yatzhong

I would recomend white waxwood. Google it and you'll get several results. I get 8' - 9' ones at a store in NYC's Chinatown for $40-$45 but I wouldn't recommend starting off with one more than 8' long depending on what type of exercises you are going to do with it. While things like kettle bells, body weight exercises and other fashionable trends in strength training all have something to offer there's nothing like the power one can develop using the long pole.

On hunyuan zhuang, there are two schools of thought. One is that hunyuan is a state of being, both physical and mental that one should achieve in order to reach the hiqher levels and benefits from standing. So hunyuan can actually be any posture one decides to stand in given the conditions are correct. The other is that posture in the picture which other schools call the spear and shield posture or mao dun in Chinese. Our school sides with the first one.

I have two different practices which have specific uses of the ming men point. One is yiquan and the other is a qigong system that uses the mingmen point to spread the qi throughout the body. A sign that one has learned yiquan properly would be his ability to issue power from the mingmen point. Yiquan's founder Wang Xiang Zhai can be quoted as saying it takes about ten years to accomplish. From day one of my yiquan training I was taught to push out the ming men when standing and moving. Cai Song Fang, from "Warriors of Stillness" Vol I also stresses using the ming men when issuing force. Other than that I haven't heard much about using the ming men.

There are those who say that Sawaii never learned the real yiquan system but was taught a watered down version. There are also those who say that Sawaii actually was taught by Wang's student Yao Zhong Xun, who's son interacts with the Taikiken practitioners to this day. We'll never really know. Sawaii didn't meet Wang through that newspaper interview. Sawai was a colonel in the Japanese army invloved in the Japanese occupation of China during WWII. He heard of Wang's reputation as a great fighter and wanted to meet him. I doubt that Wang had any choice in the matter. I hear that it was either take the challenge or get shot. Looking at the pictures in Sawai's book and his movements in that video lead me to believe that there are a lot of technical differences in taikiken and the yiquan that I learned. The configuration of his legs in his standing postures is quite different than his yiquan counterparts. His movement is very different also. Jan's book "The Tao of Yiquan" is a good read but I wouldn't recommend it for learning anything more than a brief history of yiquan. small John

I'm a meat eater. Carnivorous as they come. There are a couple of very good places on Bayard Street. New Green Bo is one. They make the most delicious siu long bao (little pork dumplings) I've ever had. They have a good menu. Theres another one across the street that has a good menu but the name escapes me. There are a few more but I can't remember the names. One is by the big Buddhist temple off Canal & Bowery. It's a famous Szechuan place. I could go on. See you at Citibank. small John

You're not a vegetarian are you? I had a classmate several years ago who was pretty good in taiji but could never get his hands to warm up. According to our teacher it was because he was too yin from the vegetarian diet.

Try this. Henry Look P.O. Box 2378 Shingle Springs, CA 95682 (530) 677-0900 [email protected] Hsing I Chuan Pa Kua Chang Kuang Ping Tai Chi Chi Kung I Chuan He's getting up there in years but he might still be teaching. Personally I wouldn't study with him given the opportunity. I know several of his classmates under master Kuo and master Han and can't find one of them that has a good thing to say about him. According to his classmates he is not a lineage holder in Kuang Ping taiji. He didn't learn the entire Kuang Ping system. He also only studied yiquan on a few occasions with master Han when Han was here in the US or when Look visited Hong Kong. I also know someone who studied diligently with him for three years and had no skill to show for it. You'd probably do better seeking out Fong Ha. But good luck either way. John

Right. I am challenging you. IPOD music is ok but your mind shouldn't get bored when you do standing. There are all kinds of things to do. There are small movements, visualizations, stretches, twisting, etc. that one is supposed to be doing while doing basic standing. The sweating is good. If you can bear through the shaking you should sweat profusely in the beginning. It shows that you are working hard and something is going on inside the body. Once you can stand longer and persevere through the thundering of the legs you will get something out of your standing besides just meditating. Keep up the good work. John

OK, I know "sifu Dug" and also know Henry Look. My teacher is Look's senior under master Han. As for "too weak to do the standing" goes if you're as fit as you say then there's no reason you can't do an hour or more. You are either weak in the legs or weak in the willpower department. I know it's hard to do zhan zhuang alone but that's why it's called kung fu. You have to push yourself in order to get results. If you're doing the standing properly you don't need kettle bells. In fact they just might be counter productive to the results you're trying to get from standing. They are definitely going to be counter productive to your taiji practice. Zhan zhuang done properly builds up the tendons and joints so that one's underlying frame becomes tight like a piece of steel while keeping the muscles relaxed. Nevertheless, good luck with your training. John

Thanks for the info Scotty. John

Might I inquire about the school in New Mexico and the instructor's name? I know or know of most of the qualified yiquan instructors in the US but never heard of anyone in New Mexico. If one does the standing in a certain way it will open up the meridians eventually. If all one does is stand there relaxed then there isn't much to be gained at all really. If you are too weak to do the standing for more than a minute or so in each posture then I would suggest learning some of the sitting meditations from yiquan which can help get the legs healthy. John

The two mix quite well from my personal experience and the benefits from adding the Kunlun level 1 sitting spilled over into my own taiji, hsingyi & yiquan practices. The biggest influence it seems to have had on my martial arts practice is the ability to connect the force issued from the spine out to the limbs. John

Hello Prince, First off, it's called zhan zhuang not zhuang zhang. As for the shaking & trembling it is something that happens to everyone. It is also the most important time to hold the posture ( zhuang ) as this is when the changes occur in the body. The tendon changing, bone marrow washing and other benefits derived from standing are realized when one perseveres through the trembling. Unless you are extremely weak I would say that standing in eight postures for a minute and a half each is a waste of time. There are lots of benefits to be reaped from standing but you won't get them unless you are standing correctly for at least an hour a day. Second, just because one is standing in eight different postures does not mean that one is practicing yiquan. Zhan zhuang is common to taijiquan, hsingyiquan, baguazhang, shaolin quan and other systems. Also there are more than a standard eight postures that people in yiquan practice. I think that the eight were made popular by the book "The Tao of Yiquan" but there is no set of eight standard postures. Third, if you want to add a standing regimen to your practice I would say try and find a qualified teacher. There are a lot of little details in the practice and if they aren't adhered to it could make your efforts a waste of time. I'm not trying to be mean or come of as a "know it all" Prince. Yiquan has been my main practice for many years now and I've seen countless peoples' attempts at standing practice yield little or nothing because they've never learned how to do it properly. Like any other practice there are regulations that must be observed and little intricacies in each posture that ultimately decide if one is going to get the benefits or not. Just standing in a posture with the weight evenly distributed over the two feet and holding the arms in a certain formation is not going to do it. John

Bruce Lee was....Bruce Lee. Both taijiquan and yiquan have within them various methods taught systematically that lead to the developement of the strength(s) necessary for one to be considered successful in the training. They include but are not limited to zhan zhuang, meditation, qigong, and the long pole. Rather than use weights to strengthen the body they use the body and the yi(intent). The two systems have more in common than they do differences. Anyone teaching either of the two arts should be able to give you all the strength training that you need using the traditional practices. Explosive force / fa jing included. If he doesn't teach them then he either. a) Never learned them or Doesn't want to teach them. If either of the above apply and you are learning taiji for more than just health then look for a new teacher. John

Pranaman, I Chuan (yiquan) is hsing yi quan stripped of the forms. Internally it is no different than taiji, baguazhang or hsingyiquan. Externally there isn't much moving around. Strength and skill are developed through various methods including standing (zhan zhuang) stepping (mo cha bo), testing force (shi li) testing the voice (shi sheng) and sparring. The highest practice is the war/health dance ( jian wu) where the practitioner puts all he's learned into a sponaneous practice. Who did you learn mian chuan from Seth?