ShiLi

Introduction
Inside the body, through the meridians it flows a very
powerful energy called Qi. This energy can change
with the exercises of ZhanZhuang and strengthen with
the passing of the time through several ShiLi
YangShengGong therapeutic exercises (regeneration of
body and spirit) which aim to send it circulating
through all the body.

At the beginning, during the Shili YangSheng exercises

this keen energy called Qi moves in an unconscious
way inside the body improving the energy, physical
and psychic qualities.

After a period of 90 days' constant practice of Shili it

will be possible to see great physical improvement.
At the beginning of the practice it will be possible to move the Qi inside the body with
the help of different visualizations in order to search for sensations which the body will
make habitual in the every day life.
The Qi, flowing through all the body will dissolve and
eliminate also the deepest tensions of the being and re-establish
health and happiness making a real action of purification to
heart and spirit.

At the beginning during the practice of basic YangSehngGong,

the trainee doesn’t think about the martial art and self-defence,
but he trains only how to cure and improve his own physical
qualities. Only when the body is finally strong and full of energy, the trainee will start
to practice the self-defence and the other exercises of QiGong focused only on the
offensive strengthening, the emission of Qi, and all the other exercises of the martial art.
The kind of QiGong to use during the self-defence is that QiGOng which work on the
nervous system, on the concentration of the Qi inside the DanTian and on the opening
of the macrocosmic orbit, that is the opening of those energy meridians which take the
Qi from the foot to the head, until the fingers of the hands making then the Qi circulates
through all the body.
The mind becomes stronger and stronger and the Qi becomes a substance which flows
warm and almost solid inside the body to nourish it and strengthen it in every moment.
inner intentions
At the beginning of the practice of Shili, as in the ZhanZhuan, we will start influencing
the nervous system and the blood circulation by means of some imaginations external to
the body created by the mind.
Hereunder we will see how one single external movement
can have several internal works.

A) In the first level of Shili we imagine to be dip in the

water until the solar plexus, the arms are resting on two
tree trunks which are floating on the water. The respiration
is natural and not
constrained, the body is
relaxed, without
tensions, the head is as
pulled up by a string
and the body weight
goes down in the
ground.

After that the water starts to move, firstly backward, then frontward trying to move the
body which, to not loose its balance will put up internal resistance against the stream,
and some resistances of the internal force (and not muscular) which will contrast the
strength of the water with the will.
The will not be moved and to contrast the water firstly frontward then backward.

B) In level two of Shili you’ll think to pull and to be

pulled by some elastics.
This kind of ShiLi has different levels of internal
tensions and resistances focused on strengthen
All the parts of the body leaving none.

C) After the previous exercises will become natural and the body will have achieved the
proper physical sensations it will be possible to start to try to move the mind and then
the Qi in the whole body thanks to the canal of the fire and the canal of the water
through the microcosmic orbit first, and macrocosmic then, in order to have a perfect
energy balance and to start also the exercises of internal energy development.
D) Once the trainee will be able to move the Qi freely in the canal of the fire and in the
canal of the water it will be possible to absorb also the external energies approximately
at three meters of distance (tree, small fire close to the student etc) and to send them
back outside immediately after having transformed them inside the body and having
nourished it with them.

E) Once the DanTian is full of energy it will be possible to

take, by means of small explosions and internal
movements, all this energy in all the rest of the body.

At the beginning this exercise is purely therapeutic, but

later it could be used also as a power enhancement
technique during a martial fight.

F) After having trained these exercises the trainee will be

aware of his own body and of his own energy state,
therefore he will be able to start advanced exercises of
physical strengthening.
Always with the same ShiLi movement, from the feet
we’ll be able to absorb the energies of the underground
(rock, earth, lava etc) going down and surpassing crust,
mantle, external core, arriving to the internal core of the
planet.
From the hands it will be possible to absorb the energies
above the earth and in the atmosphere(fire, sea, mountain,
clouds, wind etc ) of the troposphere (10-16 km, -56°C),
stratosphere (40-50 km, -2°C), mesosphere (85 km,
-90°C) even until the thermosphere (300-500 km,
1000°C) and to the exosphere.
And from the head we will take the energies from our galaxy.
buFa Y iQ u a n

Introduzione
I passi dill' YiQuan
Figuer One
The student trains ZhanZhuang (JiJiZhuang) creating thanks
to the imagination of the water, a relaxation of the whole
body.

Figuer Tow
The water starts to push the body forward, the body resists
with the internal intention which tries to resist to the stream
that pushes it. At the beginning the exercise is similar to
ShiLi, but the stream of water which pushes is stronger now
and the body, even putting up internal resistance in the
opposite direction, is moved forward by the water, looking
for a new position to take root in the earth.
Martial Aspect
The steps are fundamental for the outcome of an excellent martial technique.
If the steps are executed in a proper way it will be possible to dodge multiple attacks
and to strike consequently martial hits with devastating power.
Quick legs allow to strike better also with the superior part of the body because the most
powerful hits are nearly always charged with the whole body and also with the legs
(“from the toes it comes up a spiral force which pass through the lower limbs to all the
rest of the body until manifest itself through the fingers”) allowing also an easy
execution of projections and overbalancing because of the improvement of the mobile
rooting.
footwork 1 (BuFa MoCaBu 1)
In the basic walk A the body weight will be: at the beginning in ZhanZhuang, for the 70
per cent on the posterior leg, immediately after, on the anterior leg.
Afterwards the thrust forward, made by the imagination of the stream of water will
make the weight shift for 100 per cent on the anterior leg until making the leg move
forward and lift ( the same that at the beginning of the ZhanZhuang’s exercise had the
70 per cent of the weight on it) and going back in a position with the 70 per cent of the
weight on the posterior leg ( the same that took 100 per cent of the weight and at the
beginning of ZhanZhuang the 30 per cent) and 30 per cent of the weight on the anterior
leg (look at the image below).
In the walk the feet on the ground have the same span as the distance between the
shoulders, while when you make the step; the leg which goes forward touches slightly
the leg which holds the whole weight.

footwork 2 (BuFa MoCaBu 2)

These steps are more complicated than the first and allow you to be faster and resolutive
in fighting against more than one person. They make the body nimble and light as a
butterfly.
Following a beeline the feet cross each other taking turns in steps forward and
backward.

In this walk, the weight is 100 per cent on the frontal leg and it shifts to 100 per cent on
the opposite leg as soon as the anterior one moves forward surpassing with the posterior
one.

At a lower level of YangShenGong BuFa imagine always to be moved forward by the

usual stream of water and as usual putting up internal resistance backward to contrast
this force which pushes forward. The physical movement of this walk, different from
the first one, entails several internal movements and gives to the trainee also different
health and martial benefits.
footwork 3 (BuFa MoCaBu 3)
The third steps of YiQuan are very similar to BaGua Quan and Zhan (other Chinese
internal martial art of Taoist origins) ones.
The steps follow the shape of the BaGua symbol (the endless changes or endless
combinations), the eight BaGua’s trigrams symbolize also the great forces of nature, for
example fire, mountain, wind and water and their multiple changes.
This walk helps the trainee to totally use his internal energies, making them flow
through the whole body dissolving al the tensions.
The body becomes nimble, fluent in the movements and at the same time strong and
hard inside.

martial aspect
These steps serve to gain more power
in the hits, to execute projections, to
dodge the attacks of the enemy, to
strike him with legs, feet and knees and
in the end also to strengthen the
backbone working on the classic spiral
force of QiGong BaGua.

The trainee, using the spiral force

of the backbone, will move as an
hurricane or a tornado which
comes unpredictable with
devastating power.

ZhanZhuang YiQuan

mental attitude
During the practice of ZhanZhuang the mind has to be relaxed, focused and lively.
The mind, with the help of imagination (water, floating ball, stream of water, elastics
etc) has to look for different feelings inside the body to improve and change in better the
flow of “Qi” inside the energy meridians.
During the training of ZhanZhuang as soon as the tension comes it is possible to rest or
change position.
Changing position changes also the therapeutic functions, different meridians are
activated and different ways are opened for the “Qi” and, by doing so, different physical
and spiritual benefits will be gained.

It’s very important do don’t have any kind of tension during the training of
ZhanZhuang. If a part of the body hurts, the attention shouldn’t be focused on that part,
but we should instead work on the entire body, focusing the mind on all of it in order to
be able to heal also that small part of the body which is “sick”.

While training ZhanZhuang we should feel comfortable , with no rush, and without
demands (otherwise we get anxious, we start to set some targets and we loose
relaxation).
At the beginning we could think about a pleasant sensation felt in the past, a pleasant
sensation which our body already know and which because of that it’s easy to reproduce
during the training of ZhanZhuang and Shili in order to find the right muscular and
psychophysical relaxation which will allow the meridians to open thanks to these
exercises made with quick and mobile will to allow
the “Qi” to move freely and to unblock step by step all the energy closures, also in an
unconscious way, by visualizations external to the body which begin with the
embracing of the ball, the feeling of the stream of water and continue with the elastics
and the several resistances, to finish with real internal movements of energy.
zhanZhuang Exercise One
Exercise with parallel legs
We will take some of the ZhanZhuang’s positions and explain the fundamentals.

EMBRACE THE BALL first phase

Legs opened with a span the same of
the distance between the shoulders,
feet slightly pointing outside, knees
slightly bend, elbows lower then the
wrists, fingers slightly opened and
relaxed, gaze turned toward the
horizon, mouth closed with a
beginning of a smile on the sides of
the lips, teeth are not touching each
others and tongue quite relaxed and
lightly leaning against the palate,
hands are at least at two fists of
distance between each other.

Imagine that between your arms

there is a ball, if you close them too much, you will break it, if you let it go, opening
them too much, it will fall, therefore hold it gently and carefully.
The weight of the body will be moved down to the earth, more or less 50% on the heel,
50% on the tips of the feet.
The head kept high as pulled by an imaginary wire hanging from a star (at the beginning
this kind of visualization is not fundamental, the important is to keep the head high).
The respiration is natural, not constrained.
The elbows are leaning on two trunks of tree floating (imaginary) on the water
(therefore there is no muscular effort to keep the arms up).
Remain relaxed and enjoy the position. Let the water relax the all body.
As soon as you get tired, it is possible to rest, change ZhanZhuang position besides you
can shift to an exercise of Shili or Bufa.

EMBRACE THE BALL second phase

Now the stream of water will come toward the trainee to push him backward.
The ball, which floats, will also come toward the student because also pushed by the
water.
The student will resist the water with his own mental strength, his will of not letting the
water push him backward will flow quick trough his all body.
The exercise requires that in this very moment the strength of the water is stronger than
the mental resistance strength of the student whom will have to help the body to don’t
fall backward (because of thrust of the water) shifting his weight for the 70% on the
heel and bending a bit the legs to be more rooted in the ground.

Now the stream of water will push the body and the ball forward toward the horizon
(the opposite side of before) but the student will use again his mental resistance, this
time backward to don’t fall forward.
The student’s mental strength to resist to the water will be inferior than the strength of
the stream that push him forward therefore the weight of the body will be shifted till the
70% on the tips of the feet and the knees will be slightly stretched.
The body then, even if moved forward because weaker than the strength of pushing of
the water will always put up mental resistance backward to not cross his point of
maximum balance.
ZhanZhuang exercise 2
PUSHING THE BALL
In this exercise the palms of the hands are facing the horizon and
the ball, instead of being between the arms, will float in front of
the hands of the trainee.
When the ball pushes the student backward because pushed its
self by the stream of water, he will have to putting up resistance
trying to push the ball, in order to don’t fall backward, rooting
himself in the ground with his heels to gain more thrust force.
When the stream of the water will push the ball in the opposite
direction (toward the horizon), the trainee will have to take hold
of it with his fingers to don’t let it slip away (mental strength of
the will, not muscular).

The stream of water coming from behind the shoulders of the

student will move him forward pushing also the ball toward the horizon in front of him.
The student will put up internal resistance backward trying also to hold the ball to don’t
let it slip out of the hands.

The mental force which pushes the trainee in the opposite direction of the stream of
water in order to don’t be moved will be, in this exercise, weaker than the force of the
stream of water and therefore the weight of the body will be shifted for the 70% on the
tips of the feet.

Chinese Quotations
ZhaoHong:
It’s hard to explain the kind of sensations that are supposed to be felt during the practice
of Shili (we should remember that in the Shili there is ZhanZhuang and in the
ZhanZhuang there is Shili).
If you’ve never eaten the Beijing Duck (which is spicy) and if you’ve never eaten spicy
it’s hard to
understand its taste, even if a friend explains it to us, so also in the Shili it is necessary
to practice in order to understand the real meaning and to gain the real benefit from
these exercises trough the imagination which changes the physical sensations and the
emotions.

HuaMing:
To achieve the best results in the practice of the basic Shili, the best method that the
man was able to contrive until now “is to imagine that our body is dip into the water and
that this water moves our body gently, slowly and harmoniously forward, backward,
rightward, leftward, upward and downward. It’s necessary to feel to be cuddled by the
water to put ourselves in the water’s care, but putting up some resistance of internal will
in order to don’t let the water overbalance us too much.
The intensity, the speed and the direction of the water are controlled by our mind and
for this reason the YiQuan is the martial art of the mind (or box of the mind) and it is
also called DaChengQuan which means “which include everything” and “great
knowledge” since after having learned the fundamentals of this art, it is possible to
apply them to every hit or movement (according to every individual’s experiences and
preferences), by doing so it is possible to reach “the majestic martial dance”, WuDao,
where the YiQuan trainee is really free to move however he likes (at any height or
speed).
This explains why every master of YiQuan fights in a completely different way.
Every trainee of this kind of GongFu develops also FungFu skills and different martial
techniques
since the YiQuan helps to develop the physical performances, the metabolism and the
mental power, and the student of the higher levels is not anymore bounded to static
forms, but he is free of move as he like following the energy principles of Qi’s universal
law.
In the ShiLi’s exercises where the work is based on the imaginations which influence
 the sensations,
we move because of water tides external to ourselves; if the arm moves forward it does
so because pushed by the water and not because it is moving by his will.
The right “imagination” is the key of the YiQuan, if you mistake “imagination”, you
could spend years and years of training without achieving any tangible result.
The more the training carries on, the stronger it is possible to become. The more the
mind learns to find his hidden martial strength the more the body “becomes steel”.
As the TaiJiQuan the YiQuan as well tends to make the body very relaxed “outside” and
as “steel” inside.

Master Zui Ruihua:

The use of imagination and the pursuit of certain sensations coming from it are very
important.
Many masters don’t teach their beginner students the proper use of the initial
imagination in order to control and verify if they are constant, sincere and serious in
learning, but once the student gains the sympathy of his master he’ll be allowed to learn
the real way of the YiQuan.
The right use of the imagination influences the body.
The mind creates the imagination.
The imagination conditions the mind, the body and the spirit,
The body influences the mind
The spirit influences the body
The body is moved by the imagination created by the mind.
Body, mind and spirit are perfectly balanced for a cosmic dance,
A martial dance that evoke the most hidden and remote powers
The mind permeates the body
The man floats in the universe
We are free to dance happy in the universe
We are the universe
The universe is inside us
This is the YiQuan
The Yin and the Yang
The TaiJi
The primordial force
The Whole
The perfect union between Man and universe
The training of ZhanZhuang mustn’t be constrained. At the beginning of the training in
order to avoid muscular tensions the static positions and the one in movement can be
exercised even for only 3 minutes a day.
You mustn’t be constrained; if you feel tired you can shift to another exercise or make
some quicker movements, training the steps, rest or training to strike.
The YiQuan includes quickness, slowness, being static, fluid movements, explosive
movements, punches, holds, levers, kicks and many others martial and not moves. Is a
modern KungFu style suitable for the day by day life of the 21st century listening to all
the different physical and psychic needs of thetrainee.

tuiShou YiQuan

Introduction
The first level TuiShou is the same as ShiLi trained in pair, a continuous exchanging of
energy where the two bodies becomes a whole single energy in a “one single body”.
You need to feel the movements and the ideas of the opponent, understanding his mind
and his strength. It’s the same as when the traditional Chinese doctor places his fingers
on the wrist of his patience to understand his illness, so when the YiQuan trainee
approaches the body or the writs of the opponent with his hands, he can understand the
next movement that his opponent would make, or the amount of Qi would be used to
load for a hypothetic hit.

Training TuiShou is possible to learn the elastic power, the opponent’s energy
absorption, and the resistance to external forces, the rooting and the overbalancing in
addition to the emission of Qi.

When an opponent launches a hit with emission of Qi, we should know how to
transform this destructive Qi into innocuous energy to our body. We have to transfer his
energy on the floor in order to find then other energy generated by the charging of the
movement backward that we want to send him back.

The partner will have to do the same continuing then a

kind of Shili in pair where the two trainees exchange and
aliment this kind of keen energy which if made go out in
an explosive way (as in FaLi), becomes a very dangerous
weapon of defense.
The TuiShou trainee, in order to be able to enter the
opponent’s guard and control him, dominate him and
render him harmless, has many martial techniques
combinations which are studied in the higher levels of
advanced Shili and TuiShou, aimed exclusively to the
self-defence.
On the side great Master Wang YongXiang who trains
TuiShou with his student.