Post on 03-Jun-2018
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leads to physical laxness and diminished consciousness. *eep your eyes forward as ifloo%ing at
a distant cloud. tand comfortably erect with the hands naturally at your sides, heels
together
with the feet forming an angle of approximately + degrees.
ext, slide your left foot a small comfortable step straight forward in the direction towhich the
toes of your left foot are pointing and move it one foot s width to your left. The anglebetween
&our "eet should !e neither perpendi%ular nor parallel$ This step is %alled inga u ( )$
The size of the small step should be comfortable such that you can easily lift your leftfoot off
the ground without assistance from your right leg. Too large a step sacrifices mobilityand too
small a step sacrifices stability/ choose a comfortable, neutral step size. Twist yourbody left
slightly/ shift your weight bac% and down onto your right leg, bending both legsslightly ( i 0u
Fei Zhi, ? )$ Your weight distri!ution is *+ on &our le"t leg and -+ on&our right leg.
placing the body in the optimal stance for uic%, smooth forward or bac%wardmovement. The
weight on the left leg should be biased toward the ball of your left foot/ do not put
much weight
on &our le"t heel !ut do not li"t &our le"t heel o"" the ground (Zu /en 'ei 0u, ?? ? )$
1isualize s ueezing a balloon between your %nees (or visualize imaginary springsconnecting
your %nees)/ the weight on the right leg should be biased toward the inside edge andthe ball of
your right foot.
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2o not twist the torso/ align the shoulder over the hip. 1isualize sitting on a high stoolwith a
string pulling the top of your head upward. These results in an intentional mildvertical tension
"
on your spine that both pushes up and pulls down, yielding an internal isometric that3i uan
%alls an 1opposing "or%e pair2 (Shang 0ia Zheng #i, )$
1isualize directing a small force in your left %nee forward and upward and a smallforce in your
right hip bac%ward and downward, thus creating a mild forward&bac%ward opposingforce pair
(3ian Hou Zheng #i, )$
4ift your hands up with the palms facing inwards. The left hand should be forwardover your
left foot, left of your central line, slightly higher than shoulder level, palm facing yournose.
Hold your right hand slightly lower than your left, at approximately shoulder level infront of
your body, right of the central line, palm facing your chest. 3our right hand should beslightly
closer to your torso than your left. 5end and separate your fingers/ visualize holdingcotton balls
!etween &our "ingers$ 4eep all 5oint !ent with angles larger than 6+ degrees
(0ing 3u #i Zhi,
)$
1isualize holding a large imaginary balloon between your chest and arms. pply bothinward
(7-+ ) and outward (7*+ ) pressure through the arms (Heng 8heng Shuao, )
%reating a mild lateral opposing "or%e pair (Heng 0iang Zheng #i, )
!etween the
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arms. 2o not crush the imaginary balloon/ do not let the balloon drop.
2irect all the aforementioned actions with your focus attention and mind-intent/ donot use any
!rute strength (Yong Yi u Yong #i, )$ 9se mus%ulos eletal supportto maintain
your posture/ relax the antagonistic muscles. The re uirements for the other bodyelements are
as follows!
Head! *eep the head and nec% erect (stand tall)/ slightly tuc% in your chin as ifholding a small
imaginary balloon between your chin and nec%. 6magine a string pulling the top ofyour head
upwards (Tou 0u #ing, ?? )$ elax the "a%ial mus%les. maintain almost asmile$ The
greatest residual tensions are found in the face and nec%.
Teeth! 4et the teeth lightly touch/ do not bite down hard.
Tongue! llow the tongue to lie naturally, slightly retracted, or rest the tip on theupper palate
of your mouth.
7outh! 8art the lips (mouth) slightly.
ose! 5reathe naturally. 2o not pay conscious attention to your breathing and do notlengthen
or hold your breath.
9yes! 5roaden your focus, expanding your peripheral vision. 6magine loo%ing througha light
fog. 1isualize seeing the blue color s%y. s your training progresses to include thecombat
mindset, narrow your focus to a faraway ob:ect, li%e watching a bird flying near adistant cloud.
9ars! 4isten uietly, passively, as if to the sound of falling rain.
#
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houlders! The shoulders should be down and relaxed. lightly round your upperbac% and
hollow your chest.
5ac%! The spine should be naturally straight, neutrally erect. ;elax your lower bac%and let it
fill out as if sitting on a high stool.
9lbows! 8rop your elbows out to the sides, but %eep them lower than the shoulders.8rop out
7*+ . hug in 7-+ (8heng San ao 3i, )$ ;isuali
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should be small enough such that you can comfortably lift your front foot withoutstraining your
rear leg, allowing for uic% forward or bac%ward movement.
>hile maintaining this small step posture with comfortable natural ease and minimummuscular
tension, you will use directed mental imagery to guide your intentional ?motionlessmovement 2
( u ong Zhi ong, ) to a%hie=e three goals:
".
#.
$.
@ultivate mind-body relaxation from stillness,
ynthesize your neuromuscular actions from this mind-body relaxed state to develop
whole-body harmony, and
Ase euro-4inguistic 8rogramming ( 48) to achieve total control of your
neuromuscular relaxation and tension exchanges, to merge all force components as?oneB.
This stillness training, using proprioceptors to sense and develop the stimuli of theconcurrent
se uential overlapping movement of :oints and muscles to transmit force through theground
path (this term is "rom >i e Sigman) to an impa%t point, is %alled >o #i ( )$ The resulting
small mo=ement is %alled 1motion in stillness2 (?ing Zhong Zhi ong, ? )$You must
minimize and internalize these movements but you must not remain absolutely still.
$
.
8ulti=ate elaxation "rom Stillness ( ? )
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e"ore attempting an& mentall& dire%ted (Yi @ian You ao, ? ) exer%ises, &ou must
learn to be mentally and physically relaxed. tand in Hun 3uan Chuang. 6magine
holding a
large fragile light weight imaginary balloon between your chest and arms/ visualizeholding
cotton balls between your fingers and balloons in your armpits. 2o not crush theballoons or the
cotton balls and do not drop them.
".
#.
$.
5reathe naturally through your nose/ do not lengthen or hold your breath.
Ase musculos%eletal support/ maintain your posture, relax all antagonistic muscles.
'ocus your attention on mind-body relaxation.
1isualize that you are positioning your body into a comfortable natural posture to?ta%e a rest with
no conscious mind-intentB. 2o not be conscious of meeting the re uirements of theposture/ assume
you have mastered them. ;elax and let your weight pass through your s%eletalstructure to the
ground$ An maintaining &our !od& posture or "rame (?ian ?ia, ? ), optimum
%onne%tedBness (#ian
Tong Yi /uan, ?? ? ), alignment, and equili!rium, some mus%les will !e in astate o" slight
tension. ;elax and let your subconscious responses instinctively maintain yourbalance and
reproduce the feeling of relaxation. 6n relaxed standing, relaxed does not meanabsolutely lac%ing of
tension, slac%ened, slumped down, physically lax, careless or indifferent. 6ndeed thereis tension
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within relaxation/ there is relaxation within tension/ one begets the other (explore andexamine the
opposites)$ The proper relaxationCtension ex%hange (Song ?in Zhuan Huan,
? ) and
whole-body harmony must be maintained. The relaxation desired is relaxation of themuscles and
attitude/ not that of attention. 5eginners sometimes mista%e limp-ness (physical slac%-ness) with
relaxed-ness and therefore slump and slac%en. This is wrong.
5.
e=elop 'holeB!od& Harmon& "rom elaxation ( ! )
>hen you can attain mind-body relaxation on demand, you may begin the %inestheticperceptive
pra%ti%e o" >o #i ( )$ elaxed standing "ighting posture training (?i ?iZhuang, " ), uses
mental dire%ted a%ti=it& in a relati=el& stationar& posture to exe%ute mus%ulartension (?in, ) and
relaxation (Song, ) ex%hanges. use inestheti% per%eption and sel"Bexploration$ This 1motionless
mo=ement2 ( u ong Zhi ong, ) training s&nthesi
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@.
Total 8ontrol o" @euromus%ular elaxationCTension Ex%hanges ( ? ? $ )
>hen you have mastered the whole-body harmony of action and force, you shouldincrease the
switching speed from one direction to another so it becomes a blurred, fuzzycontinuum. 7ove
from sensing resistance in a single direction to sensing it in multiple directionssimultaneously
and no direction in particular. 3ou should see% a mental state of emptiness that is yethyper-
aware, which affords the greatest potential for effectively releasing the balanced force.6t is not
F
necessary to focus your mind-intent yet you are ready to react in all directionsinstantaneously
with no conscious thin%ing. 6n essence, you relegate your actions to your un-conscious response.
3our mind enters a ?fuzzyB state in which you are in a state of high focus attention,ready to
move in any direction. This is the coordinated whole-body harmony unity withalertness and
readiness for action for which 3i uan strives. 6f unprovo%ed, there is no reaction.However, any
stimulus will draw uic% smooth spontaneous reactions with an explosion of yourbalanced force.
This mental state is similar to that of good swimmers forgetting the presence of thewater
through which they are moving.
2.
e=elop Spontaneous e"lexes ( ? % )
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Hun 3uan Chuang is used in @risis ;ehearsal and euro-4inguistic 8rogramming( 48) to
internalize maneuvers into spontaneous reflexes. tand in the small step on-guardposture.
>ithout any external physical movement, mentally visualize a crisis in which youneed to fight.
3our mind is most susceptible to visualization suggestions when you are relaxed andstill (Ging,
? )$ Pla& a mental mo=ie o" the entire %on"li%tC%on"rontation with &ou using thesele%ted
maneuver&techni ue/ executing it perfectly. 3ou must %now the correctactions&movements of a
maneuver before you can visualize using it. This crisis rehearsal, with you coming outon top,
will send positive signals to your brain/ reinforce and encode your neural transmitters,sensors
and muscles to perform this maneuver&techni ue. This is called imaging in 48.4arge
numbers of repetitive visualization will ingrain the s%ills to become spontaneousreflexes, help
you to stay relaxed when you need to use the s%ills for real. 6t is important to be incontrol of
your visual image/ start with slow motion to picture the successful execution of eachpart of your
maneuver or techni ue/ speed up only when they become natural. 2o not introduce
any negative
image. This mental practice is even more effective if you feel (%inestheticallyperceive, Ti ;en,
# ? ) as well as see (=isuali
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i.e., visualizing motions that you cannot perform. 5e positive, visualize successfulexecution/
eliminate negative mental distractions.
1 oxing with no pre%on%ei=ed method. the mind holding no deli!erate thought.methodBlessBness
and empty-minded-ness are the awa%ening to the true %nowledge. 2
6n this article we have discussed the practice of Hun 3uan Chuang and introduced theconcept
of opposing force pairs called Cheng 4i. Cheng 4i is at the core of, and inseparablefrom, all
3i uan exercises. Hun 3uan Chuang should be practiced with the intent ofstrengthening your
combat mindset, courage, and confidence while cultivating the whole-body balancedforce.