Formosa Neijia

In brief, this DVD is one of the most impressive displays of skill I’ve seen. Ralston’s blend of taiji, bagua, and aikido is great. If you’ve been a bit confused over his books, watching him in action will reveal the concepts he talks about. This DVD is over an hour of him and his students doing Cheng Hsin movements in both cooperative/demo and freeplay formats.

This is Ralston competing in the 1978 Guoshu full-contact competition here in Taiwan. He won this match, which was filmed by a Taiwanese TV crew. The video quality is not good, but you can make out the action.

Ralston uses punches, kick, sweeps, and throws to defeat the opponent. The range of techniques and his ability to apply them come through. It’s a nicely done example of internal arts movement in a full-contact environment, which is fairly rare to see.

The next section is the one I watch the most. It’s a demo that Ralston did in Hawaii in 1994. His skill level here is much higher than the Guoshu fight in 1978. This demo is un-rehearsed and has what looks to be a taiji teacher that sponsored him for a seminar. Ralston and the taiji teacher do a version of moving push hands and Ralston just demos his techniques on him. The delivery is really smooth.

One of the best parts of the demo is when Ralston shows his bagua/aikido circling skills. Basically, Ralston lets the taiji teacher move however he wants and Ralston just walks around him. You have to see this to believe it. This is the ability many people talk about in baguazhang but this is the only time I’ve actually seen it done against a non-cooperative partner. Wherever the teacher goes to push, Ralston just “opens the door” and lets the teacher push through as Ralston circles around. He’s also in constant contact showing excellent sticking. The teacher can’t even touch him.

As you can see, Ralston is almost always behind the opponent or to his side walking WITH him, not against him. He could do whatever he wants to the teacher since he has all his anatomical weapons available and the teacher has none.

So naturally, throwing the teacher isn’t a problem.

Even a judo throw gets used. Ralston has a black belt in that art, as well as several others.

This was a great sequence in the freeplay section. This is basically soft randori where all manor of throws and grappling moves are used. The teacher was thrown down, but rather than simply let him recover, Ralston remained in control of his center without even using his hands.

He uses his body to stick and control the center. Excellent stuff.

Ralston could throw him at any time. The teacher is totally controlled throughout the movement. Certainly something to strive for in training.

The bulk of the DVD is a long demo by Ralston’s apprentices. They do about 40 or so of the Cheng Hsin tuishou movements. The moves are done multiple times. Many of these are done in the freeplay section.

This DVD is the best example of moving push hands I’ve ever seen. Ralston’s movement is what I’m training for myself, so naturally it resonates with me. If doing a blend of taiji, bagua, and aikido in a freeplay format interests you as well, then you simply must get this DVD. It’s that good.

Having said that, I wish that Ralston would put his material on a set of professionally produced DVDs. I’d buy it in a heartbeat. The home video format of this DVD leaves a lot to be desired. The recording, especially of the students, could be improved upon. And to be honest, I wished Ralston himself was performing all the moves. His stuff is so good that it’s a bit heartbreaking to see it only available in this format. His material deserves a better presentation.

Despite those minor quibbles, this is a disc that I find myself watching again and again. Just like I find something new in his books every time I read them, I see something new in this DVD every time I watch it.