently predict the outcome of two fighters facing each other who possess equal skill. The Navy SEALS have the same problem. Men of all sizes, body types and different skill sets wish to enter SEAL training.
Terrorism and Rapid Mass Murder seem to be permanent, lurking shadows darkening the stage of modern politics. Experts weave a nest of causes, from untempered religious orthodoxy and the moral queasiness of the West to historical grievance and the Internet as a mechanism for radicalization, among others. All, perhaps, carry their measure of truth. I would like to suggest that whatever volatile mix of causes accounts for the menace of terrorism, as a practical matter, the problem is intractable. The prevailing structure of our institutions offers no response to it.
The spirit of the warrior touches many across time and place. It is not exclusive to those professionals who devote their lives to it. It touches the mother who, with blinding ferocity, protects a child against danger. It touches the young man who blazes like a flame and charges forward when an armed terrorist storms onto the train that carries him.
This winter, every day we hear that some people suffer from flu or even die from the flu. This has caused major fear in the public. It is a big thing that we need to address, but how to prevent it is more important. Flu shots only work for some people. Tama-Flu also only works on some people. What we need to do is to learn to prevent getting sick by strengthening our immune system with daily qi practice. "qi" is vital energy in the body; "gong" is practice to gain the skill.
Body conditioning. It is painful and time consuming, yet it is essential for reaching high levels in martial arts. The upper extremities are used for striking, blocking, sensing, grabbing, breaking, lifting, etc.
Taiji has been evolving for more than seven hundred years, and it is very difficult to state just exactly what makes up the art. The content of the art has varied from one generation to the next. For example, one generation might specialize in the taiji spear, and gradually come to ignore other aspects of the art, such as the sword or saber. The contents of the system can also vary from one teacher to another. One might have learned only the sword from his master, and so naturally the sword would be the only weapon he could teach. Some masters will emphasize a particular principle or training method because of their experience, temperament, or research, or perhaps create a new training style for a new weapon.
Over the last fifty years, I have been searching for and compiling information on the qigong and yoga (which is essentially Indian qigong) that can be effectively used to benefit today's society. Our lifestyle today is very different from that of a hundred years ago.
Whether or not a person learns something depends upon his attitude and seriousness. First he must make a firm decision to learn it, and then he must have a strong will to fulfill his intention. He needs perseverance and patience to last to the end. Even if a person has all these virtues, his achievement might still be different from that of another person’s who has the same qualities and personality.
Though the existence of taiji ball qigong has been common knowledge in both Chinese martial arts and laymen societies, its popularity has been limited due to the secrecy of the training techniques. Taiji ball qigong training, in each style, was kept secret and passed down only to trusted students.
This article will share thoughts on both spectrums – approaches for personalized individual direction, and for social strategies, i.e. codes of conduct if you will. Hopefully, you may find something here worthy of your review and consideration.
This article is being reposted to reintroduce Daisy Lee, one of YMAA's newest authors. Daisy Lee is the disciple of the 58th generation lineage holder, Master Wang San Hua, descendent of Hua Tuo, originator of the root form of medical qigong, Five Animal Qigong (五禽戲) from Bo Zhou, China.
We cannot stop our physical degeneration, but we can slow this degenerating process down by providing proper care to our body. According to Chinese qigong, to slow down our aging process, we must maintain the strength of our physical body (yang) and also learn how to increase the storage of inner energy in our qi body (yin).
Many holistic health practitioners use their knowledge and experience with the brain, mind, and awareness to guide patients to heal themselves in their healing work. In my practice with natural healing and natural medicine, I have seen many miracles; it is as if anything is possible if you put enough effort, intent, and energy into the work. The many cases of healing from cancer are especially important examples of the power of this mind-body approach.
I was ten years old, lying in my bed. My dad was standing in the door way speaking in a low deep voice, "10 feel your body relaxing, 9, going deeper now, 8 very relaxed, 7, your body is so relaxed that it feels like your floating on a cloud…" He was guiding me through a visualization. Every night before bed, either my mom or dad would guide us kids through a deep relaxation technique.
Qi means life force energy. The ancient pictogram of Qi represented mist coming off water or steam coming off rice. The mist and steam signified that Qi was invisible. The rice meant that Qi nourished the body.
For the next month, I would go to Master Chia's house and work out every day. We would train for about an hour and a half, practicing tai chi, qi gong, breathing exercises, and meditation techniques. What I kept realizing again and again was that this practice was not new age fluff, but a body-mind-spirit science. Master Chia was showing me formulas that had been tested for the last 4,000 years. He explained that these exercise and meditation routines were like a well-trodden path to the top of the inner mountain. If you practice them, you will reach the peak and enjoy the expanding vista of a clear mind and radiant health.
I was ten years old, lying in my bed. My dad was standing in the doorway speaking in a low deep voice, "10, feel your body relaxing, 9, going deeper now, 8, very relaxed, 7, your body is so relaxed that it feels like your floating on a cloud…" He was guiding me through a visualization. Every night before bed, either my mom or dad would guide us kids through a deep relaxation technique. By the time I was 15, I was proficient in self-relaxation and visualization techniques. I would use the technique to help with school, sports and martial arts classes (Karate, Kung Fu, and even Capoeira).
Common sense means "common knowledge everyone should have." But unfortunately, many people today don't seem to have it. Why is this? We live in a dynamic world. Modern people are dynamic, and the flow of information is dynamic. We all assume we are smart and do things in a smart way. But we often lose our common sense to distraction, stress, illness or physical ailments, and emotional distress. Our focus is often on others—their successes, problems, and points of view. We often forget to pay attention to ourselves.