Saturday Hours Available

After many years of resisting the opportunity to work on Saturday, I have decided to start offering appointments every other weekend. After just a few weeks of working every other Saturday it is now my favorite day. Clients come in relaxed and not feeling the work a day struggle. The office has a nice laid back vibe and acupuncture clients get extremely relaxed. I look forward to seeing you in the office sometime in the future.

Cheng Style Bagua

Sun style Baguazhang

Swimming Dragon Form

Traditional Healing Arts

The healing arts are important part of training at Memphis Internal Arts. Methods typically associated with Chinese martial arts like tuina, acupressure, moxa and cupping are taught. However, Zen Shiatsu is another form of healing students at Memphis Internal Arts can learn. This method is taught to give students a thorough education in the location of the meridians and major points located on the body. It also develops sensitivity,etc.

Chuck studied this art with Lindy Ferrigno while attending the Oregon College of Oriental back in 1998. Ms Ferrigno was a direct student of Masunaga as well as other prominent shiatsu teachers like Pauline Sasaki.

Zen Shiatsu is a meridian based body work method which also contains a unique method of diagnosis using the hara. Please take a look at this video series of Sensei Masunaga demonstrating Zen Shiatsu.

Santishi Part One

Sun style Santi connections:
Builds upon the wu chi and Tai Chi postures
In addition to the 6 directions, there are many lines, triangles, etc. within the internal mechanics of Sun style Santishi. Yi Jin Jing is also a deeper component to Sun style. This requires the guidance of a teacher to do. Santi can also be done in a "yin/nutritive intention" or a "yang/force discharge intention". This also requires the guidance of a teacher to do.
Here are a few internal connections to get started. I hope to post more as time allows. As usual please feel free to contact me for more information.
Look up the point locations somewhere on the web if you are not familiar with the names.
Triangles:
1.) lead hand shenmen, tip of elbow, and heart one
2.) hip, knee cap,heel

Straight lines:
1.)baihui, huiyin, that line projected to earth
2.)shenmen, mingmen, heel

Don't forget to keep the spine/Du Mai extended and the Ren Mai relaxed. This last part is probably the most important.

Internal Connections of Sun Style Tai Chi posture Part 1

Next in line is the Tai Chi posture of the wu chi, tai chi, santi progression.
Here are a few simple connections of the tai chi posture to get you started:
Finger tips forward, ming men backward
Wrists up while sitting the sacrum down
Have the intention of the low back (kidneys) expanding side to side
Of course the chin is tucked causing GV 20 to be lifted, the ren channel is relaxed as the du channel is pulled tight by the above stated connections.

Internal Connections of Sun Style Wu Chi posture Part one

Here are just a few of the many internal connections that are within the wu chi posture of Sun style hsing yi chuan. As far as I know the connections appearing on my blog are not posted anywhere including the Sun style hsing i book. These connections are essential for developing wholebody power. Please work with them to see what you come up with. The clinic is slow right now so there will be time to write more connections for the taichi and santi postures.

In the interest of time I will give just a few for each of the 6 directions. You will notice these are yin/yang pairs:

Up: Bai Hui, tip of tongue to roof of mouth
Down: sacrum, shoulders
Forward: tip of thumbs
Backward: Mingmen (kidney region)
Side to side: scapula, heels split the earth
At all times relax the ren channel as the du channel has the intention of going upward.

If you have any questions please write.

Sun style and Wudang lineage chart

Military history of hsing yi chuan

Famous practitioners of this art in China were almost always connected to some military organization or another. With that in mind, notice that it is possible to do all of the movements in Hsing yi chuan standing shoulder to shoulder with someone else. It would be easy for rows and rows of men to fight next to each other in an infantry situation. The moves are easily translated into a variety of infantry type weapons like the spear and sabre. The body mechanics required for the practice of hsing yi allow a person to put a tremendous amount of force into a weapon which would be necessary to fight someone with armor. Also the percussive strikes and drag down/takedowns would probably be useful. The percussive hits allow you to transfer force through armor. The drag downs, lateral throwing, and takedowns disrupt the men in front of you which would cause major diruption in the opposing armies ability to mount any sort of organized resistance.
After keeping this pet theory in my head for a few years I happen to come across a U.K. practitioner and teacher named Damon Smith. He confirmed my theories as his teacher taught him how to use all the animals and elements with weapons. Each animal has teachings of specific associated battlefield strategies. Hsing Yi practitioners interested in the historical origins of that art should definitely obtain a copy of his first book. It really gives a lot of history that many of the U.S.lineages just don't know about or have access to.

It is important to keep the historical application of your chosen art in mind.
Next I hope to talk about Sun Lu Tang's contribution to the development of the art.

Old School Counter throwing

Cool old Judo Clip

Traditional Medicine for Martial Arts

Bagua Zhang

My teacher doing Cheng Style Bagua Zhang