Internal Martial Arts
Inner Dharma is a writing project concerned with traditional martial arts and culture. Below are short personal essays and training updates related to my internal martial arts training, beginning in 2008.
April 2026
Tàijíquán, along with Xingyiquan and Baguazhang, forms the core of the internal martial arts, distinguished by their grounding in Taoist philosophy and Neigong practices.
May 2025
When people become devoted to a martial art, they are doing so not at a single point in time but in a process that extends through time — the present moment, the memory they have of their training, and their expectations of the future. This can interfere with progress if nostalgia for their first impression of an art is in conflict with its higher-level teachings.
October 2020
The Taiji, Bagua and Xingyi taught as part of Yin Cheng Gong Fa includes an extensive curriculum of jian (sword), dao (saber), and qiang (spear).
May 2019
Pittsburgh seminar in Northern Wu Style Tàijíquán with Zhao Zeren and Zhang Yun.
June 2017
An important translation of the Taiji Classics has been published. Highly recommended.
May 2016
Zhao Zeren and Zhang Yun taught a series of three seminars on the Wu Style Taiji Quan of Wang Peisheng during May 2016 in Princeton, Pittsburgh, and Silver Spring.
August 2015
At the end of summer, I traveled to Princeton for a seminar in Bagua and Taiji and was accepted as a formal lineal student by my teacher, Zhang Yun. I also traveled to the Pacific Northwest, where I was able to visit with budo colleagues in Oregon.
January 2015
In the new year, I have decided to focus my martial arts efforts to continued regular participation in two schools — Yin Cheng Gong Fa and the Hobyokan
June 2013
A brief reflection on a demonstration of Araki-ryū and Tenshin Bukō-ryū at the NAMT 2013 Night of Budo by Ellis Amdur a reknowned kobujutsu, Aikidō and internal martial arts researcher and practitioner, demonstrating two arts he has mastered.
August 2011
Some details on my ongoing practice of yoga and vajrayana.
May 2008
I attended the 2008 summer Yin Cheng Gong Fa seminar in Frederick, MD.
March 2008
In xingyiquan classics there are three levels of practice described: ming jin, an jin, and hou jin. Ming jin is called "visible practice," where skill is evident in the characteristics of movement and motion. An jin is called "hidden practice," where technique is expressed inside the body. Hou jin is called "dissolved practice," where the body is transformed.