Yin Fu school program (1)

A Sunday training in Ritan Park, Beijing.

The program of the Yin Fu school  of the Wudang Kungfu Center of Lucca is mainly centered on the Yin school  of Zhu Baozhen but it was also  enriched with other teachings. For instance,  in the 1994 Liu Jingru it taught me the 8 basic positions  of the Yin  school (very similar to those of the Cheng school ) plus other eight palms that subsequently I verified as very similar to those of Zhu Baozhen (in fact also Liu had studied for some time under He Zhongqi, one of the teachers from which it derives the Zhu tradition  ). He told however that he had studied only a little of this school since when he had known He Zhongqi this man was  already old (look at the 1972 photo under, drawn from: Liu Jingru:Baguazhang, 1999, p.11), he was bringing in the body the wounds received during the Cultural Revolution and he was sick; he had therefore forgotten many  taolus that he didn't practice anymore. 
Liu Zhenlin (1885-1967) was the principal teacher of Zhu Baozhen. He studied, as a young,Changquan, then he followed the teaching of the  Xingyiquan Master Li Yunshan;  later he studied the Baguazhang (Cheng school ) under Zhu Wenbao that then  introduced him to the  Yin line master, Li Yongzhuang (nicknamed "Iron-arm Li"-sic) from which he learned the techniques of "Dajiazi yingzhang" ("the hard palms of the Great Structure"); in two years he reached a great strength and good results. At 23 he was known as "Bagua Liu"and was proclaimed a Bagua teacher  by Cheng Youlong and Liu Dekuan, the two more famous teachers of the time in the Cheng tradition .  
He Zhongqi and He Zhongxiang were the other two teachers under which Zhu studied. Both sons of the son-in-law of Yin Fu, He Jinkuai, had studied with their father and with the fourth son of Yin Fu, Yin Yuzhang. 

The Yin Fu school  has as basic the going around the circle, to the peer of every school of Bagua (as it regards walking the circle, cfr "What I have understood of the Baguazhang"). It has therefore Bashi (or: Dingshi bazhang, bashi zhuanzhang etc.) that is 8 static positions that are held walking the circle. This is considered part of the jiben gong or  basic work and it is important because it acts as a sort of Zhanzhuang ("to be firm as a pole") in movement. In the difficulty of this walking the circle holding these positions turned toward the center, the legs, the breath, the relaxation, the focusing and the correct posture are practiced. Therefore it is an important practice. In the Zhu school  these eight positions are held statically too, around 5 minutes for each; the student passes therefore around 40 minutes in these positions of zhanzhuang. About twenty minutes he passes thenwalking the circle, or walking in a straight line or performing the 12 kicks. After this  the techniques, the taolus or the weapons are practiced. Here below, three of the Bashi are represented .

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