Use in other martial arts.
 
Wood, as described above, can be applied in many arts e.g.
Tai Chi - Fair maid works at the shuttle, parry and punch.
Ba Gua - To Scrape (Hsueh)
Hsing Yi - Beng Chuan
Etc.
 
My students, some of whom already had Dan grades in other styles, have dramatically increased their internal power by using these techniques.
Internal Power for Hsing Yi, Ba Gua or Tai Chi.
 
Wood - Beng Chuan (Crushing).
Although Wood is associated with Battering or Crushing, a faster and more powerful method is to think of an arrow being shot from a bow , and adding the “weightedness” as the arrow leaves the bow.
 
Chi Gung (Breathing/Energy exercise) - Shooting the Arrow.
Stand in left San Ti i.e. With left foot and left hand forward  - see fig1 (right hand only shown throughout for clarity).
 
Breathe down to the Dan Tien, then expand the left foot forward, and at the same time breathe out and quickly punch with the right hand, slightly move the head forward and the dan tien slightly back - see fig2  (this is called loading the Qua - the main chi gate which is the pelvic region, where all of the largest muscles e.g The thighs, buttocks and tummy muscles, plus the largest joints e.g. The hips; are situated) then move the Dan Tien forward slightly, emitting the energy - see fig3 (the movement of the Dan Tien beyond the centre line is only momentary and the hips must be sinking into there joints; the left hand - not shown - must snap back to the Dan Tien as the right hand punches).
 
It is important that the elbows are tucked in, in line with the Dan Tien, as far as possible without straining, in order to ensure that the body is behind the punch.
 
Now imagine that the energy transmits forward towards a far off point, from the knuckles of the right hand, which you must suddenly make heavy with your mind; then shuffle the back foot in, whilst the body relaxes and re-aligns - see fig4
 
 
 
In this posture, I am about to emit a spiralling jing related to Water of Hsing Yi, but I am performing Chen style Tai Chi.
Thus demonstrating that these Chi Gung methods can be applied to many arts.
This will convert the internal stored energy into forward power, in a similar manner to an arrow being fired from a bow - see fig1 to fig4 below, the Qua is represented by the string of the bow:
John Read has taught Martial Arts for 38 years and is a National Judge for the BCCMA and is the Chief Instructor for the East Midlands Wushu Association.
He has also judged at International level, and teaches Hsing Yi, Tai Chi, Ba Gua and other styles to private students, and at his Nottingham club.
For further information see mysite.freeserve.com/wushu or phone 0115 9223999.
John Read 08/Mar/2004
Loading the Qua and spine(pulling the dan tien backward, in opposition to the right fist thrusting forwards, at the point of impact) is equivalent to drawing the arrow - fig2, pushing the Dan Tien forward, is equivalent to releasing the arrow - fig3; the fist must change from light to heavy, the energy must transmit through the opponent or pad - represented by fig4.