Hello everyone, I'm new here, but I was just wondering how many other people here practice Yiquan? I obviously do, or else I wouldn't be making a thread about it. Anyway, for those of you who do practice Yiquan (or at least know some stuff about it) do you think it's more effective then the other internal arts (xingyi, bagua, taiji)? And I mean that just in general, I know you can't exactly say one art is better then the other, because it all depends more on the student then the art, but just in general, do you think it is?
hi Unsung, welcome to the boards. I have had contact with Yi Quan people and have never found them to be any better or worse. I think it has its merrits for certain people ... but not everyone. the founder Wang Xiang Zhai was a martial genius that 'got' things very quickly. Whether he could pass that on was another matter. He tried to formulate his ideas on Xing Yi based on his personal findings. This doesnt make it better than xing yi it makes it 'his' method. I am sure there are some great Yi Quan fighters out there... but there are great fighters from any art like you state. If we are talking about practical fighting methods and tactics in general then i think that ba gua, xing yi and tai chi have more than Yi Quan. Just my opinion. Regards Chris
I have been examining and playing around with some Yi Quan Zhang Zhuan methods and do find them quite useful at times. From what I know of these, they use a method which through visualization kind of forces a certain level of relaxation in ZZ (kind of like transcendental meditation, maybe). As opposed to doing it in a more traditional manner, where you reach a certain level of relaxation after you can let go of a certain amount of tension. I think both methods are useful. The Yi Quan method allows me to relax more when I’m trying to train after a stressful day, and the traditional method gives me a deeper feeling/intention/awareness of my body. I have seen on several Yi Quan websites statements claiming that Yi Quan develops whole body/internal power faster that the Taiji, Bagua and Xing Yi. I guess it as Chris mentions, a particular method that is more suited to certain people. It would be interesting to see from a teaching perspective whether the Yi Quan or the traditional
Having only learned about yiquan recently, I'd like to hear from those with more knowledge of the style how yiquan practice differs from the yang and chen styles of taijiquan. So far my impression is that, like xingyi, yiquan practice includes a lot of standing post exercises like Santishi, and short two or three step drills. I've also noticed when reading about yiquan that some popular teachers of the style, Berkeley teach it in conjunction with forms from another internal art. For instance Fong Ha in Berkeley teaches a yang style form to complement his yiquan teaching. Looking forward to responses,....
There are some interesting interviews with Yi Quans founder on the link bellow: http://taijijourney.blogspot.com/2005/07/interview-with-mr-wang-xiangzhai.html also quite a bit of info in the free e-books here: http://www.yiquan.pl/engbooks.html
