Nei Jia Quan Program

This program has been designed to lay a solid foundation for further study in the Internal Styles of Chinese Kung Fu; Taiji Quan, Xing Yi Quan, and Ba Gua Zhang. In the later levels of this program the core forms and Nei Kung exercises for each of these styles is taught along with the two person training exercises which help further the student’s development.

Nei Kung means internal work or internal skills developed through work. In the internal martial arts it is Nei Kung that makes them effective and powerful. It is like the engine of the car. It is on the inside and makes everything happen. Nei Kung training includes many aspects that will develop the practitioner’s body so that it relaxed and mobile but at the same time integrated and connected. Nei Kung training is also excellent for heath.

This program provides a structured and progressive training regimen designed to help the student gain real skill in the internal arts.
The goal of formulating this program was not to supplant the traditional internal systems or to create a “new” system. Instead this program is designed to remedy some of the problems with the traditional teaching structure. Usually the progression of training is not laid out for the students in the traditional teaching structure and sometimes in traditional teaching the Nei Kung is not taught until the student has “proven” themselves for many years. This can leave many students practicing “empty” forms. This would be like a car without an engine if we used the previous analogy. The car might look good but functionally it is not very useful.

This program is divided into 3 levels with each level having 3 sub-levels for an overall total of 9 levels

Curriculum Overview

The first level is non style specific and will give a solid base from which to continue study. This level will also give the student a clear understanding of the goals and direction of practice which will help the student more easily progress in his or her training. If the student is only interested in health this first level will be enough. If the student wishes to progress into martial arts training he or she can move onto level two.

The second level of training is style specific and teaches the Nei Kung specific to each of the internal styles along with the core principles and forms. Although the information contained in this program is sufficient for a lifetime of practice the goal of formulating this program was not to supplant the traditional internal systems but instead to provide a structured and progressive approach to attaining real skill in these arts. Therefore the student when completing Level 2 has the option of continuing to learn the complete traditional curriculum of the internal style he or she chooses. At the same time the student can also progress to learning the Level 3 Nei Kung Curriculum. It is not required that the student choose to dive further into a certain style he may also just continue on to Level 3.

The third level is all about applying the Nei Kung through two person interaction.

Benefits of Studying the Nei Jia Quan Program

As stated this program teaches aspects of all three of the internal arts of Xing Yi Quan, Ba Gua Zhang, and Taiji Quan. These arts are integrated into the program in that the core Nei Kung, Principles, and movement patterns are taught for each of the arts. They are each individual and separate arts and are not combined. Each art should retain its’ individual “flavor”, principles, and method of movement. The benefit of integrating all three arts into the curriculum of this program are:

• Each style has its own principles and emphasis in training: Xing Yi can develop power fairly quickly, Bagua emphasizes mobility and coiling, Tai Chi emphasizes unity and transforming power. The experience of training in each of these three arts will deepen the students understanding of the art in which he chooses to focus on and by studying the core aspects of each style a student can take the lessons learned and use them to more fully understand the development of internal power and effective movement. He will gain insight into practicing that would not have been possible if his experience was narrowed by only practicing one art.
• The student in the beginning of training does not know much about the difference between these arts. By going through the Nei Kung specific for each style and incorporating it into movement patterns the student gains an understanding of the similarities and differences between these three arts. The student can then make a decision based upon experience and preference as to which style to continue learning in depth rather than wasting sometimes years trying an art to find out that it just does not suit the student’s temperament, body structure, goals, etc.