Ken Gullette's Internal Fighting Arts

We have been shooting self-defense applications for the Bagua 8 Basic Palms form for the website. This is the first form that my Bagua students learn. It helps train circle-walking and the energies of the eight palms.

This is a quick video clip that was done while we were walking through the applications for "Embrace the Moon to the Chest," the fifth section of the form.

I drove home a quick point about peng jin and the "bubble of protection" that we try to establish. It is a zone around me -- a circle -- that means trouble for the attacker if they enter it.

Bagua is a lot like a spinning wire ball. If you punch into it, you get caught up and spun out in random directions, leaving you on the ground and broken.

There are a few quick applications at the end from "Embrace the Moon to the Chest," "White Ape Offers Fruit," and "Lion Opens its Mouth."

David Roth-Lindberg interviewed me for his blog, "Thoughts on Tai Chi." 

The Q&A was published today. Here is a link.

https://taichithoughts.wordpress.com/2018/12/21/qa-with-ken-gullette/

Would your Bagua applications work against an opponent who was 35 years younger, stronger and 120 pounds heavier?

If he decided to shoot in and grab your legs, how would you deal with it?

We had a great practice yesterday, recording self-defense applications using some of the principles and energies from the Bagua 8 Basic Palms form.

The last time I recorded applications for this form was in 2008, with Sean Ledig, who is a member of the website. I didn't go into a lot of depth in the video, so after 10 years, I am shooting it again and adding more information and applications.

Downward energy is an important internal concept, and the first section of the form, "Fierce Tiger Emerges from Mountain," depends on downward energy.

Theoretically, it should work on a shooter, so we put it into action. Two of my students, Justin Snow and Chris Andrews, are big, strong guys who outweigh me by 120 pounds each. They put the pressure on me.

All martial arts require practice. Even boxers will ...

The students filed in on the first day of my first class. I spent a LOT of time working on an entertaining and informative PowerPoint and lecture.

A couple of students looked at me, smiled and said hello as they found a seat. Most of them walked in without acknowledging me, found a seat, and began staring at the computer screen that they each had on their desk. There was no attempt to engage by most of the students.

I have always enjoyed kids, and young people, and have always found ways of making them laugh and have fun.

But a college setting was different.

It was fascina...

There is a popular saying that is very true -- "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail."

This means you can coast along, expecting good things to happen, but if you don't set serious goals and take the steps to meet those goals, then you get the same thing you have always gotten when you put no effort into it.

Nothing. Unless you are lucky, and most of us are not lucky very often.

2018 will come to a close in just three weeks. It is a great time to begin setting your goals for 2019.

I'm not talking about New Year's Resolutions, I'm talking about serious goals for your internal arts development.

It is very easy to talk about training in Tai Chi, Xingyi or Bagua. It is very easy to watch some YouTube videos and practice some moves.

It's a very different thing, and a lot more difficult, to actually build skill. It takes a step-by-step approach and it requires an instructor -- a coach -- to guide you and give you feedback and corrections.

Here are some goals you can reach through thi...

I received a very nice email this morning from a man in Rio who suggested that I've been having breathing problems due to performing chi kung improperly.

I certainly appreciated his concern and the fact that he reached out, and I understand he has good intentions (he has worked with chi kung for 30 years) but -- it will come as no surprise to those who know me -- I couldn't let this go by without a challenge. Don't blame me. I'm a stickler for facts and critical thinking.

Here's another way to look at it. Perhaps my condition hasn't gotten a lot worse because I do chi kung properly. 

In my reply to this nice guy in Rio, I asked him if he could supply me with any clinical evidence to back up his theory. I prefer, of course, peer-reviewed trials, preferably double-blind but at least something that can be duplicated by other medical trials.

I would like to issue this challenge to anyone reading this. Can you supply me with valid, objective clinical trial evidence, peer-reviewed, that ...

I'm spending tonight in the hospital. I was here a week before Christmas, and I've spent the months since trying to overcome the near-disastrous impact of a bad case of pneumonia.

I've been coughing up blood since February, and after a break of over two months, it started up again two weeks ago and I've deteriorated since. This morning I thought I would bleed to death. It looked like someone had been blown away by a shotgun in my sink. 

No one has been able to tell me why this is happening. During these months, I've continued teaching, doing the online school, making video lessons and DVDs, and working as hard as I can to get to the bottom of this condition. I've never really been sick in my life and in 2009, I haven't been able to get well.

In 2008, my heart decided to start beating funny and I wanted it fixed so I could get back to full kung-fu activity. I had three laser ablation procedures, where spots were burned in my heart, before they finally disconnected the rogue electrica...