Ken Gullette's Internal Fighting Arts

When people talk about the "energies" of Taijiquan, they often list Lu Jin second. First there is Peng Jin -- "Ward Off Energy," then there is Lu Jin -- "Roll Back Energy."

Remember, an "energy" is simply a refined, skillful method for dealing with an opponent's force.

With Lu Jin (sometimes spelled Liu Jin), you don't stop force, you don't block it, and you don't "beat" it.

It is not "yielding," either. With Lu Jin, when someone uses force you redirect it so it continues, just not to the locatioan the opponent thought it was going. 

Lu Jin steals the opponent's angle, timing, balance, and expectation. He believes he is in control until suddenly he isn't. He punches or pushes or kicks and his mind says he will find support or a target, but reality says, "The target is not here."

Lu means you allow the opponent's force to continue, while quietly removing the structure that would let it succeed. 

"Roll Back" is often shown as two hands redirecting a punch or push, but many parts of...

I’m putting together new videos for my website on the “Energies” of Taijiquan. The word energy is often misunderstood, in my opinion. A lot of mystical nonsense is often triggered by the word "energy" in the world of Tai Chi. A better word, in my opinion, is "method." Each “energy” is a method of dealing with force.

The first—and most important—is Peng Jin (often translated as Ward-Off Energy).

Peng is required for all the other energies/methods to work, and Peng relies on the ground path at all times. Without those two things—Peng Jin and the ground—you don’t really have Taijiquan. Without them, movements are empty.

They are working at all times and in all movements, even in what people sometimes call “transitions”—though we know there really are no transitions. No matter what you are doing in a Taiji form, a self-defense application is present.

Peng Jin is not necessarily a force you apply; it is a structural state you maintain. It gives you an expansive feeling inside. You are o...

Sometimes, I read articles or books about Taiji, Bagua and Xingyi, and health claims are made that sound scientific, but if you look a bit deeper, you find the claims aren't supported by medical science or physiology. Sometimes, there is some truth to the claim, but the wording is misleading.

One of those claims that might misdirect you a bit is this one: the movements of the internal arts "stimulate the flow of lymphatic fluid" (or "drainage of lymphatic fluid").

If you know me, you know that I am a critical thinker who is open to evidence, but when a martial artist makes medical statements, I want them grounded in good science and accurate wording.

Let's look at this claim -- that if you do the internal arts you are stimulating the flow of lymphatic fluid.

The lymphatic system collects excess fluid from tissues and returns it to the bloodstream. Lymph nodes act as filters to stop pathogens, debris, and abnormal cells, while the liver and kidneys handle most of the chemical detoxi...

I first met John Morrow in 1990 at a tournament in Omaha, Nebraska.  He came from the Quad Cities to compete. I was not yet a black sash. so I was very interested in watching the black belt division.

Watching him compete in black belt sparring was like watching the Tasmanian Devil. John was spinning and jumping and backfisting and kicking and laughing -- he displayed skill and real joy at competing. We were both in our thirties. I thought, "Who the heck IS this guy?" It was clear he loved martial arts and I enjoyed watching him compete. Because we had the same teacher, Phillip Starr (author of several martial arts books), I introduced myself to him.

Flash forward three years and I moved to the Quad Cities. His school was in Moline, Illinois. I remembered him from the tournament, so I stopped in to the school and we became friends. I studied with him a bit, but then I earned a black sash in the system I had been studying, so we became mutual supporters. I attended some of his classes ...

In my opinion, a highly-skilled martial artist should be able to apply the right amount of force when needed, but in some situations, you should be able to apply no force at all. Being able to do both requires skill.

There is currently a "tough guy" attitude in martial arts, especially online. Here is one argument they make: If you spend a lot of time point-sparring, you won't be able to apply force when you need it in a self-defense situation. Instead, you will pull your punches.

I call malarkey, and I know it's malarkey because of my personal experience. 

Skill Development and Control

Pulling punches and using light contact in sparring teaches fine motor control and precision. This enables you to "choose" between delivering light or heavy contact, depending on the situation, which is crucial in real-life self-defense to avoid unnecessary harm or legal consequences. It is also important to be able to spar without hurting your training partners.

In 51 years of sparring, I have nev...

Sometimes, stories are told of long-dead masters, and the story is embellished to the point that the master did push hands with a challenger and "sent him flying back ten feet through the air."

Sometimes, we see photos that are obviously faked, showing students a few feet in the air, flying away from the "master." There are prominent teachers right now who have used these images.

Sometimes, teachers tell us that they have also sent people ten feet through the air while doing push hands.

Really? You launched a full-grown adult ten feet through the air — without a running start, on level ground, doing push hands and using nothing but your internal power?

See the photo at the top of the page? From the edge of the charcoal gray floor to the edge of the blue mat is exactly ten feet. Someone would have to make me fly all the way back to the mat.

 It insults the intelligence of the people hearing the claim, reading about it, or seeing the pictures, and it hurts the image of Taiji.

So le...

Chen Xiaowang corrected Chen Bing's posture in a video, when Chen Bing was a young man. He stood in a posture from "Buddha's Warrior Attendant Pounds Mortar." After adjusting him a bit, Chen Xiaowang turned to the camera and said, "Now, he can defend from all directions."

Defend from all directions? That sounded intriguing. I began thinking about that concept. After a few years, I honed in on what it means.

The picture at the top of the post shows Chen Xiaowang correcting my posture in 2000. 

"Defend from all directions" sums up a core principle of being prepared and being able to adapt in the face of a self-defense situation.

It emphasizes that a Taiji person should not simply focus on defending against a single, anticipated attack from one direction. Instead, it means to cultivate a state of mind and body that can remain aware of everything around you and respond to threats from any angle at any time.

This is why when you practice Zhan Zhuang with Chen Xiaowang, he says, "Calm d...

by Ken Gullette

Here is an experiment to do with a partner or student. Have your partner stand in front of you and tell them to put their arms together as shown in Photo 1, as if warding off. Tell them you are going to push them on the arms with both hands.

Next, lift your arms and move toward them to push, as in Photo 2. When they see the push coming, you will notice a change in their bodies. They will shift to brace for the punch. It might be subtle, but you can almost always see it.

In Taijiquan, it is said that "there is an internal change before the external change." You can also say "there is an internal change before the main external action."

The mind perceives a threat, and it prepares to create the "jin" (refined force or "method") to deal with the force, and in doing so, the connections are set up in your body that will help you defend. Those connections will go from the ground, through the legs, through the dantien, and most often through the shoulders, arms and hands (al...

You read and hear about different types of "energies" or "jin" in the internal arts. For example, people talk about the "Eight Energies" or the "Thirteen Energies."

Four primary energies (jin) of Taijiquan are:

1. Peng (Ward Off)

2. Liu (Roll Back)

3. Ji (Press)

4. An (Push)

Rounding Out the Rest of the 13 Energies are:

5. Cai (Pluck-Pull Down)

6. Lie (Split - often pronounced like the name Leah)

7. Zhou - (Elbow)

8. Kao - (Shoulder - often called Bump)

9. Teng (striking at an upward angle from the bottom to the top)

10. Zhe (winding, spinning to the ground)

11. Kong (Empty)

12. Huo (lively and active while maintaining internal principles) 

13. Five Moving Directions: Front (Forward), Back (Backward), Left, Right, and Middle (maintaining your balance - your Center)

 It's important to remember -- despite what some teachers will tell you -- the Taiji "energies" do not involve some invisible energy in your body called Peng, or Liu, or whatever.

It's a lot more accurate ...

The 80th edition of my Internal Fighting Arts podcast features an interview with longtime Chen Taiji student and instructor Mark Becker.

Mark lives in Denver, Colorado. He has studied with great instructors such as Liang Baiping, Grandmaster Feng Zhiqiang, and Master Zhang Xue-Xin (who was a student of Grandmaster Feng). Mark became Master Zhang's disciple in 2019.

You can listen to the podcast here or download the episode. This is the audio version of the podcast. I also recorded it on video - check out the interview on YouTube.