I thought I would share a bit of this practice with you all. This is section one of the Da Bei Quan, a set I learned while living in Beijing. It is a very interesting sequence that was developed by a monk in the northern temples near Beijing. After the temples were shut down by the government he began teaching this set in the city. It is mixture of a bunch of different things that he had learned throughout his life. Some Shaolin, tai ji, qi gong, bagua, xing yi and other basic kung fu movements. The monk, Qi Yun, had been a martial artist and soldier throughout his life. After he became a monk he wanted a set that would still work him physically but that he could relax into and not think about fighting. So the only concepts in the Da Bei are open and close. It is meant to be a physical cultivation set to improve flexibility, focus and strength. It is a very challenging form to learn and perform. The entire form is a 7 sections long with 63 postures and takes about 20-40 minutes depending on speed. If there is enough interest over time we can open a specific class to study and learn this set!

Welcome to The Grove! "The martial forest is one family”. My hope is that together we can shape the culture and curriculum of this community so that The Grove will come to represent a level of quality and skill of which we can all be proud. I am still building out the space, but there will be free content for Shuai Jiao, Ba Gua, basic gong fu and more. There will also be focused training cohorts starting soon with options including -Liang & Cheng style Bagua Zhang -Beijing Shuai Jiao -Chen Style Tai Ji Quan & Da Bei Quan -Gong Fu basics and Praying Mantis Kung fu -Qi Gong As someone who has either trained with me in the past or expressed interest in learning one of the arts I teach you are here as one of the founding members of the community. You have probably heard me say before that I don’t take myself that seriously, but it take the arts I teach very seriously indeed. In this space I am a teacher, a coach and a fellow martial artist studying as diligently as I can. Reach out with any questions and I look forward to sharing this space with you all. If you don’t mind, please take a moment to leave a comment and let us know a few things about yourself. -name and location -age and previous/current martial arts experience -what you are interested in learning Feel free to add anything else you would like to share. This is your space!