The other day, I was training in Yiquan with my friend and teacher, Gary Wass. I was talking about how my Xingyiquan form was lacking in power. And he said something along the lines of Yiquan simply being the engine that you can put into any form. Coincidentally, this idea of a core basis of effort or power in each of the main internal martial arts styles had been percolating in my mind ever since taking a five-day workshop with Grandmaster Chen Xiaoxing. At that workshop, I realized that all of the Chen Taijiquan form is simply applying various strikes, kicks, grabs and take-downs to the Chán Sī Jìn (纏絲勁) or Silk Reeling Energy movement. I also realized that nearly identical concepts were used for the Mud-dragging Step (趟泥步 “Tàng Ní Bù") of Baguazhang.
To be clear from the get-go, I am skeptical, at best, of the idea that being totally relaxed and visualizing qì flow through the meridians during meditation is going to give a person this kind of expression of power. With all due respect to Chinese traditional concepts about qì (氣) cultivation, I would postulate that the internal styles of Chinese martial arts (Taijiquan, Baguazhang and Xingyiquan) are not about cultivating something like a Jedi Force.
Rather, they are different from the so-called external styles because they focus intensely on slow, internal muscle and tendon strength-building exercises. As any Taiji or Yiquan practitioner worth their salt will tell you, these exercises take time, energy, and a lot of painful and tiresome work to achieve this internal strength or kung fu. These internal exercise techniques inform the movements and build speed and power for the martial applications of their respective styles. They can also inform and compliment each other. To use Gary’s analogy, these are the engines of the internal styles.
Arguably and most probably the oldest of the internal styles is Chen Family Taijiquan, originally known simply as Chen Family Boxing (Chén Jiā Quán 陳家拳). What made this fighting style so famous and coveted was the Silk Reeling Energy. The Chen clan aristocracy created a systematic way of teaching how to add power to fighting techniques. While the Chen family emphasizes Post Standing (Zhàn zhuāng 站樁) as a core strengthening exercise, Silk Reeling is the engine that adds crucial intention and key movement to the Post Standing.
The fundamental principle in Baguazhang is circle walking (Zǒu Quān 走圈). Mud-dragging Step is the key intentional exercise applied to circle walking that provides the engine for Baguazhang. There are two different versions of Mud-dragging Step: one, promoted by the Cheng style, that emphasizes driving forward in long steps pushing off with the ball of the rear foot; and the other, promoted by the Ma Gui and Liang styles, which emphasizes pushing off the heel of the rear foot, thereby keeping the foot parallel to the ground at all times. Each one strengthens different sets of leg muscles and I’m not convinced that one is better than the other. There is a very informative article that describes these differences in the Pa Kua Chang Journal.
While viewed as a distinct martial art, I would suggest that Yiquan is the engine for Xingyiquan. I’ve come to believe that without practicing the various training techniques of Yiquan, including Post Standing variations and Test of Power exercises, merely standing in Three-Body Posture or Sān Tǐ Shì (三體式) or practicing the five-element forms will either deny the practitioner the kung fu of Xingyiquan or will at least delay the ability to achieve it.
These three engines are really not so different from one another. In fact, not only are there real similarities in concepts, in some cases there are even identical movements. Gary said that Yiquan is just an engine that you can put into any vehicle or form. The same is true for Silk Reeling and Mud-dragging. Our late Sifu, Gregory Fong, did just that. He used Yiquan practices for Taijiquan and Praying Mantis forms. I’ve begun to use Silk-Reeling in the Chaquan Yilu form and to use Yiquan for some of the Emei forms that I know. And I’ve mixed all three into my Baguazhang practice. If it works, use it. Because ultimately, it’s about strength, conditioning and release of physical power.
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