Bagua Sword and Taiji Saber

Often times in Traditional Wushu, you don't have a choice as to what one can study, your sifu understands your strength and weaknesses that he knows what weapons and hand forms best suits you.  The last time my classmate, Yang Shi Ming was here to teach seminars, our teacher Master Zhao Da Yuan instructed Master Yang to teach me the Yang 13 Saber Form.  Well, we never quite had enough time....I only finished the first seven forms.  Now, I have learned several versions of the 13 Taiji Broadsword Form....it is a very popular Yang Style form,  most notable version being Yang Zhen Dou's.......current Master from Shanghai, and a direct descendant of Yang Cheng Fu.  This particular form from Master Zhao however, is quite different from any form I have ever seen or learned.  Most Yang weapon forms are smooth and continous......this form however, concentrates on learning to move the sword by moving the Qi.  Doesn't all Taiji Sword forms do that you might ask.......well yes the outside form leads the inside Qi........however, this form teaches you to move the inside Qi and to move your Dan Tian to move the sword.  This form is so slow that the 13 moves takes nearly 20 minutes to do........but it's not because the form is slow but because you must move your Dan Tian in a particular way to move your sword....each movement requires internal concentration.  Master Zhao when a young man learned this from one of members of the Yang Taiji Clan, later had it further added to by Grandmaster Wu Tu Nan.....whom I met just once ....he was at that time 101 years old!  This sword form is reminiscent of Master Bill Chen's Yang Taiji Form.....requiring the same kind of internal movement......and that form had been changed from it's original form by a Taoist Monk in SF Chinatown. At some point in your training of Taiji one must train the inside to move......most training nowadays focuses only on training the outside....it is much easier to do and understand.  But will not lead in the long run to higher levels of martial artts ability or to improve health.  Modern Wushu is such an example....it's emphasis is placed on the outside structure and ignores the inside......good athletes eventually realize that is not enough. 

Close to open and open to close is one of the key movements in the Yang 13 Saber......yin and yang is exhibited in every move in this form....plus the corresponding movemnt of the inside.  Thus thru the practice of this form you can develop your neigong...internal power.

Corey who has been my student for nearly 20 years is very good at weapons of all kinds....that is until he tried studying the 20 forms of the Bagua Jian (or straight sword).......the Bagua sword form utilizes the sword in ways that are very unconventional....the sword can literally disappear and then suddenly double in length....and often whirls around you as you change directions......you go one way and the sword goes another way.  Previously I had studied the Bagua Plum Blossom Sword......this was already difficult...as it utilizes the Long Tassel as a weapon in addition to the sword itself.  But the Bagua Sword form was much more difficult as the form is in a circle and not a straight line. 

Corey working with Master Yang on the Bagua Sword's concluding Technique.

Ben posing in" Looking back at the moon in the sky"..........as he ducks under an opponent's attack and strikes from below.  This pose is not easy!

Finally after all the hard practice, we were off to have sushi and beer.  This was at A-1 Sushi on Geary Blvd....the food was great.......Master Yang took a few pictures to show his friends in Beijing.

Master Yang left for Portland to teach more seminars, but before he left he reminded the students that the martial arts is in the details.......that's what you must put the work into to get the Kung-fu out.  Learning just the outside movement merely excercises the outer muscles, the real work is in moving the inside, which you cannot do until you can develop power, speed, and relaxation.  You cannot just practice softly and slowly and expect to develop internal power and energy.  Too many people think that is Taiji......it is merely one method of training and not the whole ball of wax!!

OK, cya all!