The Way of Least Resistance

My third DVD title "Internalising Karate" is set to be released in the next month. It provides a detailed discourse into incorporating functional internal arts concepts directly into karate and without recourse to material from the Chinese internal arts. From the back cover: Many senior karate, particularly those who are noticing the effects of age, express the desire to explore its "softer" side. Karate is, after all, meant to combine both "go" (hard) and ("ju") soft techniques.  In this video, prominent traditional martial arts researcher Dan Djurdjevic uses his 35 year background in both karate and the 3 "internal" or "soft" arts of China (taijiquan, baguazhang and xingyiquan) to explore the "softer" side to karate. While some would prefer to imagine this "softer" side as some form of paranormal or supernatural skill, Dan reveals it to be something better: something concrete that can be le...

What do I mean by “internal” and “external”? When I refer to the "internal" arts, I mean a specific set of techniques and methods of movement, the details I cannot go into in a short article. These methods are found (in varying but compatible forms) in the "big 3" internal arts of xingyi, bagua and taiji (liu he ba fa being a combination of the 3 to some extent). These techniques are very specific to these arts: I feel very strongly that they do not appear in the Fujian/Hakka schools (except some modified xingyi in bak mei/mantis). They certainly do not appear in karate (either Naha te or the shorin school). For example there is nothing like a xingyi's "pi quan" or "beng quan" (splitting fist and pounding fist) in karate - there are only "external" equivalents indicating some partial influence. The differences are subtle but substantial. This is not a "bad" or "good" thing: they are just different. The “big 3” I...