My latest article on Combat Tai Chi appears in the new issue of Inside Kung Fu this month (November issue.) Unfortunately the pictures we sent them where horribly mangled and rearranged so that if you try to follow any of the sequences the wont make any sense at all. So here is the original article in all its unedited glory with all the pictures in the correct order.

Fist Under Elbow

An old Tai Chi Master is practicing in the park one day. The old Tai Chi masters movements are tranquilly fluid and soft, harmony in motion. The young thug walks up to the old master and states that with one hit he could break the old master’s bones. He then says, “so what good is this slow moving crap anyway?.” The old master simply smiles and offers his arm to the young man and says hit my arm as hard as you want. The young man slams his arm into the master’s and immediately jerks back holding his arm and howling in pain. The old master reaches out his hand and lightly taps the young man’s arm in a couple of different places and eases the temporary paralysis that set into the arm immediately after the strike. Quite surprised, the young man says, “How can this be? Your arm was held out softly but it felt like it had a crowbar in it and how did you fix my arm so fast?” The old master gently smiles and says, “steel wrapped in cotton. This is just one of the many secrets of real Tai Chi.”

In the Tai Chi classic writings there are statements about the proper body quality of Tai Chi practitioner’s being like steel wrapped in cotton. I have had the good fortune to study with several Tai Chi masters who are well versed in the steel wrapped in cotton method which is sometimes referred to as the “Golden Bell Method”. There are not very many Americans who have been exposed to this high level and secret training method of Tai Chi. To help those who desire to know the training methods as described in the Tai Chi Classics I have produced a video, “Internal Iron Body in 100 Days” to help practitioners who are interested to begin training in this highly internal method of Iron Body that leads to the steel wrapped in cotton method.

Steel Wrapped in Cotton is an extremely healthy form of Iron Body training. Iron Body training is designed to make the body very strong and able to withstand powerful strikes without receiving damage and without getting much or any pain. There are different kinds of Iron Body. Some kinds of iron body are quite external and training often involves striking the body and using impact as well as deadening the nerves to build the body up to take stronger and stronger strikes. Generally speaking striking methods of building iron body are not very healthy for you. Tai Chi Steel wrapped in cotton Iron Body Training is “internal” and VERY HEALTHY for you.

Part The Way & Kick

Steel wrapped in cotton is as much a health practice as it is a martial one. There is a lot of confusion about the difference between steel wrapped in cotton and external iron shirt techniques. In order to help avoid confusion please realize that Steel Wrapped in Cotton is very different from external iron shirt and the practice methods are completely different. One important distinction between the two methods is that external iron shirt methods can be hazardous to learn and unsafe to train while steel wrapped in cotton is generally safe to learn, train and practice. Steel wrapped in Cotton is healthy for you and continues to be healthy for you even into very advanced old age.

Another distinctive benefit to training steel wrapped in cotton is that after the basic training all you have to do to maintain steel wrapped in cotton is to continue to properly practice your Tai Chi with the correct internal alignments, breathing and energetics that are the same as required for other high level Tai Chi practices. This makes it so that you are training steel wrapped in cotton every time you practice your Tai Chi so that you are not having to set aside separate training time for your iron body practice. This is a real benefit in our modern world of limited time and allows you to get more bang for your buck from your training time.

Steel wrapped in cotton training helps to build the internal body mechanics and energy that Tai Chi is so famous for and after steel wrapped in cotton is sufficiently trained you can use this energy to help perform other high level Tai Chi health and fighting skills such as Fa Jing (touching an opponent and sending them flying or touching them and causing the force to go inside of them dropping them where they stand), Peng, rooting, immovable body, etc..

Brush Knee

Defensive Applications
Steel Wrapped in Cotton develops the ability to receive, negate & dissipate strikes received. The striker feels like they are hitting a soft pillow with solid steel underneath. This internal quality is a key component of real Tai Chi and it is unmistakable once you have felt it. In the early 1980’s I trained external iron shirt along with my external Kung Fu training and the first time I felt steel wrapped in cotton it did not make sense to me because I did not understand how my instructor could be so soft and so powerful at the same time. With his steel wrapped in cotton he could penetrate my iron shirt and with my training at that time I could not get past even the first layer of his steel wrapped in cotton. This was part of my introduction into the real higher level internal arts that now form the heart and soul of all of my personal training for the last 25 years.

Monkey Retreats

Offensive Applications
When you strike with Steel Wrapped in Cotton you can hit the opponent / attacker anywhere and it will hurt them badly. To the recipient it is like being hit with a heavy crowbar wrapped in a thin layer of cotton. I have also found it to be much like an iron bar that is covered with a thin sheath of rubber covering the steel. Imagine having a heavy black ridged crowbar in your hand and swinging it in a manner so that the weight of it hits the top of an opponents head, collar bone, neck, nose, jaw, or even just on their arm. The strike will normally break, destroy or at least temporarily paralyze whatever it hits. As a result the fight is usually over after just one hit.

The steel wrapped in cotton hit is one basic beginner type of Tai Chi Death Touch. It is referred to as a Touch because of how much damage can be done with so little effort on the part of the practitioner. The practitioner feels very relaxed, calm and soft and to the Tai Chi man it only feels like he is performing a simple strike or touch. The focus of my next article will be on the Tai Chi Death Touch.

In Tai Chi the body mechanics, alignments and ability to use the mind to form and direct your body energy are all part of the study of Tai Chi and eventually many of the advanced practices are designed to work in harmony with each other. Striking with Steel Wrapped in Cotton is simply a matter of training your hands and arms or whatever body part you wish to strike with
(elbows, shoulder, hips, kicks etc) to exhibit the steel wrapped in cotton quality. To that end I have a specific video for iron palm, hand and forearm that are based on the proper training of steel wrapped in cotton for that purpose. That video is titled, “Internal Iron Palm in 100 Days”. It is designed to go hand in hand with the Tai Chi steel wrapped in cotton Golden Bell Covered method.

I thank my many teachers and my creator for the training I have received in these internal Tai Chi methods as I have gained a great amount of personal health benefits from them and the internal Tai Chi steel wrapped in cotton training. I am very honored to be exposing these heretofore secret training methods to the Tai Chi community in the West as I personally believe that in this day and time folks are ready for the real internal teachings that form the basis of high level Tai Chi.

To learn the skills discussed in this article we recommend starting with the “1 Touch Knockouts” package.

Diaphragmatic Breathing is a simple key to true health that can be utilized by most people. I was once told by Dr Wu that Diaphragmatic Breathing commonly referred to in the Chinese arts as lower abdominal breathing or belly breathing was the legendary ancient Chinese health secret.

In truth all breathing is Diaphragmatic Breathing and so although the practice of good lower abdominal breathing or belly breathing is referred to as Diaphragmatic Breathing in Western medicine unfortunately it is no more medically accurate than is belly breathing. I say this because although we focus on our lower abdomen or belly to breathe deeply and correctly we still actually breathe in and out from our lungs and not in and out from our belly in the performance of this type of breathing.

The problem is that most folks as they get older breather higher and higher up in their lungs and I am told that most folks breathe from the very top of their lungs and often from the throat just before they die. Babies and young healthy people when they sleep breathe from low down in their lungs and their bellies rise and fall as they breathe. Many of my Chinese teachers when speaking to me or others about lower abdominal breathing ask the question would you rather breathe like a baby full of life or like an old person who is at death’s door. The obvious answer for anyone who is interested in improving their health is to breathe like a baby with the whole body and with noticeable movement in and out from the belly.

Shallow, chest breathing results in less oxygen transfer to the blood and subsequent poor delivery of nutrients to the tissues which eventually causes poor health and premature death.

Using and learning proper breathing techniques is one of the most beneficial things that can be done for both short and long term physical and emotional health.

Some of the benefits of abdominal diaphragmatic breathing are:

• Boosts energy levels
• Improves stamina
• Decreased heart rate and lower blood pressure
• Increases blood flow and supply of oxygen to every cell in the body including the heart, brain, other organs and musculature.
• Improves cellular regeneration
• Better Elimination of body toxins
• Increase in immune system cells
• Promotes healing
• Strengthens resistance to disease
• Improves Stamina & performance
• Activation of the relaxation response
• Relief of tension and shutting off of stress hormones
• Greater relaxation & conservation of energy
• Helps relieve headaches and anxiety disorders
• Helps Bring body and mind into harmony
• Ability to achieve peace of mind
• Increase of pleasure-inducing neurochemicals in the brain to elevate moods and combat physical pain

Caution! You may experience light-headedness, headache or other similar symptoms when trying abdominal breathing – if you do – stop practicing the breathing method(s) for now and consult a health care professional before continuing as this could be a sign of a serious medical issue that can readily be addressed by proper medical care but if left untreated could be quite serious.

Starting proper breath work
When starting proper breath work it may take a little bit but the real idea here is to learn how to breathe so that you always diaphragmatically breathe as your normal state without having to think about it anymore.

We have a 3 video series on breathwork beginning with Diaphragmatic Breathing that will be available in September.

Tai Chi Chuan, Bagua & Hsing-I Comparison & Contrast (part 3)

Ba Gua practitioners are known for walking, traveling and moving in circles that range from very tight and close circles to circles of about 30 feet in diameter and walking the circle is one the signature practices of Bagua.  In as much as Hsing-I is very confrontational Bagua is very evasionary.  In a legendary fight  between Dong Hai Chuan and a Hsing-I master Kuo Yun Shen supposedly the fight went on for 3 days before Dong Hai Chuan finally landed a hit on Kuo Yun Shen.  (Certainly if the 3 days part of the story is true then it was more likely a friendly sparring and comparing of methods and techniques than a fighting match).  After the “match” the two became great friends and were said to train with / from each other becoming reasonably proficient in each others arts.  If you have read the previous post on Hsing-I then you may have had questions about how someone could even fight such an art let alone beat it.  The basic answer is simple “Move” and “Evade”.  The best way to beat a straight line is to evade by moving in a circle around it.  This is the forte of Bagua.

The actual name of the art is Ba Gua Chang which translates as 8 Diagram(shape) Palm.   As an art Bagua is a mixture of hard and soft often using force but sometimes using softness.  Circles of all shapes and sizes from small non stepping turning and pivoting to rapidly stepping around a large area such as a 30 foot circle are trained.  Many different kinds of stepping are trained and internal energy principles are trained as well.  In Bagua there are many different internal training methods including specific types of energy palms such as iron palm, vibrating palm, poison hand, penetrating palm, crushing palm and others.

Evasion and flanking movement skills are the primary movement of Ba Gua.  Ba Gua will flank and then immediately land a devastating hand strike that is meant to end the fight while still moving so that if the recipient actually survives the strike and continues to attack they will still find the Ba Gua practitioner difficult to hit or even touch as the circle walking and flanking is persistently continual until the situation is concluded.  The art is quite diverse and there are many different styles, moves and patterns to be found in the art of Bagua.  The most common moves / techniques are various kinds of circle walking and with an emphasis on training many various and rapid ways to change direction.  Single Palm Change is the most common move found in all of the Bagua systems even though most of the various styles of bagua have their own version of the move that is slightly different from everyone else’s.

Of the 3 major internal arts Bagua has the most obvious complicated physical hand and movement patterns.  This is not to say that it is better than the other two arts.  Fortunately, efficiency does not have to be complicated on the surface in order to work very well in practice.  So, do not rule out or underestimate the simple appearance of the Hsing-I or flowing movements of the Tai Chi Chuan just because they do not physically appear as sophisticated as bagua.  There is much more going on in the internal arts than meets the eye.

Ba Gua is a barbed wire ball refers to the idea that a good bagua practitioner wraps you up and you feel like you have just tangled with a ball of barbed wire in that you can not hit it but it is all over you and even if you grab it somewhere you are still getting the worst of it. The center of the ball and where and how the ball is striking you can easily change at any time such that you can only find softness that you can not hit with any effect and every time you are hit it is with hardness that you can not stop.

1. Tai Chi Chuan, Bagua & Hsing-I
2. Hsing-I
3. Bagua

Tai Chi Chuan, Bagua & Hsing-I comparison & Contrast (part 2)

One of the first things to know is that of the 3 internal arts Hsing-I (phonetically pronounced as Shing-ee) is generally the easiest and quickest to learn.  As a fighting art it tends to be much more ferociously aggressive and direct in approach than the other two.  The internal alignment training in Hsing-I still takes beginners quite a bit of time to grasp but due to the spirited fighting nature of the art there tends to be better feedback on what you are doing with specific punches and strikes.

Hsing-I is an art that is known for being very linear in approach and generally is practiced while moving forward with a wave motion much like a sine wave.  Often in written materials it is stated that Hsing-i moves in a line or in a linear fashion.  If an opponent is 25 feet away and asked to describe the approach of an attacking Hsing-I practitioner (we are assuming they survived and/or ran away before being ran over) then linear might indeed be the description given.  This vision of the Hsing-I practitioner may be exacerbated by the speed with which a real Hsing-I player covers space which is normally quite rapid.  However, what is generally not well understood and is often missed by folks simply observing the art is how the speed and power are generated. There are quite a few principles at work for proper Hsing-I movement but the one I will specifically mention the most about here is the wave action of the movement.

Hsing-I bends the knees as if going to jump high up in the air but then utilizes this potential energy to cover ground vertically at high speed and without releasing the potential until contact is made with an opponent and even then the goal is to always have more power to deliver at every opportunity.  Most often the art moves in a vertically elliptical circle that causes the sine wave motion that would clearly be seen if the movement of a practitioner was accurately graphed on a chart by someone standing on the side watching the movement.  Often the practitioner is on one leg while the other leg is stepping out and as soon as that leg firmly touches the ground then the other leg is stepping forward.  This principle is based on the movement of a running fighting cock / rooster.

The arms are usually moving in a circular manner first gathering and then striking on the outgoing motion and then striking or defending or both on the next gathering action.  This makes for a continual flurry of motion that is very circular in nature but that is also continually moving in the direction of the opponent without leaving any obvious opening for an opponent to attack or counter attack into.  Picture a moving fan blade that is sitting in a waggon and being wheeled towards you while it is spinning.  A moving fan blade is difficult to poke a stick through when it is sitting in place.  If you put wheels under it and start moving it forward at a rapid pace then the timing and ability to avoid the blades instantly becomes much tougher.

The body integrity of a Hsing-I practitoner is an important part of practice and iron body and palm training are essential elements of training to most Hsing-I practitioners.  When the Hsing-I practitoner gets to an opponent they want to be in the best position with the most power and the fastest full body power strikes from both their hands and feet in an effort to overwhelm and run over the opponent so fully that the opponent will most often end up turned facing away from the Hsing-I practitoner immediately after the first contact.

There are five primary moves in Hsing-I.  Three of those moves are punches, one of them is an open hand strike and the other one emphasizes the forearm. There are other types of movements and strikes in Hsing-I.  However, they are directly based off of the 5 primary movements.  Hsing-I punches are performed with whole body power and momentum.

1. Tai Chi Chuan, Bagua & Hsing-I
2. Hsing-I
3. Bagua

I find that I commonly get asked quite a few questions about the 3 main internal arts of Tai Chi Chuan, Bagua & Hsing-I. These questions include but are not limited to:

1. How are they different?
2. How are they the same?
3. Is one of the internal arts better than the others?
4. Which one of them is better for fighting?
5. Which of the internal arts best applies internal energy for fighting?
6. Are all of the 3 main internal arts equally healthy for you?
7. Which one should I study?
8. Which one should I study first if I want or plan to study more than one?
9. What really separates these arts?
10. Can they work together?

I will attempt to answer some of these questions in my next few posts and shed some light on these arts at the same time. This will obviously be a comparison and contrast of Hsing-I, bagua and Tai Chi Chuan but I hope to accomplish a bit more than that with this series of posts on these 3 internal arts.

All 3 of these arts are Chinese Internal Fighting arts that utilize the training of specific body mechanics including internal and external alignments as well as the training of the mind and chi energy. All three arts have very different approaches to fighting although at times they are similar and will use similar motions to one another. Once you have trained in any one of them and then try out one of the others the difference in approach and methods is quite apparent and only after you have studied the more in depth aspects for quite some time do they begin to seem more like part of the same bigger picture.

Hsing-I is an art that is known for being very linear in approach and generally is practiced while moving forward with a wave motion much like a sine wave. Ba Gua practitioners are known for traveling and moving in circles that range from very tight and close circles to circles of about 30 feet in diameter and walking the circle is one the signature practices of Bagua. Tai Chi Chuan practitioners are known for practicing slowly because that is what is most often publicly demonstrated. Tai Chi Chuan practitioners focus much more on the idea of controlling the immediate space around them and although there is plenty of movement the fighting method is best thought of as a more stationary practice than Hsing-I or Ba Gua. I will elaborate on these ideas in upcoming posts.

Of the 3 internal arts Hsing-I is the one that generally uses the most force and is harder. Bagua is more often a mixture of hard and soft often using force but sometimes using softness. Tai Chi Chuan can have hard aspects in it but is most known and most practiced at the high levels as a soft art where the application of hard force is discouraged and softness is desired.

I will leave you with this for now. One of my teachers who knew all 3 internal arts and enjoyed them all equally had a saying that he rather liked. It goes as follows.

Hsing-I is a Metal Ball.
Bagua is a Barbed Wire Ball.
Tai Chi Chuan is an Energy Ball.

Until next time.
Good training to you.
All the Best.
Sifu

1. Tai Chi Chuan, Bagua & Hsing-I
2. Hsing-I
3. Bagua

Tai Chi Entries & Trapping $179
Run Time: 126 min
Format: NTSC DVD-R
Orders received on or before Aug 1st will ship on Aug 2nd.

On this DVD Sigung Clear gives you clear & in depth instruction on the principles that Tai Chi uses to enter & trap an opponent.

You Will Learn:

• Tai Chi Entry principles & freestyle drills & exercises
• Specific Entries for Moves in the Clear’s Combat Tai Chi Set
• Tai Chi Trapping
• Hidden Trapping
• Internal Trapping
• And More…

The last Combat Tai Chi workshop was a lot of fun and we covered a lot of great topics including Fajing, Dim Mak, Street Apps, Entries, Trapping & more. The next workshop is shaping up to be just as exciting but the end of August will be here before you know it. So here’s a little special for those of you who register early.

Register for the next Combat Tai Chi workshop before Aug 17th and receive a coupon for $50 off your next purchase from ClearsTaiChi.com or ClearSilat.com

Click here for all the information about the next Combat Tai Chi workshop and click on “add to cart” to register and receive your $50 coupon.

Here’s a new study that shows the effects of Tai Chi rehabilitation on heart rate responses in patients with coronary artery disease.

“In conclusion, participating in a six-month Tai Chi exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation program was associated with improved peak RPP and RPP reserve during exercise testing in patients with CAD. Tai Chi exercise program may lead to a better prognosis for cardiac events in patients with CAD.”

Click Here to see the study.

Wu Style Tai Chi as taught in the Wu Ch’uan-yu lineage is characterized by small frame movements and small circle hand techniques mixed with some large frame circular movements. In small frame Tai Chi every little movement has specific meaning and purpose and as a consequence there is a lot of attention to detail. The entire body is used and each turn, twist, rise, fall and rocking motion has multiple applications. Also, within each movement, there are applications for every part of the body.

One of the distinguishing characteristics of the style is a specific lean forward from the waist that is unique to Wu style. All real Tai Chi is concerned with body connection and specifically the connection of the upper and lower body. The lean that is immediately discernible in Wu Tai Chi is so that the body connection is easily made even by beginners to the style. As a result of this training method the level of Chi that can be felt from the practice of Wu style is quite noticeable.

There are two major Tai Chi styles with the name Wu. The characters and pronunciation of the two Wu’s are different from one another and the families are not related.

Wu Chien-ch’üan, the son of Wu Ch’uan-yu became the most widely known teacher in his family, and is therefore considered the co-founder of the Wu style by his family and their students. He taught large numbers of people and his refinements to the art more clearly distinguish Wu style from Yang style training.

Another important aspect of training in Wu Chien-ch’üan style Tai Chi is the emphasis on Push Hands techniques. Wu style is known for having a very comprehensive push hands training regimen and practitioners of the style consider it to be the most comprehensive push hands training of any of the Tai Chi styles.

Ma Yueh Liang married Wu Ying-hua the grandaughter of Wu Chien-ch’üan in the 1920’s and as a result he was accepted as a direct family member and learned the art directly from Wu Chien-ch’üan. Master Ma and Wu Ying-hua were both famous for the quality of their Tai Chi in the 1930’s. In his lifetime Master Ma did much to refine and help spread the art of Wu Tai Chi including creating a freestyle form of Push Hands that became quite prevalent in Shanghai in the late 1980’s.

I had the pleasure and the privilege to study from Master Ma in 1995. My visit was shown in an article in Inside Kung Fu with a picture of me demonstrating the Wu form for Master Ma and his wife. The Push Hands that I learned from Master Ma took me deep into the real internal aspects of Tai Chi and have profoundly influenced my studies in the art ever since for which I am eternally grateful.

1. Tai Chi Styles
2. Martial Tai Chi
3. Chen Style Tai Chi
4. Yang Style Tai Chi
5. Wu Style Tai Chi

Yang Style Tai Chi is known for its soft, graceful, flowingly expansive movements that ooze with peaceful tranquility to practice or watch.

Yang Style Tai Chi began with Yang Lu Chan. He studied with Chen Changxing the 14th generation Chen style master. Yang Lu-ch’an (and some would say the art of tai chi chuan in general) came to prominence as a result of his being hired by the Chinese Imperial family to teach tai chi chuan to the elite Palace Battalion of the Imperial Guards in 1850, a position he held until his death

Yang Style was passed from Yang Lu Chan to his sons Yang Ban Hou and Yang Jian Hou who then passed the art to his grandsons Yang Shao Hou and Yang Cheng Fu. Yang Cheng Fu became the most famous teaching the Yang family art far and wide. As a result Yang family Tai Chi is now the most popular Tai Chi in the world.

Today, as a result of the teaching of Yang Cheng Fu, Yang Style Tai Chi is characterized by upright postures that maintain body alignment and that are usually taught in very large postures known as large frame. The art is generally practiced slowly, smoothly and peacefully like water and usually only a trained eye can pick up the martial aspects of the Yang style Tai Chi. Sung or Soong relaxed softness is emphasized and the moves can be practiced at a low, medium or high height depending on the ability of the practitioner. The art is known to be quite healthy and martial at the same time.

The Yang Style Tai Chi fighting art is taught in the Yang Family secret transmissions and includes a wide variety of techniques including hand and foot strikes, locks, throws and energetics including the 36 primary jings. The Fa Jing or explosive energy in Yang style is best known as the type where the practitioner barely moves or does not move at all and the opponent is explosively thrown or popped 6 – 25 feet away.

Dim Mak is also an important part of the Yang Family Tai Chi style art and really involves developing the sensitivity to feel inside of an opponent so that a strike or and energy can be directed into the opponent to an exact organ or area thereby incapacitating or seriously injuring an opponent.

This is Part 4 of 5.

1. Tai Chi Styles
2. Martial Tai Chi
3. Chen Style Tai Chi
4. Yang Style Tai Chi
5. Wu Style Tai Chi