New article link: "Re-thinking Cheng Hsin"

Dojorat has released a new article on his blog that I thought people would be interested to see, its always good to get perspectives from outside of Cheng Hsin. To quote Dojorat, Peter Ralston

displays his incredible ability to control the movement of his opponent, primarily by using superior positioning, yielding skills and impeccable timing. This is what sold me, and opened up new avenues of thought about blending with an opponent.

http://dojorat.blogspot.com/2008/06/rethinking-cheng-hsin.html

Japan workshops 2009

This was tough to find, but here is information on some workshops that Peter Ralston is doing in Japan 2009:

February 11th - 13th 2009 http://newsevent.somatic-systems.com/?eid=719252
February 14th - 22nd 2009 http://newsevent.somatic-systems.com/?eid=729285

Hungarian Translations

I'm not sure which book this is, but clearly at least one of Peter's books is translated into Hungarian with a different cover to the English versions. Details (in Hungarian) can be found on this website:

http://lunarimpex.hu/konyv.php?id=46

An article by Klaus-Heinrich Peters

Published in TCC Magazine summer 2005, this article gives a Tai Chi perspective on Cheng Hsin.

http://www.taichiunion.com/magazine/chenghsin.php

Wikimartialarts

Here is a description of Cheng Hsin from the website wikimartialarts
To me it seems like a simplistic description:

Ralston used his experience in Karate and other striking arts to make a Cheng Hsin style which would enable its students to deal with Karatekas and other strikers.

It's suggestive that the author of the article may themselves be a Karateka. Its another interesting perspective.

http://wikimartialarts.org/main/index.php/Cheng_Hsin

A Cheng Hsin training day review

In March 2008 there was a Cheng Hsin training day in Sully, UK.
Mark Walsh has written a review of his experiences of it for his own blog. You can find the review here:

http://integrationtraining.blogspot.com/2008/03/effortless-power-cheng-hsin-uk.html

Holland Camp 2008

Epi van de Pohl's website: http://www.epitaijiquan.nl/page4/page4.html gives details of the forthcoming Holland Cheng Hsin camp Jun 27th - July 11th 2008.

I'm not sure about the prices, and it's short notice now.

Swansea UK Camp 2008

Peter has been coming to visit the UK since the year 2000. I have been lucky enough to attend the past 3 years, unfortunately this year it seems like I wont be able to. I recommend this 7 day camp to anyone. The camp itself is from Saturday 12th - Sunday 20th July 2008. The following is from the organisers website:

Since 2000, Peter's yearly visits to the UK have turned into a tradition. His unorthodox approach and no-nonsense teaching style have made him a favourite of experienced martial artists and newcomers alike. He is an authority in his field, the Muhammad Ali of the internal martial arts. After years of intense investigation of his own mind, body, and the martial arts, this former full-contact free-fight world champion founded the Cheng Hsin School of internal martial arts.

The essence of all his teachings is relaxation and understanding the internal principles, both mentally and physically. Through an elucidating progression of lessons Peter shares with students the foundations of his high level of skill.

Seven days of working on the principles and techniques of effective internal martial arts according to the insights of Peter through the study of Cheng Hsin T’ui Shou, a dynamic blend of Tai Chi, Pa Kua and Aikido with uprooting, throwing, footwork, and lots of internal work on relaxation, out-reaching, intention, balance and freeing up ineffective mental patterns. A great workshop, enjoyed by Aikido enthusiasts and Chinese internal martial artists alike.

This workshop will give you the principles of an internal martial art. True relaxation combined with body alignment is fundamental to the arts of Cheng Hsin. Intrinsic strength in which no muscle contraction is needed or wanted. Grounding, balance, moving from the centre of the body and being whole and total are some of the topics. The influence of body awareness and ”energy” work will also be explored. In addition to martial enthusiasts, people as diverse as dancers, musicians, body workers and even chefs have found this work to be helpful for increasing body awareness and skill.

Mini set and the short set of 64 moves. The accent lies on how the Cheng Hsin Principles (relaxation grounding, centring, being calm and being whole and total) express themselves within the form. Peter is very precise and patient in repeating and correcting.
It is possible to enlist without any knowledge of Tai Chi Chuan.

http://www.chenghsin.org.uk/html/uk_camp_2008.html

Prices for various parts of the camp range from £99 for 3 evenings (4.5 hours total) to £575 for the whole week (was £480 if paid before 07/03/08).

Taiji Mini Set

For anyone practicing the Cheng Hsin Taiji Mini Set, there are a series of 15 photographs illustrating the moves online at

http://www.johnnieters.com/MartialArts/taiqi_main.html

You can't actually learn just by looking a these static images but they are a guide.

There is actually a video on Youtube of someone doing the set, but really really badly:

Bullshido

It's important to be honest, especially with ourselves. As Peter says "we don't want to be a fantasy warrior, or a pretend warrior", to be honest about what we do mean confronting the question of what it is that we do. And this doesn't mean denying it or defending it, just questioning it.

The website bullshido asks tough questions. It's too easy and habitual to be defensive, much harder to accept and contemplate statements like these:

If your in this area and looking for a place to train... look elsewhere...... this guy is a chump... a serious poser. unless you want westernized enlighenment camp... head to a real gym.

http://www.bullshido.net/forums/showthread.php?t=49702

Principles of Effortless Power - A Review

Dojorat here presents a short review on Principles of Effortless Power and Cheng Hsin T’ui Shou; The Art Of Effortless Power. Although short it's interesting to see the perspective of someone who hasn't trained with Peter.

I came away from these books feeling that Ralston may be better as a Guru demonstrating direct transmission of knowledge to students in a Dojo format. His knowledge is deep and he is a skilled martial artist.

It's also interesting to read some of the comments

I actually was a member of the Cheng-hsin school in Oakland, CA. in 1985. You're right - Ralston is no slouch. I sparred with him once and his top people were also top-notch instructors. That said, I have two issues with his school. First, they were very steeped in a very New Age Encounter Group atmosphere. The school tended to attract a lot of those types, too. It seemed pretty cultish to me.

http://dojorat.blogspot.com/2007/12/review-cheng-hsin-principles-of.html

Pipl

Pipl.com describes itself as a deep web search engine. One day when I searched for Cheng Hsin online I found this:

http://pipl.com/directory/people/Cheng/Hsin

Essentially its just 5 quotes about Cheng Hsin, but its another interesting place to begin.

Wikipedia

There are many good descriptions of what Cheng Hsin 'is' on official websites, but perhaps they are tailored towards the martial artists that one might expect to be reading them. Now there is a new article on wikipedia giving a clear and detailed overview of Cheng Hsin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheng_Hsin

Wikipedia

For a long time I wanted to see some information on Peter Ralston on wikipedia, not being qualified to write anything myself I waited for someone else to contribute. Now it seems that someone, perhaps Peter himself, has. The biographical detail is greater than anything I knew about Peter before, and provides an insight into the experiences that shaped him.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Ralston

Peter Ralston's Fight/Play DVD - a review

"In brief, this DVD is one of the most impressive displays of skill I’ve seen."
www.formosaneijia.com