Grandmaster Cohen teaches the popular Yang Style Taiji Quan, noted for its gentleness, and the original Chen Style Taiji Quan, with dynamically changing rhythms– like crashing waves and slow retreating tides. Students may also learn Taiji Sensitivity Training (Push Hands and Taiji Ruler), Taiji Self-Defense, and Sport Weaponry (Staff, Sword, and Saber).

 

The Taiji Quan martial artist learns to move away from aggression, “neutralizing” it like a stream flowing around a rock. Taiji Quan has proven effects on pulmonary function, cardiovascular health (especially blood pressure), and balance. It was the first Chinese self-healing art to appear in the Journal of the American Medical Association and other peer-reviewed journals.

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Cultivate a Tai Chi Mind & Life. Get started or deepen your practice by learning all of the core movements --the entire first section of Yang Style Tai Chi-- in seven 90 minute pre-recorded classes, a complete course originally hosted by the Shift Network, each class viewable whenever you wish. Includes lifetime access to written, audio, and video materials. In addition to detailed instruction and review of techniques, Ken Cohen explains how to improve posture and breathing, basic martial arts applications, and keys to relaxation and mental tranquility. https://shiftnetwork.isrefer.com/go/tcmlKC/a21677/

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Bagua Zhang 八卦掌

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Bagua Zhang trains the body and palms (zhang) to move in circular patterns (bagua). It is generally considered the most mysterious of the Inner Martial Arts. The founder of Bagua Zhang was nursed back to health by Taoist priests who taught him their healing and martial art. Bagua Zhang is a superb art for cultivating flexibility and rooted strength. When applied to self-defense, the Bagua boxer imagines that the attacker is the center of his or her circle. She whirls around the attacker with a combination of ingenious locks, throws, and strikes.

 

Xing Yi Quan 形意拳

 

Xing Yi Quan (Body Mind Boxing) is based on five linear strikes, each related to one of

the Five Elements of Chinese philosophy:

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• Splitting moves like an ax chopping wood (Metal Element) and benefits the lungs.

• Crushing darts out like a wooden arrow (Wood Element) and benefits the liver.

• Drilling coils like a meandering stream (Water Element) and stimulates the kidneys.

• Pounding explodes like a canon ball (Fire Element) and is related to the heart.

• Crossing trains diagonal footwork (Earth Element) and benefits the spleen.

 

After learning the Five Elements, students progress to the Twelve Animal

Movements: Dragon, Tiger, Monkey, Chicken, Sparrow, Hawk, Lizard, Horse,

Phoenix, Snake, Eagle, and Bear. As a martial art, Xing Yi Quan is quite different from

Taiji Quan and Bagua Zhang. The practitioner never retreats. He or she moves towards

the opponent, defending and counterattacking at the same time.

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Yi Quan 意拳

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Yi Quan 意拳 (The Mind-Intent Martial Art) is one of the most comprehensive systems of martial arts, health cultivation, and meditative movement, the legacy of esteemed Master Wang Xiangzhai. A great foundation in the core elements of posture, breathing, and coordination, as suitable for complete beginners as for advanced practitioners. Unlike Tai Chi, it does not require learning a long and complex choreography. Rather, the emphasis is on awaking one's natural, inborn potential. Yi Quan includes Standing Meditation, Walking Meditation, Shi Li (“Experimenting with Force”), Methods of Receiving, Sending, and Moving Energy to improve coordination, Healing Imagery Meditations, Fa Jin (Discharging Power for martial arts or sports), one-on-one postural therapy, Jian Wu (Health Dance: improvisational and creative combinations of techniques in flowing patterns), and much more. A 7 module pre-recorded Yi Quan course (90 minute per session) is available, including lifetime access to the videos, downloadable transcripts, a study guide, and a bonus gift of audio, video, and written materials. Detailed information and ordering info here: https://shiftnetwork.isrefer.com/go/yqqcKC/a21677/

 

 

A Note on Supernatural Abilities 

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What about the stories that made qigong famous (and infamous) in China during the 1980s and 90s? Examples include using qigong to dodge arrows, qigong to strike people without touching them (ling kong jing), qigong invisibility, light weight qigong (qing gong) to jump 20 or more feet in the air (as demonstrated in Chinese martial arts movies), driving bamboo chopsticks through tables, reading words through an opaque sealed envelope, using palm energy to start fires, and so on. When the founder of Yi Quan was asked about these, he, like other masters, frowned on such tricks and exclaimed, ” ‘Ping chang ji shi fei chang!’ The ordinary is the extraordinary! I contend that invisibility is the art of being unnoticed, and light weight qigong means to take oneself lightly. People who are successful at living are already adept at dodging arrows.

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