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The Key To Practising Taijiquan's Skill and Form by Li YaXuan

Prior to producing momentum, the body gesture should be stable and the balance

completely centered. The mind and body should be relaxed. There should be nohesitation, no rigidity. Remove all distracting thoughts from the mind and allow the

return of the body gesture to that state of being natural. With this, you can start to

move.

When moving, use your heart/intention and qi to do the moving, to do the operation.

Use your spine and waist as an axis in producing the boxing sequence. Your moving

momentum should be like that of a moving cloud, like running water, like pulling a

thread, and like a hanging thread. Usually twenty minutes to a half hour is about

right to complete the frame. After practice your mind and spirit should feel uplifted;

your mind and perception, clear. This will show that your practice is on the right

track. Once you reach this level, you should quietly reach awareness. Reaching this

level is really not difficult. Avoid rigidity and hardness in the body. Avoid moving the

four limbs independently, by themselves. Use your intention and qi to carry the

movement. The whole body should be relaxed. Sinking your qi and momentum to the

lower place is taiji's correct rule. I (Teacher Li) have often seen taiji practicioners

allowing their four limbs to move completely by themselves and to move without

guidance. This may look fancy but it is a mistake.

Master Li Ya Xuan

After practicing awhile you should feel your palm and the inside of your fingers, i.e.,

the belly of the fingers, should feel the fullness of qi and intention. This proves that qi

and blood have already reached the tip, the recesses, of your body. Based on this

achievement, if you continue to practice your skill, you will eventually, spontaneously

reach the level of awareness and connection. If you practice for a lengthy time

without being able to feel this sensation, that means that your qi and intention and

skill frame are incorrect. In that case, you should immediately seek a good teacher to

guide you further, otherwise, if you continue to practice incorrectly too long, it will

not be possible to ever make the corrections needed.

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Use your mind to operate your qi. Use your qi to operate your body. Use your eyes to

look inside, to sense how the body and the mind are connected; to see how your spirit

and qi are relaxed. After awhile, you will automatically reach the level of unity of

inside with outside; unity of upper with lower. If you pay attention only to the

external skill movement, you are focusing only on external skills. Your spirit and

intention should stay inside to facilitate, to reserve the quiet energy. When you use

energy, the correct method is to have a harvest before you start. Remember, every

movement should be clean and relaxed. With this your perspicacity, alacrity, and

flexibility can grow. Avoid becoming angry and displaying combative signs such as

clenching teeth and staring angrily with your eyes. Those intentions and mannerisms

are harmful; avoid them.

Some may ask, "If you do not have intention during the practice, when you need it

during combat, how can you then use it?" Actually, practice is the time for building

and accumulating your qi and spirit. If you consolidate your qi and spirit, when you

need them, they will easily come out. If during practice you become extremely angry

and show such energy and qi externally, you will exhaust your qi and spirit. In this

case, since your qi then cannot accumulate, when needed you will not have a

sufficient supply to be able to make a truly surprising movement.

Your upper body should have an empty and flexible spirit. Your middle body should

have the energy of the waist and spine. Your lower part should have the qi of the

dantien. These three parts are combined. The external and internal are connected.

With these your movement will be appropriate. Everything should be natural. Do not

pay attention to any single, particular part of your body. If you think only of sinking

your qi then your qi will hesitate. If you think only of making your spirit higher, of

lifting up your spirit, your spirit will be restricted. That is not a Taoist natural quality.

What do we mean by empty, flexible, top of head energy? This means when your body

gesture is comfortable and straight, settled, your empty, flexible qi will automatically

reach the top. This is not something you can simply, intentionally cause by thinking a

force to the top. If you intentionally use force to reach your top, you will have the

characteristic of being straight and hard but without the empty and flexible.

Intentionally, trying to force a quality is something that must be avoided in acquiring

tai qi skill.

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To practice taiji skill, you should first rely on a good teacher to show the use of these

skills. Secondly, you should understand the theory of the great Teacher Chang San

Feng and Wang T'sungYueh. You should have no distraction during the practice,

otherwise, you will go the wrong way. In addition, when you do taijiquan you should

not practice external skill boxing, otherwise, your effort will be without achievement.

This skill is called "relaxed and flexible energy". Therefore, when you use this energy

there is no sound. When a person is hit, externally there is no sign but internally, the

penetration has already been made. The external skill is a so-called tense and hard

energy. When this is used, you hear a "thump", "tung", "whap" sound. When a person

is hit, externally they show a red welt, or a red and blue wound but internally there

may be no penetration. Some say that the taijiquan skill must be combined with otherskills in order to be useful. This really shows their lack of true teaching, of true

learning of taijiquan. This person does not understand taijiquan theory and really is

showing ignorance.

When people first learning the boxing frame, within a few days they will feel muscle

pain in their legs. After a month, they may feel knee pain. After that they may feel

some shoulder soreness. Learners should not be surprised with this. This is a natural

process. This also is how a good teacher gives correct guidance. Continue the practice

and the soreness and pain will heal. Later, your skill will be much improved. If people

fear soreness and pain and then stop practicing, only to re-start after the pain goes

away, thus are only doing a sporadic, start and stop practice, they are really wasting

their time. If you learn taiji boxing but never feel any leg pain, knee pain, or shoulder

soreness, then the teacher is not giving correct guidance. You must select another

teacher, a good teacher.

When you relax, first relax your mind. This is most important because the mind is the

host of the entire body. After the mind is relaxed, the whole body then also is relaxed.

If you use your mind to influence the body after awhile you will automatically achieve

real relaxation. This will allow production of your internal energy.

The whole body, the qi, and momentum should be relaxed and open. With this the

empty and flexible can reach the top. Every movement is like that of a river and the

sea. Every step is like that of a cat. The lower and upper should follow each other.

Inside and outside should cooperate completely with one another. With this, internal

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energy will be produced.

When doing the skill, do not just move your four limbs. Rather, use your mind to

move them; use your qi to carry them; use your waist to guide them; use your

intention to induce. With this the upper, the lower, the internal, and the external can

become connected by one qi; this is needed.

If you make even just a single gesture, not only must your four limbs open but also

your mind, your intention, your chest, should be closed first; then all open together.

All movement always starts from inside and goes towards the outside. This is why tai

qi is called an internal skill, an internal kung.

Internally you should use your mind and intention as the host, the head. Externally

you should use the waist and the spine as the axis; be completely centered. Internal/

external, upper and lower parts all become one. With this there is something whose

wonder is beyond understanding.

Seek coordination of the upper and lower. This is the beginning step of practice. Next,

try to sense gingerly, look for something very light, flexible, like cotton - soft. This is

the middle level skill. Finally, seek the empty and nothing in there. This is the last

research focus. When your body is light and flexible, there is still something there. If

you reach the level of empty and nothing, then actually everything will follow your

intention. This really is reaching the most wonderful, mysterious level.

When Teacher Chengfu pushed hands and used his launching energy, his eyes would

give a certain extremely stern and dark look that caused fright. The opponent then

would feel stunning surprise and deep fear of loss of life or eminent death. This shows

how the spirit and body can become one within a moment; how the whole body force

can be mobilized, concentrated, focused and produced within an extremely short

period of time. Because this happens within the briefest of moments with the

quickness of a thought, so suddenly, the opponent is not able to make a defense.

Besides that, there is no way to defend against this.

Everyday, when we practice, we practice slowly. This slow practice helps accumulate

the spirit, qi, and intention. This is how the internal and external cooperate to show

such wonder. If you practice too fast, not only will you not accumulate spirit and qi

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but, internally and externally, the parts can not cooperate to the appropriate degree

needed. Therefore, even if you do the launching energy, it will not be full. In addition,

neither will your force be capable of surprise.

When the whole body relaxes, the upper and lower parts must be completely relaxed.

This is one of the necessary conditions of taijiquan. If your movement is not

complete, or is complete but not relaxed; or if you only relax your shoulder but your

waist, kua, belly, and back do not know what is relaxed; or after practice, your palm

does not feel inflated, then this shows you did not have the right teacher. I have often

seen practicioners shake their body and make lots of sounds. Their heads are like

those of sale-pitching people; swollen, manicured, proper, everything in place, and

with a look of arrogance and a condenscending attitude. They think taiji only "talks"about being soft and does not "speak" of force. Actually, these types of arrogant, over-

confident people do not know that taijiquan has it's own theory and can only be

learned from a teacher. It is not something you can learn by mere observation.

Taijiquan is not something you can just figure out by yourself at home.

In the practice, you should feel the whole body relax and also feel the movements

being clean. If the whole body is stable and sunk then the whole body will be

comfortable and connected. In every movement you should quietly think of how to

use your intention, of how to send your intention to the other's body, and of how to

enter inside the other's body. With this method, after a long period of practice, you

will see progress.

When your spirit and qi return inside and are reserved in your bones, the whole body

will be full of empty and flexible qi. If you then want to be light, you will be light; if

you want to be heavy, you will be heavy. For skilled people who feel light - it is as if

there is nothing there. For skilled people who feel heavy - it is as if the weight would

break a mountain.

This is how you should practice your essence and transform your qi; this is how you

then practice your qi to transform your spirit. Upon reaching the spiritual, you can

reach the level of emptiness. To reach the level of empty and flexible, you must start

with being solid. If you want to be light and quick, you must start with being heavy

and stable. After you practice the skill for quite a long time, you can then reach the

level of extremely light, extremely quick, empty, and flexible.

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In the very beginning, if you try too soon to acquire the empty and flexible, light and

quick, then your whole body movement will be full of confusion. If at the very

beginning, you talk too much of empty and flexibility you will then acquire floating

and be of no use. In taiji these types of people are the so-called "those who do not go

out of their house for ten days." Actually, if you do not have a true teacher, a truly

good teacher, ten years, or even after all your life you will not be able to "go out of

your house" with the skill.

Taijiquan is a skill of reaching a maximum result via a minimum movement. When

they move the hand, there is no comparison. They are empty and wonderful. All

phenomena are incorporated therein. Regardless of how the other attacks, I rely onmy empty and flexible qi.

I can change according to any opportunity presented. I can follow the momentum

and respond accordingly, appropriately. Each and every response is just right. People

should not focus merely on just one gesture, just one hand. If they do that they will

miss the larger picture. If you use the great Dao (Tao) to connect every movement, to

learn just one thing really, really well then everything will be okay. If you only think

of using one gesture, one momentum, one qi, then the 10,000 changes are always

possible. The intelligent person will do that.

There are five taboos of practice in the acquisition of this skill:

1. Those not selecting the right teacher, enter the wrong school and the external skill

tops and is dominate. Once acquired, this habit, even if the learner later meets a truly

skilled person, will be ingrained and not be correctable for internal use.

2. Those not believing their teacher strongly, completely enough. They do not

completely follow the teacher's theory of practice. These people pretend they are

smarter and think east, think west, and attempt to use other theories in combination

with this skill. Their minds and spirits become a mess. All sorts of problems manifest.

These problems are extremely difficult to correct.

3. Those who indulge in bad habits like smoking, gambling, and prostitution. These

exhaust energy, qi, and spirit. They confuse minds. These people will never

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understand and can never reach a good level of awareness.

4. The over-practice of external family skills, hard skills, like breathing qi, making

strong, exertion and effort, and the clinching of teeth. Intense staring with the eyes,

making the belly full and then striking the belly. The use of an instrument to hit the

body or the use of a hammer to hit the head. These hard, external practices and

abuses severely harm and deaden our most valuable nervous system. This causes

parts of the nervous system to become numb, deadened, and to be without

awareness. People who have done this type of training cannot reach good levels of

taijiquan practice.

5. Those people who only learn a little bit of taiji then leave their teacher and go outand show off in front of other people in an attempt to falsely gain respect. These types

of people are often induced into learning other types of skills. Their's is a show of

mere ego, not skill. After they start on the wrong path, they can never be corrected.

The above five types of people are those who cannot reach the awareness level of taji.

The true skill, the main skill, is to make your mind clear, and to focus your mind. But

in order to clear your mind and to concentrate, to focus, you should first become very

stable and very quiet. Only after becoming quiet can you become clear. At that point

you can focus, meditate. This is the way to reach awareness. After achieving

beginning awareness, you can reach an even higher level of awareness. You can then

reach understanding. Later, you can reach the level of precise understanding. So, if

you want to clear your mind, before settling your mind, you must have the intention

of restoring your mind to the state of being without thought; your body without

action; to feeling no body, no mind. Once reaching this state of "no action" your mind

is able to become enlightened.

After reaching enlightment, any awareness, any sensation, any perception of

conscious is that claimed by the scholars of Confucious. That consciousness does not

come from continual thinking. If you use your mind to think of penetrating a wall

without a door, you just visualize going through the wall; if you think of working in

poison ivy, you visualize just passing through as if there is no road - if you practice in

this manner, the more you practice this way, the farther you will be from taijiquan. A

true teacher is needed.

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In practicing taijiquan, you need to be quietly contemplative while practicing the

operation. If not, you will not be able to understand what is correct. If you do not

practice, then your arm, your whole body, will not be able to follow the mind to move.

Therefore, the two aspects must be done together. This means you cultivate both your

mind and your body. If you just spend time vigorously, physically practicing, working

the body, even if you make your tendons, your bones, your skin, and your flesh suffer,

your mind and spirit will only be confused and, although you may sweat profusely,

you will be wasting your energy, your qi, and your spirit. You will only harm your

attempt to acquire the internal skill. You will receive little real benefit.

Cultivating the empty and flexible produces a high spirit, alertness, readiness,

eagerness, perspicacity, high energy, and profound judgment. This keen judgmentthen used to acquire awareness of internal boxing's method. If you use these methods

to defend yourself, you will have an excellent self-defense and you will also be able to

handle any bully. If you use this skill in business, you will understand the business

very clearly, with perspicacity, and will always succeed. If you use this method to

cultivate your body, you will achieve longevity beyond that normal.

This skill is made up of three aspects: your spirit, qi, and body. The main emphasis is

on enhancing your spirit. Afterwards comes the practice of qi. Last in importance is

the practice of your physical body.

What is the meaning of spirit? Spirit here refers to something in addition to our

whole body, it is empty, it is flexible, there is momentum, a function of mind,

controller of intention. The movement cannot be predicted, thus, in addition to the

flexible, there is quickness and the concept of changing. Spirit is really not involved

with clenching of teeth, intensely staring, or the use of physical effort to produce qi.

What is the meaning of qi? qi may refer to breathing. It is that that sinks downward

when you acquire stability. It is not something seen in muscle or use of effort to

breathe. The body is stable and comfortable. Movement should be flexible and light.

Merely taking a standing position to strike sand bags, beating the body, or striking

objects with the hands will enhance neither spirit nor qi. Those people who practice

the spirit cannot be without qi and the body - they have all three. Rather, there is

merely an emphasis on spirit development. For those people who merely practice qi,

they may have some qi, they may have some body, but their spirit is lacking. Those

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who only practice the body aspect also have some spirit and some qi, however, they

can not completely know the wonder of the spirit.

In the practice, if your intention does not completely reach the breadth of your mind,

your body gesture cannot be relaxed. Without proper relaxation, the upper and lower

will not follow or be coordinated. Thus, your internal and external cannot match.

Then your breathing may not be comfortable. At this point, with these problems, you

should seek a good teacher for guidance otherwise, you will harm and worsen your

practice.

If the mind thinks of relaxing after awhile the body gesture will also relax. Every

movement should be followed by heart and qi. Then your four limbs will follownature and the internal/external will become fit. With this your boxing intention can

reach your hand. Stillness and contemplation will allow you to reach the level of your

mind controlling everything. Everything should follow slowness, being stable, being

quiet, and reaching stillness. If the mind is not clear and the qi floats, the more you

practice with these illnesses, the farther you will go from boxing's intention. In this

case, even if you practice like this for your whole life, you qi will not reach your hand.

Learners should persevere, should have talent, and should have a true teacher in

order to achieve success. Even with these qualities, in addition, the teacher and

theory must be respected. With all these present, perhaps in one or two years you

may reach some success. However, if you leave the teacher too early, you may have

some problems and attain no awareness. One way to avoid this is to be open, to sense

how the body and mind are connected. Quietly think about what the teacher advised

you about the practice. Also, think of and visualize how the teacher practiced the

gesture. With this your problem may not become too deeply rooted. Otherwise, if you

make just a small mistake early there will be no end. It is like a horse without a rein, it

cannot be guided.

People's practice problems may be visible or invisible. The visible problem is easily

corrected, however, those invisible are very difficult to rectify. For example, some of

these types of problems may be the hand and the feet being high or low, or not in

balance, or not matching, or the direction is not correct, or the waist or kua are not

straight, not horizontal, or the spine is not relaxed. These are visible problems. They

are easily corrected. But, if your mind and intention are in the wrong way and, thus,

your movement and spirit do not follow one another and your mind and body,

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internally/externally, do not match; these are invisible diseases. These diseases

sometimes appear, sometimes do not appear. You can sense it but it is difficult for

you to describe or pin down. It is very difficult to correct and eliminate these

problems.

For people internally ill, regardless of how they spend their practice, the gesture and

momentum will always show ugliness. That is because they do not listen to the

teacher's words of how to practice. Again, they spend too much time thinking of east,

thinking of west. That is how they go down the wrong path. Learners, in particular,

should be aware of these problems.

I have often seen people who already have practiced for many years but still cannotproduce internal energy. They cannot respond appropriately. Their hand is confused;

their feet do not know what to do; they are unable to sense. Their eyes show

hesitation or hastiness and they just fight without preparation. These are further

examples of the internal diseases. They are very difficult to cure.

Every movement should follow the breathing. Use breathing to facilitate opening and

closing. This is the so-called "using the qi to move the body". Every movement should

have "quan" (martial) intention. For example, when the fist comes out, carry the fist

with intention. When pulling the fist back, use intention to take it back.

Practice with the saber, sword, or spear should also follow this advice. You cannot

throw away your intention and simply allow your four limbs to move independently.

Internal movement is a combination of mind controlling the body and the body

controlling the hand. Every hand and leg movement starts with your mind. From first

the internal the external is reached. This is the so-called "internal skill".

Once expertness is reached then a mere thought, i.e., the mind just thinking in one

direction is able to cause just single movement that starts and instantaneously

encompasses the whole body. With this, the whole body force will be permeated

completely throughout the body. Yet, without a good teacher people cannot reach this

level. External skill only heeds external gesture; it is external movement. Their

gesture and frame often may be very big and often may look very quick. In reality,

however, it may not be so quick.

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be very quick. They will want their muscles to respond very quickly. The question is

whether or not their muscles are very sensitive; yet even if they are quick, they cannot

attack at the correct time. This may only create confusion.

Secondly, when these people hit others, they obviously hope the other feels great

pain. In addition, these people often want their muscles large enough and strong

enough to absorb the pain of being hit by others. The question here is during the

attack, if the timing is not correct, they will use a lot of strength but will hit empty

space. If you make a defensive gesture at the incorrect time, this only shows weakness

to others. This results in much more harm. So then, what is the use of having large,

strong muscles? Further, when you are attacked, you must be very quick. You must

move with suddenness. In combat there is not enough time to think of producingstrength in your muscles. Finally, when others attack the most vulnerable parts of

your body, strong muscles are of no use for defense or to respond.

Taijiquan is a skill with shape and without shape. Although it has shape when an

opponent attacks you, your whole body must be very reserved and display nearly

nothing in there. This will make the opponent catch an empty shadow so to speak

and, thus, not harm you. If the enemy thinks you are empty and, on the other hand, if

you show your emptiness but can suddenly attack like thunder, thunder so quick and

strong that people must duck and cover their ears, so as to make them totally scared,

scared for their life, then this is enticing into emptiness. Taijiquan is a skill based on

unpredictable opportunity. If the other thinks you cannot attack, you should just

move your mind suddenly to attack. If others think you will come then you should

transform as if you have nothing to attack. This is the so-called "being suddenly

visible; suddenly invisible".

The practice frame was designed to cultivate your mind and qi. Push-hands is done to

acquire listening energy. Scatter-hands is practiced to acquire skill of hand, eyes,

body, and the step method. So, this boxing practices heart, physical essence, qi, and

spirit. When you practice the skill, your qi must be sinking. Do not intentionally sink

it, that is, do not think of sinking the qi. Rather, use true, fundamental intention to

infuse the qi during your breathing.

Emptiness is so empty it's as if it is solid. Being solid is so solid it's as if it is empty.

There is something there but it's as if there is nothing there. Relax, let go, softness--

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use these to produce the empty and flexible qi. This will enhance your perspicacity.

Place your mind and body in the right place to establish the fundamental source.

With this you can show gesture and seriousness. If your body and mind are not

correct, your gesture will show shallowness and be overly light, floating. These

qualities too easily tempt bullies.

Emptiness and flexibility are the first key to the skill. Understand this theory like a

genius then in one or two years full awareness may be reached. An unintelligent

person may spend their whole life in practice and study but will still not be able to

reach this level. Thus, a person's achievement, deep or shallow, is also a function of a

person's innate talent and intelligence. Not everyone can be placed in the same

category. Practice the skill in the early morning or in the quiet of the night withoutdisturbance from others practicing. Do not show off in front of other people. A poem

entitled, "Poem of Movement" explains, "The Great Dao (Tao) cannot be removed

from even the smallest, lowliest piece of ground."

Do not have intention. Do not have the mind. Do not rely on your chest to move the

energy and qi. Your mind should completely relax and follow nature. Allow all parts

of the body to naturally rely on one-another. Once you are without intention, once

you are without mind, the true mind is then in the place where there is no mind. Once

you do not have mind in the middle, you will not have a shape. At that time,

emptiness will produce the true empty and flexible. Feel the connection with the

universe. Everything comes from nature.

In a discussion on boxing, while there are many different schools, it is noteworthy

that they also have many similarities. Externally they practice the hard and quick and

use force; they attempt to make qi strong, leave the spirit and talk about severity. For

those people, however, who place emphasis on the quick, hard, their mind can hardly

be still, can hardly be quiet. For those who use qi to try to inflate their qi, their

breathing cannot be comfortable. For those who emphasize severity, they cannot

cultivate a harmonious qi. These methods really will harm the tendon, harm the flesh,

and will exhaust the spirit and qi. These practices will harm the empty and flexible

skills and prevent their acquisition. That kind of boxing cannot cultivate longevity.

When practicing be stable and quiet, comfortable and relaxed, in order to cultivate

the empty and flexible qi. Thus, when you use this qi, it is cold, it jumps, it is sudden,

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it is quick, as if you spit out the energy from your dantien. Always sense the empty

and flexible qi and momentum. Then, during combat you can be fully aware of the

other's force. With this, the road to victory is already half traveled. Without the empty

and flexible qi and momentum, if someone attacks, you will have no awareness of his

situation. In this case, in the confrontation your movement will create confusion and

you will attempt to hit the other without any plan. This is not taiji skill.

If you have the empty and flexible qi, momentum; if your waist and legs are light and

wonderful; if you have spirit and qi, if they are full; then externally you will be able to

show the qi gesture. Then, if your movement is also cold and quick; then, if you then

use this qi to cultivate the body, you will have longevity. If, on the other hand, you use

these internal skills to defend yourself, you will be able to do so. With this awarenessand these high skills, challenges in both your personal life and business life may be

handled easily.

Li Ya Xuan

Teacher Li YaXuan was senior, early disciple of the profound master Yang Chengfu.

Teacher Li later taught government and military officials frankly and was highly

respected by all for his unselfish attitude, high martial ethic, and high level skills.

When reading the late Teacher Li's descriptions, his excellent martial ethic, a critical

key to receiving profound knowledge, soon becomes crystal clear. In fact, in one

descriptive story to be shared later, his ethic and morality is both emotionally

touching and nearly beyond normal comprehension.

Within the following explanation Teacher Li discusses the highest levels of

achievement in taijiquan, namely, acquiring levels of awareness, achieving the light

and flexible skills, and finally, acquiring the empty and flexible qi. In earlier times,

taiji at these levels was also called "qi boxing" or "spirit or immortal boxing". Li

YaXuan was born in 1894 and died in 1976. He was an ardent, devoted student of

Yang Chengfu and, although much lesser known in the west, he was actually senior in

all aspects to better-known non-family students established in the USA after

'liberation'. Teacher Li also knew and taught in association with Yang ShaoHao and

was associated with and taught at the highest level of martial art in China.

Special gratitude is due and given Teacher Chen LongXiang and Teacher Li MinDi,

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son-in-law and daughter of Master Li, for their wonderful gift, on a recent visit, of

Teacher Li's explanations and his stories, of which the following is merely a small

part. Mr. Chen and Ms. Li, husband and wife, carry on Teacher Li YaXuan's excellent

tradition of martial ethic and unselfish, noncommercial devotion to the original

tradition of taijiquan.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Crouching tiger, hidden dragon is not merely the title of the recent blockbuster

movie. This expression actually is borrowed from the Chinese language. In Chinese it

refers to coming across a heretofore, unknown, 'hidden' individual of high skill;

hidden, crouching, ready to pounce on the over-confident, innocent. In one sense, thelate Li YaXuan could be considered to be a crouching tiger, hidden dragon in the

west. This is because he is so unknown here. In China, however, Teacher Li's work

and words are far from hidden. In fact, he was well known and widely respected in

China prior to his death in 1976. His story and advice merit careful reading. The

Yang's divided their teaching into three basic phases: learning the external, learning

the internal, and finally training the mind. Teacher Li hits all three in his discussions

and even touches very briefly on the last, the most advanced training methodology.