www.Longfei-Taiji.co.uk	Longfei Taijiquan Association of Great Britain
		Longfei Newsletter Volume 7 Issue 1

Yiquan Part II: Orgins and Benefits

In the last issue we included an article by Karel Koskuba describing some Yiquan exercises. Here we take a step backwards and look at the origins of Yiquan and benefits of training. These ideas can be thought provoking and good insights to the way forward to improve our understanding of taijiquan and its application. Should you have any thoughts or queries on these ideas why not air them in these columns.

What is Yiquan? Yiquan (pronounced ee-chwen), sometimes called Dachengquan, is a fairly new martial art - it was created in the 1920s by Wang Xiangzhai (1885-1963). Wang Xiangzhai sought out the best martial artists of his time on his quest to discover the 'essence of boxing'. He then created his new art by dropping, over a period of time, anything that he came to consider as non-essential or that could be replaced by something that gave better or quicker results. Gradually, the mental aspects came to dominate all parts of the training. To emphasise the importance of mind, both in training and its use, he decided to call his art yiquan - 'yi' means 'mind' or 'intent' and 'quan' means 'fist' or 'boxing'. The name was probably arrived at by dropping 'Xing' (form or shape) from 'xingyiquan', probably the most influential of the arts that went into creating yiquan (though baguazhang, with its footwork and taijiquan with its neutralising and pushing hands are not far behind).

Eventually, he came to see Yiquan not as a martial art or a system of health exercises but as a "path to the truth" and a way to gain "absolute freedom". On the way, however, he had plenty of opportunities to test its value as a martial art. He considered all schools of martial arts to be defective and "taking the students further away from the goal". He made no attempt to keep his views to himself and when he moved to Beijing, in the late 1930s, Wang Xiangzhai issued a public challenge to his fellows martial artists to "exchange ideas and learn from each other". In view of his public comments, there was no shortage of challengers. Any challenger had to defeat one of Wang Xiangzhai's top four students first but none succeeded. The four students were Han Xingqiao, Hong Lianshun, Yao Zongxun (Wang Xiangzhai's eventual successor) and Zhou Ziyan. Yiquan quickly gained a reputation for its combat effectiveness (and later on for its health benefits).

At this time, Wang Xiangzhai abandoned the name yiquan as he felt that having a name bound the art to its image. His students and the public, in view of its successes, started to call the art Dachengquan (Great Achievement Boxing) and Wang Xiangzhai, after some initial resistance, accepted the name. However, he later reverted to using the name yiquan again, as he felt that it fitted the art better.

Yiquan Training

The complete training consists of seven steps:

Zhan Zhuang (Pole Standing)

Shi Li (Testing of Strength) - simple exercises for learning how to keep the whole-body connection and whole-body strength whilst moving (this stage is equivalent to practising forms in other internal martial arts) - in other words, learning how to integrate mobilisers and stabilisers in movement.

Mo Ca Bu (Friction Step) - learning how to keep the whole-body connection and whole-body strength whilst stepping.

Fa Li (Release of Power) - learning how to 'release' power (fa-jin training). How to release in any direction and with any part of the body.

Tui Shou (Pushing Hands) - this stage is similar to taijiquan's pushing hands. Also can be viewed as the previous three stages with a partner. Also called Dance of Death (- just a joke!).

Shi Shengx (Testing of Voice) - learning to augment power and integrate the centre of the body in a more natural way using breathing musculature.

Ji Ji Fa (Combat Practice) - fixed and free sparring drills and sparring.

Yiquan for health

Most posture and musculo-skeletal problems seem to be caused by the misuse of mobilisers that are usurping the role of stabilisers. Due to their low endurance characteristics, they cannot do the job adequately. Thus it is no use to tell people who slump to 'straighten up'. They will naturally use their mobilisers to lift their posture with the inevitable result that the muscles will get tired and hurt and so they will slump again. To do any kind of conscious movement, it is only natural to use mobilisers. This is where zhan zhuang training of yiquan can help. It is ideally suited for correcting all kinds of problems stemming from the imbalance between stabilisers and mobilisers. And I think the training gives quicker results when compared to other therapies, like the Alexander technique and the Feldenkreis method (and is probably less expensive, too).

There are other benefits stemming from the emphasis on tranquillity and very slow and careful movements. It obviously helps with any stress-related problems, and problems with co-ordination and balance. It is an excellent method of regulating one's metabolism and sleep pattern.

After the Shi Li training, students are taught (if that is the right word) Health Dance in which they link different exercises in a spontaneous manner.

What I have been describing is how to gain control over muscles that we are not even aware of. Clearly, any movement using stabilisers must seem powered by something else than muscles. In Chinese culture, qi is a cause of movement so it is not surprising that the kind of movement I've been describing would be attributed to qi. We have seen how this 'qi' is trained by the mind (awareness) and activated by the mind. Sometimes 'bone breathing' or 'bone squeezing' methods are used to 'congeal qi into bones'. This is just another way of gaining awareness of the deep muscular structures. Awareness of the stabilisers is felt like a tightness round the bones. Due to the structure of slow-twitch fibres, deliberate use of stabilisers produces more heat than is usual. This can be felt and it is different from a similar, but smaller, effect in the skin brought about by relaxation. Both of these effects, but especially the heat produced deeper in the body, are often taken as a sign of increased 'qi' flow.

Karel Koskuba

Longfei Newsletter Volume 7 Issue 1 Table of Contents