I recently received Byron Jacob’s comprehensive reference book on xingyiquan “Dragon Body, Tiger Spirit” as a birthday gift. The more I read through the book, the more I realised how thorough the book is, certainly Read more…
One thing that is fascinating to me about traditional CMA is discovering connections between teachers from traditions that were ostensibly separate but were around the CMA scene at the same time. One such connection I Read more…
In early June I sat down for a fun conversation centering on Song style xingyiquan in Beijing with Raphael Smith (dialling in via Zoom), ably hosted by xingyiquan lover Byron Jacobs, who is an accomplished Read more…
In lieu of my May training update, I’d instead like to share a fun interview between myself and Robbie Coons, a long-time practitioner of the 3 internal arts (taiji, bagua and xingyi) and also a Read more…
The next teacher in our Xingyi Roots series was Tang Shengjun, whose great-grandfather, Tang Weilu, was another prominent disciple of Li Cunyi. After being forgotten for most of the 20th century, Tang was again catapulted Read more…
I recently had the opportunity to be part of a mini-documentary series filmed by my friend Will, a fellow kungfu aficionado who runs the informative website and Youtube channel Monkey Steals Peach (https://monkeystealspeach.com/). As part Read more…
Many xingyi practitioners will be familiar with the ‘3 stages of development’ codified by Guo Yunshen, dividing the power generated by a xingyi practitioner into ming jin [obvious power], an jin [hidden power] and the Read more…
Flicking through Dan Miller and Tim Cartmell’s excellent book ‘Xingyi Neigong” (pictured below) the other day, I was curious about the master Wang Jiwu, whose exercises are profiled therein. It turns out Wang’s branch of Read more…
Shang Ji was an unusual figure in the CMA world in that he was both a respected academic (a Professor of Mechanics at Xi’an Jiaotong University) and also a well-known master of Hebei Xingyiquan. The Read more…
Readers who have been following the internal martial arts (IMA) for a while and in particular xingyi enthusiasts will have heard of the book Xingyi Neigong by Tim Cartmell and Dan Miller (originally published way Read more…