Your instructor will talk with you about what you need/want out of the training, from self defence, injury rehabilitation, calming of the mind and body or powering up a weak system, to general health and well-being. We have an array of traditional forms, single and two person training methods, for fighting, general health and fitness and for Qigong healing, to make sure you get out of it what you came for. You can train only Form and Qigong, or add some of the more gentle partner training like push hands, maybe get rougher and more martial with things like San Sau and pad work, or take it right the way to free fighting, it's up to you. Some people may want to one day become an instructor under the wtba, for this we will make sure you learn what is needed to become a good teacher.

The Fighting Art:
The fighting area of the internal martial arts are trained for self defence rather than competition. 
Most of our fighting principles are very similar to MMA competition methods. The main difference is, you learn to make use of all the illegal strikes, such as attacking the eyes, groin, neck and back of the head, as well as stomping on a grounded opponent, rather than going down to to the ground. 
Another major difference is that we never take a fight to the ground, if we do end up on the ground, we have grappling skills to get us back to our feet. 

Full contact fighting will make you the best fighter you can be, but at what cost? The answer is your health. 
Any full pressure fighting, striking or grappling based, will wreck your body.
We prefer to train at a medium pressure, negating any health risk. This means you will never become the ultimate fighting weapon, but you will be able to protect yourself and your family from 90% of situations, and maintain a healthy mind and body into your old age. 

We do use full pressure for some things, like what doing a training method, were you know the contact will only be to the arms, never using full contact to the head. Sparing is done with and with out protective equipment. 
The internal arts incorporate Fa-jing and Dim-Mak, but not in the same way you see all over the internet where people make it out to be almost supernatural. 
Fa-jing simply means Explosive Energy, this is how we strike with great power over a short distance, the whole body shakes like a sneeze and we concentrate that force down into the striking weapon. 
Dim-Mak, simply means to hit the most vulnerable points on the body, no you cannot touch someone's arm and have them fall to the ground, but you can aim at the weakest area of a big guy and at least have a far greater chance of getting away compared with just punching him in the face. 

Health and Well-Being:
The internal martial arts are about creating balance of the internal and external systems of the body, so the practice incorporates these into your training. Just because it's an "Internal" Martial Art, doesn't mean we focus purely on Qigong and negate the physical and external areas of the body, so the practice will work every area of your body, stretching and strengthening, cardiovascular, bone health, Qigong and the mind, everything is included. Sometime we focus more on either the physical or the internal depending on what the student needs, but ultimately the two should become one.

Baguazhang or Taijiquan?
Both systems are individual but also complimentary to each other, which one you choose is a personal choice,
but we have a page that explains the differences between the two in order help you decide what is right for you. More....

Dedication and time:
You will learn to understand the principals behind the forms and training
methods. This teaches you how to move, how to fight, under any situation, from
any angle, not just to do each form and drill perfectly. 
We care more about the principles of movement than the sequence of a form,
though you will still learn the form.