An Introduction to the YiQuan:
A Pragmatic View into the Internal Martial Arts
By Rick Matz"The heart of the study of boxing is to have natural instinct resemble the dragon." — Wang Xiang Zhai
YiQuan is an internal Chinese martial art that does not rely on forms, techniques, or a theory of training based upon traditional Chinese medicine. YiQuan aims at the root of martial arts training: the pure expression of the practitioner's intent.
YiQuan is often identified with its most basic exercise: standing still like a stake in the ground. The signature training method of YiQuan is the use of visualizations and imagery to train the body.
History of YiQuan
In China during the 1920s Wang Xiang Zhai, an internal martial art master of XingYiquan, became dissatisfied with the state of martial arts that was being practiced around him.
He felt that martial arts teachers and students, even his own, were more concerned with the performance of forms and development of techniques than with the emphasis of "developing one's intent."
Dispensing with the distracting forms and techniques, Wang Xiang Zhai developed an internal training system that worked directly at strengthening the student's intention and ability to respond to that intention as the decisive characteristic of a martial art.
Wang Xiang Zhai taught a handful of exercises and a different way to thinking about them. The generation of teachers who followed Wang put their own emphasis on different aspects of the practice they had learned, as their disposition suited them and as their students responded. Some teachers today, for example, teach a small set of exercises and expect the student to develop and explore the variations on their own. Other teachers explicitly teach a large number of variations to deliberately lead the student through certain experiences in body movement.
Wang Xiang Zhai also taught each of his students how to discover their own unique art.
Wang Xiang Zhai, the founder of YiQuan, practicing a basic posture of his system
The Positives of YiQuan
YiQuan teaches the practitioner to relax regardless of the surroundings. As you become more relaxed, you accrue many common-sense health benefits. Nothing needs to be more complex than that.
The first thing you might notice is that you sleep better. When you sleep well, you feel better, are more alert, your body works better, you have more energy, and so on. You become more sensitive about what your body feels: the effects of what you eat and drink and your environment. As you relax, you have less of a need to eat to relieve stress, for example, and other nervous compulsions seem to drop away.
You create 'space' around you. In this space, the stresses of life become somewhat diffused, so you have less stress and can look at things more objectively. You become less worried about time. What is considered important becomes more refined. You will find it easier to drop things that don't add something positive to your life.
You'll find that your reaction time becomes quicker. With the quicker reaction time and the psychological space, you can better respond to what happens around you, rather than just reacting.
A result of all of this is that you become … more relaxed and so set up a cycle of positive feedback, improving your physical and mental health.
YiQuan practice doesn't require a special space, such as a training matt or special equipment. You can practice wherever you are. While partner practice is of huge benefit, you'll spend most of your time training on your own so you don't have to depend on the availability of someone else.
