Meditative Traditions in the Chinese Martial Arts

by Jan Diepersloot

The Warriors of Stillness is the account of my investigation into the two major meditative traditions in the Chinese martial arts: Taijiquan and Hsingyiquan.

These arts can be thought of as sharing mutual points of departure and arrival, while differing in their means of transport. Both begin with stillness meditation as the cornerstone of their practice. They differ in the movements that derive from that stillness. But ultimately, in martial application as in life, all these movements, like waves of the ocean, submerge again into a higher-level stillness.

In Volume 1, I present the theory, practice and applications of standing meditation (wuji qigong) taught to me by my teacher Cai Songfang, as it relates to the movements of the Yang family style taijiquan system.

In Volume 2, I present the theory, practice and applications of standing meditation of the Yiquan branch of the Hsingyiquan system as taught to me by my teachers Han Xingyuan, Yu Pengxi, Fong Ha and Sam Tam.

NEW RELEASE!

The working title of Vol. 3 is “Warriors of Perception: Sensory-Motor Integration in the Internal Martial Arts.” In it I try to elucidate once more both the theoretical basis and practical aspects of the internal martial arts, and correlate them with the findings of modern biology, especially neuroscience.
If you would like to be notified of the publication date, just drop me an email at (jandiep@earthlink.net).

Email: Jan Diepersloot