Warfox Bagua 錦園八卦掌

Every martial artist, regardless of style, has to form a very close and personal relationship with pain. Pain is often times viewed as a barrier that needs to be surpassed in order to raise the level of our technique. In many respects pain is a teacher, helping us identify the different problems within our art. Bruises left behind after sparring can be viewed as a map that outlines the weaknesses in our defense, dull pains can tell us when something isn't aligned, sharp pains can warn us to slow down our training. After training long enough, we begin to understand that each type of pain is as a letter of the alphabet, spelling out our journey of training. As a martial artist, pain is a crucial language because it's the method the body uses to help us prevent injury. At times injury can also be a strict instructor, and at other times it can be a thief, attempting to disqualify us from the battle that matters most. Many young warriors are seduced into danger by their own ego...

Self reflection is not only important in terms of making progress in your training, it's also beneficial to help you gauge direction by separating your own needs from the "needs" force fed to you by society. Bruce Lee often mentioned that we must use our art to honestly express ourselves, but most people have such a diluted understanding of self that this concept is drowned in many forms of false identity.  How do you determine the bad habits in your fighting style from your own personal concepts of combat? Should you accept yourself even though you are overweight? Or should you become the more physical fit version of your self to be true? As early as birth, you are trained to understand a self that may or may not be you. Are you an American? Then you must speak a certain language, be opposed to certain ideas and be supportive of your countries cause. If there is a plane crash somewhere in the world, it doesn't concern you so much because it's not related to ...

Here is a article I wrote for Temple Underground about Bagua. If you haven't subscribed to their site yet, please do. http://www.templeundergroundmagazinetum.com/#!peer-review/cfvg A Treatise on Bagua In the beginning there was Wuji or the void: nothingness. The Wuji led to the Liang Yi, which is also known as the Two Concepts or energies of yin and yang (negative and positive forces). Liang Yi led to the San Cai or the Three Principles: Heaven, Earth and Man. The Three Principles led to the Si Xiang or the Four Directions: North, South, East and West. The Four Directions led to the Wu Xing or the Five Elements: Metal, Earth, Wood, Fire and Water. The Five Elements led to the Liu He or the Six Harmonies which are the three internal energies and the three external energies. The Six Harmonies led to the Seven Stars: Alpha, Merak, Phecda, Megrez, Alioth, Mizar and Alkaid. The Seven Stars led to the Bagua or Eight Trigrams representing the eight e...

Trying to master a technique is a journey that continues to reveal a deeper purpose for those with the will to continue their exploration of the arts. What begins as learning how to strike, quickly transforms into learning how to think. We are scientists of combat, researching for betters ways to avoid and deal damage. Although there are thousands of reasons to pursue the arts and all of the objectives may wear different skins, the goal is quite simple: progress. Through analyzing a punch or a kick you have to utilize all of your senses. First we are focused on how it looks, then how it feels, but even how it sounds will come into play quite often. Personally I've found that every time I've practiced a technique ten thousand times, it changes in nature. Something new emerges and old flaws are revealed, humbling me while inspiring me to stay focused with hopes of eventually obtaining some sense of martial satisfaction. For those who are clever enough to crack the cod...

This is my first story, which follows my martial life from 4 years old all the way to China to complete my training. Lots of good training ideas and concepts are presented as I try to find my place in the world as a martial artist. This is an inspirational story with lots of comedy to lighten the spirit. http://www.amazon.com/Chasing-Dreams-Successor-Robert-Arnold/dp/1592324150/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1429921930&sr=8-1&keywords=robert+jay+arnold Soon I will release my first martial arts novel which is a series of eight books. Stay tuned.

Recently I've seen the topic of MMA vs. traditional martial arts (TMA) in forums, blogs and hundreds ofdifferent places on the internet. Generally, the MMA supporters claim that if traditional arts were effective, they would be dominating in the cage fights and that most TMA guys are trapped inside a world of fantasy combat. Adversely, the TMA supporters say that their techniques are too lethal to be used in a sports setting and therefore the people living inside of a combat fantasy are the people who choose cage fighting to express their art. In my 31 years of training, I began with with traditional arts and then switched to MMA in my teens for competition. Then when I was in my 20's I switched back to traditional arts for the rest of my journey. In this article I will do my best to explain to both MMA and TMA practitioners the pros and cons of each side, with hopes of giving a clearer perspective on the issue. I should begin by clarifying that the modern era has a far...

As the world continues to evolve into the understanding of its own existence, we tend to find ourselves demanding more from mankind. We saturate ourselves with various forms of information with hopes that it will eventually satisfy our craving for the ever elusive truth. Along with this awakening, we've found that many things that we thought to be true at one time, were merely myth, exaggeration or downright lies. Many of the things or heroes that we believed in have been proven to be fictional tales, quietly breaking the hearts of many hopefuls while giving reign and even authority to the skeptic. In the martial arts world this translates into students only interested in learning movements that are "realistic." I think it is extremely important to be watchful in the martial arts world. After all, there are many people who are unable to determine combat movements from high level circus tricks. In every occupation there are those who would seek to take advantag...

In order to meet with the needs of students that are all over the world, I've decided to open the Warfox Training Rooms for FREE  online tutorials.  Check out online tutorials for Soft Body Flowing Baguazhang on my facebook page, "The Warfox Training Room." (https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Warfox-Training-Room-RJA-%E5%AD%94%E6%9C%89%E6%9C%89/925078367526760) The Warfox Training Room is a free visual training blog with  tips to help people have a better understanding of the physics of this system of combat.  There will be videos on an almost weekly basis to help my online students with their practice from the comfort of their home. The first room is focused on the Heaven Section of training, meaning it is the simple truth of how techniques are used and applied. After students have gained enough Warfox Experience points they will be able to advance to the  Warfox Water Section, which goes deeper into the mechanics, offering even more thorough ex...