paolung

asking someone to explain to you the "basic principles" of taiji, bagua and xingyi is somewhat akin to me asking Stephen Hawking to explain the basic principles of quantum theory and time travel... but for some reference, I will suggest to you that you check out Mike Patterson's website https://www.hsing-i.com - he has some simplified explanations of all three arts... although i don't necessarily agree with his distinction of so-called internal/external myself. as Jerry stated, chi kung/qigong is literally translated as "breath work"... technically any exercise aimed at focusing or training the breath could be considered chi gung, although usually folks are referring to specific sets of exercises designed to harness/focus/build/channel qi/ki.

i'm not sure if he's in the london area, but you may want to check out geoff thompson's website... https://www.geoffthompson.com it has links at the very least good luck

while aikido is certainly one of the most aesthetically pleasing and visually beautiful of the martial "arts", it has also historically one of the longest learning curves and has a reputation for being notoriously difficult to find a good teacher who can really teach you how to use your art in the street or for combat. i find that too many aikido folks are infected with what i like to call the "tie chee hippy syndrome", i.e. "aikido isn't for fighting man, it's for peace..." you get the idea. perhaps at the higher levels, that takes on a new meaning, but realize that o-sensei ueshiba was no joke... and that when people took him on, they were fully aware that he could kill them. that doesn't come from being a complete pacifist in fact, his traning was brutal in his early days. read some of what steven seagal sensei says about aikido (http://www.uis.ch/redman/), that will give you a good mindset to go on in my opinion. that being said, if you dont' mind putting in alot of time and effort, and really working at it, it may bring you what you wish in an 'art' that stresses concentration, balance, and so on...

perhaps you're thinking of jow gar as the other one, devilthaiboxer ?

G95champ has some sound advice, do what your sifu (sensei?) has told you to do, and be wary of doing more (at least regarding forms/kata , techniques, etc). i don't think you'll likely run into trouble if you are just working on generalized conditioning and improving your overall fitness, stretching, etc. but it is always a good idea to ask your instructor what they think about something. i ask my sifu about practically everything i do to improve myself in the gungfu world, because as G95champ said, it's a pain to "undo" things if you're in a bad habit already.

my suggestion would be to ask your sifu about the history and for some book recommendations. sometimes different branches have differing versions of history. this doesn't make any branch necessarily more legitimate, just different... good luck and train hard!

i'm gonna have to agree with jmd161 regarding the school link you posted, GreenDragon... i see some pretty big "red flags" on that website. personally i would avoid it if you are looking for legit authentic gungfu. that's not to say it is not an effective system, because it very well may be... but it's nothing i've ever heard of, and no one i know has ever heard of it, and ...well let's just say some things on the website don't lend alot of legitimacy to it. i'll leave it at that. regarding wing chun, as jmd161 mentioned, it is a highly practical southern system that focuses on a few main points; those being centerline theory (control your opponent's center and protect yours), efficiency (the shortest distance between two points is a line), economy of motion and power, and sensitivity ("feeling out" your opponent). it is said to be developed by a woman originally, and is hence often promoted as a style that allows smaller and weaker folk to effectively fight bigger/stronger ones. being practical and relatively simple (note: simple doesn't mean "easy" or "ineffective"), it is said to have a relatively short learning curve, i.e. you can learn most of the basics in a short amount of time compared to other systems. how good of a fighter you are with it depends on several factors, as with any system, but traditionally a wing chun fighter can claim proficiency relatively quickly compared to many other systems. i poked around tucson.citysearch.com and there are many schools in tucson area, several of which teach (or claim) gungfu... perhaps you should look around and see what they have to offer? find one that is comfortable... ask questions... don't be scared to see what they are about. some may offer a trial period, maybe a free class or two, if you are interested, take them up on it. shop around until you find what you want... trust me it is worth it. you will know when you find it. beware of schools that claim "super secret" styles or "ultimate" styles or put down other schools and styles, this is usually a sign of trouble. as i said, you will know when you "click" with something. even if you "click" with a style, in my opinion, a good sifu is most important. there are many valid systems and styles, but a good sifu is very difficult to find (and it is said that a good student is possibly even harder). good luck in your search!

there are several forms/kata in bagua, many depend on lineage. there are the mother palms, linear forms (especially in Yin Fu lineage), animal forms (snake, dragon, sparrow, hawk, bear, unicorn, lion, etc), single palm change, double palm change, etc etc. Cheng Ting Hua and Sun Lu Tang lineages are going to be more throw-based, as Cheng was a shuai chiao (chinese wrestling) expert, and Yin Fu lineage will be more strike based and linear because he was an expert in lohan gungfu before he learned bagua. there are also other lineages and variations such as Gao...

depends, there are different "dragon" gungfu systems, but the only one i am vaguely familiar with is the lung ying system... here is a website on it http://www.lungyingjingjung.com/schoolinfo.html it sounds to me like you may be referring to a different pai, however also, i am curious, what about bei tong long makes you consider it a 'soft' system? not flaming, just curious

you have to realize, the 'sash' or other grading systems are not universal in all systems. many chinese systems have no sash/belt ranking system. my sifu does not have any 'sashes' or 'rank' persay (at least not an externally visible one), but we all know who is the sifu and who the seniors are. many of the rank sash/belt grading systems were created by various japanese/okinawan and korean systems to help students see where they were regarding the other practitioners in their group. some systems see no use for these grading systems, while others find them very useful. personally, i'm not into the whole 'belt/sash' thing, but i don't really have a problem with systems that do... as long as it is taken with a grain of salt. realize that anyone can declare themselves "Sijo" of a new system and automatically they will have a 10th degree black belt, or whatever the highest level is in their new system. often in many systems, a higher rank/belt/sash is not indicative of proficiency or level of skill in a system, but more in line with political gains for the system or proliferation of the system. what i'm getting at here is, don't necessarily take someone's grade/rank/sash too seriously. i'm not saying "don't respect your elders" or anything along those lines, but rather respect your elders, not necessarily the color of their belt. you will find that belts don't really mean much of anything from system to system... a kenpo black belt for example may look feeble to a tkd blue belt (just an example here, not bashing kenpo or exalting tkd by any means).

couple things. one, sifu does NOT equal master. two, i cannot comment on the belt/sash ranking system that you are subject to, because the hung kuen i study has no such ranking system so i can't really compare. three, i sure HOPE i haven't "mastered" hung kuen in 30 years... in fact, i will continue to develop for the rest of my life what i learn. while some might call a very high level practitioner a 'master', that doesn't necessarily mean they have 'mastered' everything there is to know about their system... there is a difference. even WFH himself said "i am not a master, i am a bean curd martial artist"

just like anyone, it depends on their goal(s)... "elderly" doesn't necessarily mean "weak" or "feeble"...

anyone who guarantees rank does not deserve your time, IMO

i agree with withers. a teacher can be judged by their student(s). "a fierce tiger does not give birth to weak cubs"

it's not so much WHERE you train, but WHAT and HOW you train. that being said, what do you hope to accomplish by traveling to shaolin and training there? i suppose that is the real question you should ask yourself...

as mentioned, it is "anything goes" fighting. UNLIKE the UFC.

what is it about these systems that attracts you?

you can't find a TKD place? i'm stunned

i could be wrong here, but i believe you are referring to hsing-i chuan (xingyiquan) as bagua's "counterpart" ; as opposed to the i ching which is a literary text...

seven tats here. 2 on each arm, one on chest, one on neck, one on back. back hurt worst.

most definately. btw superleeds, you don't have to avoid training just because your dojo is closed... what does that have to do with training? other than maybe "group" training?

i'm with "ninjanurse" and "monkeygirl" on this one...why bother telling people in the first place? keep your skills hidden until you need to reveal them. if your friends walk about bragging about your abilities and skills, perhaps a talk with them is in order. or, more severely, perhaps you would be best served by other friends...

while i am no expert on hapkido, i did check it out in my area a while back as it was one of my prospective MA to take a peek at. my understanding is that hapkido is essentially the korean word for 'aikido', and both the founder of aikido as well as the founder of hapkido had the same aikijujitsu teacher back in the day. hapkido seems to be more offensive than aikido from my experience... think "tkd" type kicks and punches with aikido type throws/blending and aikijujitsu type controlling and manipulation techniques. never heard of "yudo" but it stands to reason that if it is korean judo, will be very throw-and-control based stuff. i would think they would be a fairly good combination from what i know. hapkido seems more involved than many other korean systems i have had exposure to, with a wealth of techniques to draw from. not sure about the philosophy component(s) behind it though.

what a broad question... what are your goals? what do you want to accomplish?

yes, it is the same word... bagua = 8 trigrams, baguazhang = 8 trigrams palm