Internal Fighting Arts | Learn Real-World Martial Arts Insights from Top Instructors of Tai Chi - Xingyi - Bagua and Qiqong

Ken Gullette talks with Sgt. Aaron Leisinger of the Cedar Rapids, Iowa Police Department and a long-time martial arts student and instructor. He also helps train other officers in defensive tactics with the goal of resolving situations peacefully. Ken and Aaron competed against each other in martial arts tournaments more than 20 years ago. In this interview, they talk about martial arts and how it's used in police work, the decisio...

Ken talks with Lindsay Lambert, the owner and head instructor at Wu Dao Kung Fu & Tai Chi in Watertown, Massachusetts (on the outskirts of Boston). Lindsay currently holds two National Championship titles in Shuai Jiao: Women’s 135lbs Division in 2023 & 2024, and one Women’s Internal Grand Championship title at ICMAC in 2019. She won third place in Shuai Jiao competition at a large tournament in Baoding, China. From her website at ...

Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the Internal Fighting Arts podcast, Ken Gullette talks with Hai Yang, who has become familiar to a lot of internal artists through his YouTube videos, which combine scholarly discussions with demonstrations of movement and the coaching of students. He was born in Tianjin, China, a city with a very robust martial arts community, with teachers such as Zhang Zhaodong, Li Cunyi, Xue Dian, and other m...

Dan Miller is a martial artist, author, and for six years he was publisher of The Pa Kua Chang Journal, from 1990 to early 1997. In this interview, Ken talks with Dan about publishing the Journal, which was one of the best martial arts publications ever done (in Ken's opinion). They also talk about other issues related to Bagua Zhang, including the moving root, why Bagua practitioners walk the circle, the training concept of practi...

The Diamond episode of the Internal Fighting Arts Podcast -- number 75 -- features an interview with Tim Cartmell, a highly-respected internal martial artist who also has competed in and teaches Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Ken Gullette first heard about Tim in the 1990s, when Tim wrote articles in Dan Miller's "Pa Kua Chang Journal." Tim has also written books, including "Principles, Analysis, and Application of Effortless Combat Throws,"...

Ken talks with Bill Bentley, who teaches Xingyi through daoistgatecenter.org, and privately he teaches Xingyi, Bagua, Wudang style sword, and self-defense. He is involved with the Daoist Arts Organization International (DAOI) and interviews martial artists for the DAOI podcast. Bill began his martial arts training at the age of 10 in a Shaolin-based family style of kung-fu (the same school Ken started in way back in 1973), and sinc...

Ken Gullette talks with Raphael Smith, an instructor of Song style Xingyiquan, Chen style Practical Method Taijiquan, and combat-related arts in the Sacramento, California area. He goes by Ralph and he is a disciple of Song style Xingyiquan master Li Yujie. Ralph's website is www.jingwupai.org. In this interview, Ralph talks about why he went to China at age 22, the difficulty of working long hours in China and finding time for tra...

Ken Gullette talks with instructor Gerald A. Sharp, who Ken first became aware of in the 1990s when he bought Gerald's "Five Fists of Power" VHS instructional tape. Gerald A. Sharp began studying martial arts at age 12. Later, he studied with several internal arts teachers, notably Wu Taiji with Master Ma Yueh Liang, and he studied Pa-Kua Chang, Hsing-I Chuan and Nei Jia Kung Fu with Zou Shuxian, who was the Top Disciple and adopte...

Byron Jacobs published an excellent Xingyi Quan book in 2023 titled "Dragon Body, Tiger Spirit." In this book, Byron translates a collection of Xingyi Quan classics and provides commentary that will help anyone who studies and practices this powerful martial art. Byron lives in Beijing and has an extensive martial arts history. He has been a guest previously. Byron is a disciple of Master Di Guoyong. In this interview, Ken Gullette...

This podcast features some of Ken Gullette's favorite clips from the first couple of years the Internal Fighting Arts podcast. It's a Greatest Hits featuring fascinating interviews with great internal martial artists including Michael Chritton, Stefan Berwick, Marin Spivack, Kimberly Ivy, Kent Howard, Byron Jacobs, and Jeet Kune Do instructor Tim Tackett. You'll hear what it's like to meet and train with top Chinese masters, the di...

Ken Gullette interviews instructor Tony Wong. His birth name was Wong Wai Yi and he grew up in Hong Kong before moving to the United States. He lives and teaches in the San Francisco area. Tony has trained with some outstanding teachers. He studied Wing Chun with Kenneth Chung, Wuji Qigong with Cai Song Fang, and he studied Chen Taijiquan with Zhang Xue Xin, Chen Xiaowang, Chen Xiaoxing and Chen Qingzhou. He also studied Yiquan wit...

Ken Gullette talks with Nabil Ranne almost three years after Nabil's first appearance on the podcast. Nabil is a disciple of Chen Yu (the son of Chen Zhaokui and grandson of Chen Fake). After he interviewed Nabil in 2020, Ken began studying with him. In this interview, Ken tries to get "into the weeds" with Nabil and discuss details that you don't often hear in martial arts interviews -- details about body method and other principl...

Ken Gullette talks with Michael Dorgan, a disciple of the late Grandmaster Feng Zhiqiang. Among Michael's other teachers are the late Master Zhang Xue Xin and his gongfu brother, Chen Xiang. Michael has a wonderful new book about his life in martial arts and in journalism. It's titled No Fight No Blame: A Journalist's Life in Martial Arts. The book is available on Amazon and Ken recommends it highly. In this interview, Michael talk...

Ken Gullette talks with Scott M. Rodell, a Yang style Taijiquan instructor who is known for his swordsmanship. He is the founding director of the Great River Taoist Center in Annandale, Virginia. Scott's principal teacher was Wang Yen-Nien. From Wang, Scott learned the entire Yangjia Michuan Taijiquan system. Scott is known for his swordsmanship and teaches in-person at the center and also online through his website www.grtc.org. K...

If you are like a lot of martial artists, you dream about having your own bricks-and-mortar martial arts school. In this episode, Ken Gullette talks with Kimberly Ivy, who has had a Taijiquan school in Seattle for 30 years, and Michael Celeste, who has owned a school for six years teaching Yang Taiji and Wing Chun in Mt. Arlington, New Jersey. Martial arts skill is not the only thing you need to operate a school. Regardless of your...

In a different kind of episode, Ken Gullette does a joint podcast with Graham Barlow, the martial artist behind "The Tai Chi Notebook" podcast. Graham is a former guest on Ken's podcast, and as friends, they realized they both are asked the same type of questions by people who are interested in the internal arts -- questions on subjects such as the meaning of "spirit" in Taiji and whether it's okay to do weight training when studyi...

Ken Gullette talks with Taoist Monk Yun Rou about applying philosophy to the sobering reality of death. Everyone will die, but for those who are diagnosed with a life-threatening condition, as both Ken and Monk Yun Rou have experienced, the question arises: how do you apply your philosophy or religion to give you peace at the time you are standing at the edge of eternity? This conversation looks at it from the perspective of philos...

Ken Gullette interviews the last surviving star from the original "Kung Fu" TV show, Radames Pera, who played young Caine, the student monk who learned the ancient art of kung-fu at the Shaolin Temple and learned philosophy from Master Kan, played by Phillip Ahn, and Master Po, played by Keye Luke. Radames, who also appeared on "Little House on the Prairie," "The Waltons," "The Six Million Dollar Man" and many more shows and movies...