GreytoWhite

Indeed, that is the structure of the instructional videos we are going to do. We'll have a series of exercises available for free on YouTube within the next two weeks. The series of ~10 videos I am teaching some beginners' material we usually teach from the first two in-person classes to introduce people to the style and some of the energetics. This will only be the first layer. Many of the things we practice look the same externally but focus and intent change as one practices the art. I've already started to share some material with a couple of Bums and have gotten positive feedback. Sifu has a few two year students now locally to go through a lot of the material for the first part of the distance learning program as well as entirely new students who are willing to be on video. I'm already collaborating with a Diné (Navajo) hip hop team for music and possibly a branch school in the Nation. The first year material will probably be three of the five neigong exercises, zhan zhuang, three or four of the five fists, circle walking basics, and the single palm change from the Old Frame Jiang Rong Qiao Bagua. Perhaps some discussion of how certain movements relate to Paired exercises are fairly simple in our system and are quite necessary. Our xingyi paired exercises are mainly about striking and counter striking to setup further . Whereas the paired circle walking is extremely important for maintaining structure in movement as well as increasing sensitivity. We are actively scouting locations for a weekend seminar in the next six months. Now that enough of us local students have learned the whole five elements form and some have about half of the bagua we can work with a larger group of students and make sure everyone gets enough details to put some real chance of development. Sifu thinks it's better for us who are just a little further along to help beginners because it's material we know, we get better with every person we teach, and we are more aware of the mistakes we made so recently so we can look out for them in others.

I appreciate the responses so far, if there's anything I might have missed that you feel is important to your distance learning experience please let me know. Matt

If you can afford it, go elsewhere and save your coin. If you have someone within a couple of hours' drive that you can train with do that. Video learning is best used as a reminder for something you've already had hands-on experience.

A lot of people want to move through material too quickly before even having a hint of what each posture's intent and purpose. Neijia arts are not something one can learn quickly. My xingyibagua teacher is now charging $100 a month for in-person classes, sometimes only once or twice a month can he make it down to the area. The value of training with people with these kind of skills is not something most understand. There are so many things within the neijia arts that many would miss the cornucopia of needles in the proverbial haystack unless they get pricked with it by the teacher.

I was really skeptical until I saw this review from Lan Tran.

http://mayareynoldswriter.blogspot.com/2010/06/wayne-dyer-sued-for-copyright.html

There is more than one way to do MCO. I much prefer the internal martial arts over qigong as the MCO is taught very much as physical sensation then and one does NOT have to question if they are just imagining it. Also, don't get stuck on the generic versions of "natural" and "reverse" breathing. If your teacher is good and it doesn't quite jibe with what you've read in a book remember something - as blind men we can't see the whole of the elephant. You're in NY which is chock full of good people to learn from. Frank Allen is old school NY internals. Has a bunch of experience and they do have a qigong class. My sifu talks well of him. http://www.wutangpca.com/what-we-teach.html Tom Bisio is probably one of the best people to teach certain fighting techniques and has a lot of neigong under his belt. He is quite well known for his Filipino arts which sometimes seems like the two are the same when practicing without circle walking. The program he helped devise for Tu Na Si Ba has received great reviews by xingyi practitioners. http://www.internalartsinternational.com/weekly-classes/ I Liq Chuan is great and I recommend anyone interested in qigong or neijia arts talk with an instructor of the art. It's very well structured and has skilled people. Sam Chin is invested in passing on his level of skill to his students. It's often describe as taiji body, Zen mind. http://internal-arts-training.com/schedule/ James Montalbano teaches Kenny Gong's xingyibagua in NYC but I don't know how to contact him. He has the goods but what I've heard from a fellow kung fu brother is that he just recently started sharing the meaty bits with his students. Serge Augier has a student in NY. I've always found Serge's students to have some knowledge. http://www.daxuannewyork.com/

My thoughts exactly. You can get some basic choreography down, get some new qi, even some hints of chansi but prepare to have your mind blown and realize how silly you were once a legitimate instructor gets hold of you and can provide you with kinesthetic feedback.

Aye, I started sitting as I was unable to stand more than 2 minutes at a time. I stuck with positive and negative circle silk reeling exercises from Chen taiji and within a few weeks the compressed nerves in my lumbar spine were decompressed thanks to some major shifts in my vertebrae and the sciatica went away. I doubt your issue will be so easily resolved but it may help you.

I'd go with the Practical Method guys were I in your position. It's really good material. Also, taiji without the martial is not taiji, you're just doing qigong then.

I'm bored at work. Just waiting for callers.

When I first started my meditative and rehabilitative journey I couldn't stand or even sit up straight for long periods of time and Feldenkrais work was pretty important in regaining neurological control of my body. A friend of mine just started learning xingyi with me and his Feldenkrais work previously gave him some hints to the process of body self discovery. Feldenkrais was a judo man and a lot of his stuff is really good for that art.

Aye, Moriteru never had aiki because the older ones didn't teach him so he changed a lot of the terminology and within one generation the "official" line of the art has no martial practicality. Many of the "mystical" sayings from Ueshiba Aiki is pretty much the Chinese internals brought to late 19th century Japan by a Buddhist monk who trained Takeda Sokaku in meditation. Stanley Pranin and Chris Li have both done a lot of work unraveling the ball of yarn as to just where aiki disappeared to and from whence it came.

Kyokushin is a hybrid style of karate developed by a Korean man who took the name Mas Oyama. It's a fusion of some unknown gong fu he learned from a Chinese farmer, Shotokan, and Goju-ryu. Later in life he exchanged students with the founder of Taikiken - Kenichi Sawai. Kenichi learned Yiquan from Yao Zongxun and later adapted his training into Taikiken. Some Kyokushin branches emphasize standing meditation which can be helpful for your body's recovery. That said, I don't recommend some Kyokushin schools if you are looking to stay as injury free as possible. Any style school where you spar with experienced people that are mature and willing to let you successfully use techniques to learn is good. Overtraining and getting hurt is not good. I personally would recommend a good gong fu school or jiu jitsu gym. Filipino stick fighting can be really fun too.

Uh... OK, enjoy that delusion. There are some stances in martial training that will illuminate certain things that a "basic standing posture" will not. Granted, the true details of standing are never given in books and videos - you're not getting what you think you bought. Also, there are different ways of standing. Engaged daoyin guiding and leading standing may not be possible for more than two or three minutes even later on in life after much practice. Relaxed, structural standing can go on as long as two hours sometimes. It just depends on the focus.

Judo descends from Chinese/Mongolian shuaijiao. This doesn't look like judo, it looks like shuai techniques...

Here is a good bit of information about the Five Shens and how Hun and Po apply to that model in internal alchemy. http://rumsoakedfist.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=21458

懂劲的三个阶段 明劲、暗劲、化劲。 　　1．明劲 要做到劲整形齐，舒展其力，使劲力通、透、穿、贴、松、悍、合、坚，成为抖绝劲、爆炸劲，一绝无有不绝。在平时练习基本拳法时，手磨外五行、肘磨内五行，进退如曲腿蹚泥，又如“泥犁行”，此谓明劲阶段。 　　2．暗劲 在掌握明劲阶段的基础上，再进一步，使劲含而不露、蓄而不发，蓄意蓄劲、待而不发，以尽《山西六合心意拳》以静制动、后发制人之妙用。此谓“履薄冰”暗劲阶段。 　　3．化劲 此谓《山西六合心意拳》的高级阶段。在掌握明劲、暗劲的基础上，在与人较技中，切记舍己从人，沾连粘随；处处虚无不着力，整体浑元不弹簧，日久功深达到人不知我，我独知人，一触即发、发则必中之高超之境。应敌犹如“水中游”，此谓化劲阶段。 {Understanding Xingyiquan's 3 stages (jieduan) of Ming Jin, An JIn, and Hua Jin.} {1 - Ming (Clear to see) Jin - The strength and form must be strong, precise, and clear. Extend outward with force. When putting out force it must pass through, penetrate, pierce, connect, be pliant, ferocious, round, firm, have a shaking cutting strength, and deliver explosive force. Practice and drill the hand techniques developing the external 5-Elements and the elbows to develop the internal 5-Elements. Advancing and retreating with bent legs as if wading through mud (tang ni) like "walking while plowing through mud". This is the stage of Ming JIn.} {2- An (hidden) JIn - You must have already grasped and have a strong foundation in the Mingjin stage then you can start on the second stage. Now when using strength you contain it and don't reveal it on the outside. Store up (xu) but don't emit (fa). Deliberately store up your Jin. The power to 'fa' emit is held back but not released, to the opponent this feels very powerful and strange and then you can emit. This is called "Treading on thin Ice". This is the stage of Anjin.} {3- Hua (transforming) Jin - This is considered the highest stage of practice. You must have already grasped the stages of Mingjin and Anjin and have a very strong foundation in them. You should have a lot of experience in fighting as you must know that this stage is 'Sheji Cong Ren' [same as Taijiquan] Give up yourself and comply with the opponent. Use 'Zhan, Lian, Nian, and Sui' (sticky, link, adhering, and complying). Everywhere you need to be empty and not exerting strength. The whole body must be blending and smooth (hunyuan) and not starting and stopping. The skill of 'The opponent does not know me, I alone know the opponent.' At any time, place, or moment you can emit (fa) but only emitting force at the precise moment. This is the Hua Jing stage.}

Paging Kevin Wallbridge.

I've started learning Kenny Gong's line of xingyi and it's so different from the Hebei and Henan stuff I've been shown in person and dabbled with in the past. I'm still a rank novice at this art and it's incredibly powerful for integrating the sides and ribs - that is our focus currently. After putting in almost two months sifu gave me the gift of saam choy and the metal element today. He doesn't want to cast pearls before swine any longer so he kept it back until he knew I was doing the work. I wish I could talk more about it but I'm not knowledgeable enough yet. Here is an example of sifu teaching wood element. What has your experience been like? Have you learned other arts and found xingyi different? If you could tell a new practitioner about the art how would you describe it?

Ours is much different from what the Yin Cheng Gong Fa group does. I know that Kenny Gong's version of xingyi is supposed to be Hebei but we have pretty much eliminated all ming jing practice and at times as we're taught the theory seems much closer to Shanxi xingyi.

Bruce Kumar Frantzis also talks about some of the Crane stuff from Liao Weishan. That doesn't discredit his experience with taiji. Asking other people who are just as committed about the official style party line gets you the same results... big surprise. What don't you understand about swallow and spit having nothing to do with taiji? Wearing blinders is one thing but cripes man. These are the four primary Southern style arts concepts. Pu (float) Tim (sink) Tun (swallow) Toh (spit) Taiji has the eight powers, five elements/steps, and a few other things dependent on the lineage. The concepts do have some crossover when broken down at an extremely high level. Simply enough - swallow and spit are SOUTHERN CHINESE concepts and have nothing to do with taiji. Also the similarity to Chen Manqing's 37 was probably due to Liao Weishan's personal dislike of the guy.

Dude, dwai, spit/swallow is Southern Chinese martial philosophy - right there, right there. That terminology doesn't exist in Northern Chinese arts that taijiquan falls under. Taiji has its own terminology that has some parallels. I've had the fortunate circumstance of becoming exposed to a wide variety of arts and White Crane is one of those Southern hard/soft styles that is highly respected and very internal at times. I don't mean to say that it's a bad thing that the taiji from Master Liao is mixed with White Crane. That Master Liao started off teaching people White Crane early on is a fairly well known thing, multiple long time and respected martial artists have documented it, and the evidence is right there in the taiji curriculum terminology you provided. When I watch someone perform the Temple set I'm often struck by just how different it is from the Chen large frame and Wu small frame I've learned. Wang Xiangzhai threw some White Crane into the mix when he made Yiquan, it's no big deal really. Every practitioner mixes his or her own experience in - I've got a bit of aikido, Chen village and Practical Method, Wu taiji, Escrima, and wing chun in my xingyibaguazhang. It's not a bad meal, just mixed ingredients that sometimes clash if the proportions are off.

EDIT March 2024: I wanted to edit this and update my thoughts 8 years on. At this point I'm entirely uninterested in anything Frantzis does. People from the lineage he claims in China have spoken and it seems that much of what he teaches may be something he made himself from various influences. About 25 years ago he decided to switch from teaching martial arts to meditation for monetary reasons according to his former students. There are so many high quality Bagua and Xingyi instructionals available now. Mushin Martial Culture has a reasonable price and is very high quality materials. I personally use Gerald Sharp and James Saper's Baguazhang and Xingyi materials with Andrea Falk's books. That said, Paul Andrews has an excellent Xingyiquan course. If you want legit Daoist alchemy then Nathan Brine is who I'd recommend.

Don't waste your money on videos. It has to be felt for true skill to be passed on. This guy is near you and teaches the Fu Zhensong neijia and waijia arts, I can't say how good he is but he has good teachers. http://www.thekungfuacademy.org/ This guy is from a rather legit Yang lineage as well. http://taichicoloradosprings.com/ If you're willing to get a few hours out of town you can check out Susan Matthews in Durango or some great people up in Boulder.