Zhan Zhuang Training Journal

In the autumn of 1996 I began training with The School of Cultivation and Practice. After three years of training, my friend and teacher, Rick Taracks (who later named his approach to teaching and training as Wujifa), encouraged me to start writing down my training experiences. The notes I've compiled since 1999 are what I now call my Zhan Zhuang Training Journal.

What is a Zhan Zhuang Training Journal? For me, it is where I recorded class discussions and experiences related to my Wujifa Zhan Zhuang practice. I tried to avoid "Dear Diary" stuff and the "write-it-down-to-get-it-out-of-your-system" stuff, however, sometimes that crept in.

What can you gain from reading my personal training notes? Maybe you will read something and you will say, "I felt that too." or "I had that question too." or "I never thought of it that way." or "I walked that road too." or you may simply be amazed at the depth and breadth of zhan zhuang training and become inspired at the possibilities!

Here are some things to keep in mind as you read my Zhan Zhuang Training Journal articles...

1. These notes include teachings directed to me and my particular situation at that time. Sometimes, my teacher would give a contradictory or opposite teaching to my school brother standing right beside me. Why? Because real zhan zhuang training is a highly personalized practice. Beware of the "one size fits all" teacher and teachings.

That said, how can my experience help you grow and develop? Given the typical level of online "how-to", I believe that the detailed and in-depth notes I share will inspire you to ask, Does this apply to me? If so, how? If not, why not? How can I use his experience and insights to help myself and/or my students to progress?

2. Where practical, I am compiling an entire month's journal entries into one posting. To accomplish this, I had to decide what material could be combined or omitted. I did my best to copy verbatim the material selected for posting.

3. I've made quite a few hand drawings along the way and I have scanned and posted some of these drawings. As I said, these notes were originally made for my personal reference without the intent to share publicly and so the drawings are not professional level graphics.

4. When you see the "Question & Answer" notes, keep in mind that the answers I recorded are the way I heard and understood the answer. Any distortion from their original spoken delivery is due to the way they made sense to me at the time.

5. Finally, I included comments and insights on some of my earlier entries. These are in italics.

My intent is to keep this blog "G" rated. Therefore, I will refrain from posting my experiences with specific body-mind integration exercises and other stance related experiences that may be interpreted as being sexual in nature. (That said, know that training may include certain elements kept "secret" from public classes due to the sensitive nature of the topic.)

For a complete list of articles I've posted so far, please see my Zhan Zhuang Journal on this site.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at: internalgongfu@gmail.com