AXE

I think not many people have gotten the point of my most recent (July 2022) book. It is AXE Advanced Xingyi Energetics.

The point of it is to reveal traditional Chinese Xingyiquan boxing as a supreme cultivation practice for tangible, palpable, experiential internal energy. That means you will eventually feel it, strongly, for yourself and in yourself.

It’s easy to see a book like that and assume that I’m talking about some vague thing. Like yoga can be ‘energizing’ in that you feel good after a session, you feel light and peppy. Or hiking up a high range on a beautiful summer afternoon can be ‘energizing’ when you’re on top of the world for a moment. That’s a rocky mountain high for sure.

But in the book I’m not talking about ‘energy’ in that general, fun but vague kinda way. That’s merely the feeling you get from “lunchtime qigong” or free Qigong for Seniors class Saturday morning at the YMCA.

The real thing is way different. A strict practice regimen develops a fully specific, replicable, objective current of vibratory power, experience in your body. This internal power phenom is not a metaphor, a symbol, an image, an idea or a philosophy. Nor is it a relabeling for an ordinary physiological process, like blood circulation or something to do with the ever-fashoinable fascia. Nerve pathways, or tendons or ligaments.

It’s its own thing. We know about body and mind, right? Related yet distinct. Duality, two things. Well, this is a “third thing” or third rail.

Suppose you own a Fila Brasileira guard dog. Do you “reinterpret” this living, breathing companion as a philosophy, an image, a metaphor, or a primitive traditional superstition? Of course not, it’s a real thing. It has its own properties, which can be interesting and useful if respected and understood and worked with as such.

Or take surfing for example. The wave has its own objective existence and power right? Can we agree on that? You can blend with the wave’s power when you surf correctly, but you wouldn’t deny the existence of the wave or say that it’s just a mental image or a metaphor. Or that it’s something else altogether, such as merely another word for ‘sunrise’ or ‘pinecone’ or something equally irrelevant.

I admit that in the case of this internal power thing, it’s more of a stretch for most people to understand as such, because you don’t normally experience it without specific training. And yet once you get it going its as objective and replicable as any other human phenomenon, such as breathing, sex, pain, muscle development or anything.

So my book AXE is presenting this side of Xingyiquan. How to understand as one of the great tools for cultivating this power experience. Not as just another ‘clench, rush, shake” martial arts dance. No point in that. You should treat the training experience as analogous to surfing, in that you are training your body and mind to seek out, and blend harmoniously with a semi-autonomous, objective property of the world.

The book reveals the specific, concrete, detailed training method of real Xingyi. You will learn how to trigger and amplify the internal power wave (no, not a muscle or tendon entrainment!) from launching foot to heart center to striking fist in every rep of any of the 5 techniques of the Art.

I guess its just too hard for most people to relate to. I understand that, actually. Because it won’t put money in your pocket, or do your taxes or find you a parking spot. Not super practical. Same as surfing in that respect. But the power itself is as real, replicable and interesting as surf power on the beach. Check it out!