内家

I am a lineal practitioner of internal martial arts as taught in Yin Cheng Gong Fa North America (YCGF) by Zhang Yun, who trained under the late Grandmaster Wang Peisheng.

I started training in Yin Cheng Gong Fa in 2005 under Paul Cote. I began traveling to Pittsburgh regularly to train under Zhang Yun in 2010. I became a formal student in Princeton in 2015, with Paul Cote and Clayton Shiu as my sponsors. Since moving to Seattle, I have continued my internal martial arts training.

As part of this activity I maintain a practice of:

Some summary information about each art can be found below.

Internal Martial Arts

Bāguà zhǎng 八卦掌

Baguazhang (Bāguà zhǎng) is a form of internal martial arts characterized by its utilization of circular walking methods as part of its foundational practices. Founded by Dong Haichuan (1797-1882) in the mid 19th century, it has spread into many styles over time. Wang Peisheng's first teacher was Ma Gui and so Yin Cheng Gong Fa preserves a practice of Yin Style Bāguà to this day. He also later learned Cheng style and Liu style Bāguà from Yang Yuting's bagua instructor, Gao Kexing:

  • Yin Fu was Dong Haichuan's first disciple, and travelled with him to Mongolia when they worked as tax collectors for prince Su, a member of the imperial court. Ma Gui was a senior disciple of Yin Fu, and also learned directly from Dong Haichuan.
  • Cheng Tinghua (1848–1900), a skilled wrestler, was the fourth lineal disciple of Dong Haichuan and studied with him likely for six years (1876-1882), after Dong retired. Cheng, an optician, was killed while still middle aged in the Boxer Rebellion, and there is much variety in Cheng Style practice today. This may be due to Cheng teaching different students uniquely, or that many had not completed their training with him by the time of his death.
  • Liu Dekuan was a disciple of Dong Haichuan who was a reknowned weapons master. He helped arranged many weapons forms taught in Beijing internal martial arts groups. Liu Dekuan's linear bagua is practiced by many Cheng style groups.

I practice Yin, Cheng, and Liu style bagua as taught in Yin Cheng Gong Fa by Zhang Yun and his senior disciples

I practice the sixty four circular palms of Yin Fu and the eighteen interceptions saber (sibajie dao) of Ma Gui; the eight mother palms (bamuzhang) circle walking neigong and the eight big palms (badazhang) as taught in this line of Cheng baguazhang, the sixty four linear bagua methods of Liu Dekuan (bagua sanshou) as well as circle walking with jian and the bagua pure yang sword (bagua chunyang jian).

Xíngyì quán 形意拳

Xíngyì quán is a powerful and direct form of internal martial arts training developed from body mechanics associated to the practice of the spear. Ji Longfeng (姬龍峰 1588–1662) is the founder of Xíngyì quán; he was inspired by Yue Fei (岳飛) who wrote the "Ten Theses of Xingyiquan" during the 11th century. Li Luoneng (李洛能 1807–1888) is considered the founder of what today is called Hebei Style Xingyiquan. The Xíngyì quán I practice as part of YCGF is in this lineage of practice, through Zhang Zhaodong to Han Muxia.

Five elemental fist practice (wuxing quan) develops specific methods of jin, each associated to a particular kind of force. These five jin are then combined when expressing tactics arranged in the twelve animal forms (shi er xing). Xingyi is different from other methods of Chinese boxing in that it is the mind or intent (yi) of the animal that is cultivated in each form, rather than mimicing specific movements. This is why certain mythical animals, such as the dragon and pheonix are seen in its curriculum. The elemental practice is often called yì quán and the animal practice is often called xíng quán.

I practice foundational pile standing practice called santishi, the five elemental fists, twelve animal forms, ten step elemental linking form, mixed skills form (zashi chui), partner drills (including the five element creation and destruction cycle) and weapons practice (five element jian, dao, and qiang).

In Xíngyì quán, first we train to develop a clear expression of cultivated force called ming jin. This is clear but is not initially hard or strong; power will arise over time and our task to is recognize when it does and cultivate that specific feeling. Over time, we smooth and connect our motions and our force becomes hidden. This is called an jin. We focus on storing jin (xu jin) and over time the energy we cultivate dissolves into emptiness, called hua jin. At that point the practitioner can express many skills associated to softer internal martial arts.

Tàijíquán 太極拳

Tàijíquán (taijiquan or "tai chi") is a form of internal martial arts characterized by its utilization of soft, smooth, and slow practice and a refinement of the senses of balance, touch, and proprioception, developing a new set of cultivated reflexes in its practitioners. It is considered one of the highest level forms of Chinese martial arts.

I practice Northern Wu style Taijiquan ( 吳氏太极拳; Wúshì tàijíquán) as taught in Yin Cheng Gong Fa by Zhang Yun and his senior disciples. Wu style Taiji is one of the five major styles of Taiji practiced today. It was founded by Wu Quanyou, a Manchu officer in the Yellow Banner camp of the Qing dynasty military. Wu began training with Yang Luchan in 1850, and became the senior disciple of Yang Banhao in 1870. Wang Maozhai (1862-1940) was one of Wu Quanyou's senior disciples and founded the Beijing Tai Miao tai chi Research Centre. Yang Yuting (1887-1982) was Wang Maozhai's senior disciple and the teacher of Wang Peisheng.

This line of Northern Wu style Taijiquan includes the traditional 83 posture long form of Yang Yuting, 37 posture form of Wang Peisheng, and the Taiji essential form.

I utilize jibengong selected from Shi-style Baiyuan Tongbeiquan. Qigong and neigon practices including zuan zhang (pile standing), qigong including microcosmic orbit (xiao zhou tian), macrocosmic orbit (da zhou tian), and taiji qigong are also maintained.

Paired practices include tuai shou, da lu, jie shou, dong gong, first touch skills and applications.

An extensive weapons practice is preserved in Yin Cheng Gong Fa, including the 13 posture taiji dao (saber), two hand taiji dao methods, 32 and 64 posture taiji jian (sword), taiji zhan gan (sticking staff), and 24 posture taiji qiang (spear). I also practice the Tian Gang Dao 36 star form of miao dao (a variant of the Japanese odachi) arranged by Li Zhendong (1882-1977) and eight ancestral fists of Tongbei.

Resources

Where To Train

Several training groups are listed on the YCGF Group List. YCGF Pittsburgh is attended by many senior practitioners of YCGF I have enjoyed training with. In the Pacific Northwest my colleague Rives Thornton leads a practice of Taijiquan in Bellingham, WA at Impact Martial Arts.

Bibliography

Below are selected references on traditional Chinese martial arts and culture I recommend:

  1. Wang, P. and Zeng, W., 1995. Wu Style Taijiquan. Morning Glory.
  2. Shengli, L., 2006. Combat techniques of Taiji, Xingyi and Bagua: Principles and practices of internal martial arts. Blue Snake Books.
  3. Zhang, Y., Capell P., Darley S. and Ho D., 2016. The Taijiquan Classics: The Essential Translation and Explanation with Commentary on History and Culture. YCGF North America.
  4. Zhang, Y., 2009. The Complete Taiji Dao: The Art of the Chinese Saber. Blue Snake Books.
  5. Zhang, Y., 1998. The Art of Chinese swordsmanship. A manual of Taiji Jian, Weatherhill.
  6. Wang, Mu, 2011. Foundations of Internal Alchemy: The Taoist Practice of Neidan. Translated by Pregadio, Fabrizio. Golden Elixir Press.