Wuji Yi Lik Quan Kung Fu
An Internal Chinese Martial Art
Wuji Yi Lik Quan is a Chinese internal martial art. It specialises at close to medium range, built around a supple but well-structured bridge hand. the bridge is the point of contact between you and the person in front of you.
The art is based on the Philosophical principles of yin and yang.
If you have seen Tai Chi, some of it will look familiar. Practitioners of Xingyiquan may recognise something of their own art in how the body is organised. And anyone who has done Wing Chun will know the idea of working from the bridge, reading a partner through touch. We share that ground. What is unique is the feel, how we get there, the touch: subtle, absorbent, adaptive. The art is based on these qualities while maintaining a forthright bearing to overcome adversity.
Steel Wrapped in cotton
The central idea of the art is steel wrapped in cotton. The bones hold a clear, strong structure. The muscle around them stays loose. This is not the absence of strength, it is
strength refined: just enough, in the right place, so that the body holds its shape against pressure instead of fighting it.
Most people start out meeting force with force. Learning to reduce and eliminate that is much of the work, and it takes time. It is also where the art becomes interesting.
The name
Yi means intention. We train to be direct, deliberate, responsive, control and then issue. Lik means strength, less about raw power than structural integrity, the body connected and whole. Train the art and you are training those two things, over and over, until they stop being ideas and become how you move.
Circles
These are the root of the sensitivity that runs through the art, and they are usually where a new student’s real understanding develops.
Two streams, one art
We teach the art through two kinds of classes Application & Fitness classes, and Internal Training classes each described on its own page. Some people are drawn to one, some to the other.
Trained fully, the art needs both, and the two halves inform each other.
"invest in loss, so your mind is free"