Baguazhang, xingyiquan and yiquan

1. Introduction

Version followed: the three arts as their own lineages and Chinese recognised bodies describe them. For xingyiquan this is the national intangible cultural heritage listing (Taigu, Shanxi). For grading it is the Chinese Wushu Association duanwei (段位制) system. For yiquan it is the training scheme in Yao Chengrong's Yiquan Rumen (English translation by J. P. Lau), with the general accounts of baguazhang and yiquan as background. Where accounts differ, both are named.

What they are. Baguazhang (八卦掌, "eight trigram palm"), xingyiquan (形意拳, often rendered "form-and-intent boxing" [translation]) and yiquan (意拳, "intent boxing" [translation], also called dachengquan 大成拳) are Chinese martial arts. Within Chinese martial culture they are usually grouped as "internal" (neijia 内家) arts. All three are fighting arts that strike, step, and in places grapple and throw. All three also include solo practices that are widely taught for health. None is a psychotherapy, and none has a published clinical protocol. [source: Wikipedia, Baguazhang; Wikipedia, Yiquan; ihchina.cn Xingyiquan listings]

Baguazhang is attributed to Dong Haichuan (董海川), who taught in Beijing in the 19th century. Accounts say he learned from Daoist and Buddhist teachers in the mountains. The Buddhist attribution is disputed, and the origin story is not independently documented [uncertain: not verified]. Its signature practice is walking a circle (zhuanzhang 转掌, "turning the circle"). Main lineages carry the names of Dong's students and their successors, including the Yin (Yin Fu) and Cheng (Cheng Tinghua) styles and the Liang, Gao, Jiang and Sun lines. [source: Wikipedia, Baguazhang]
Xingyiquan. China's national intangible cultural heritage listing (item Ⅵ-26) credits Li Luoneng (李洛能, also Li Feiyu, of Shen County, Hebei). He studied Dai-family xinyiquan in Qi County, Shanxi, and is said to have founded xingyiquan in Taigu around the 1860s. A second listing page names Ji Jike (姬际可, 1602–1680) as the earliest founder of the parent art, xinyi liuhe quan (心意六合拳), with Li Luoneng reforming it in the Daoguang era. The two pages differ on dating. Its core content is the santishi (三体式) standing posture, the five element fists (五行拳) and the twelve animal forms (十二形). [source: ihchina.cn listing 798/Ⅵ-26; ihchina.cn 22778]
Yiquan was founded by Wang Xiangzhai (王芗斋), who trained in xingyiquan under Guo Yunshen. In the 1920s he concluded that xingyi placed too much weight on outer form and too little on mind and intent. Yiquan has essentially no fixed forms and is built on standing practice (zhan zhuang 站桩). [source: Wikipedia, Yiquan; Wikipedia, Zhan zhuang]

Core idea of change, as the traditions state it. The xingyi listing describes an art grounded in five-phase (wuxing 五行) theory that unites inner intent (心意) with outer movement (肢体) [translation]. Yiquan places intent (yi 意) at the centre and uses imagery during standing and slow movement to develop whole-body coordinated force, hunyuan li (浑元力) [source: Yao Chengrong, Yiquan Rumen, trans. Lau]. Baguazhang draws its name and theory from the trigrams of the Yijing and from yin-yang theory [source: Wikipedia, Baguazhang]. Qi, dantian, meridians, the five phases and the trigrams belong to the traditions' own Daoist and Chinese-medical frameworks. They are reported here as the traditions' beliefs, not as physiology. Some yiquan teaching deliberately leaves out qi, meridian and dantian language. [source: Wikipedia, Yiquan]

Health claims and evidence status. The xingyi heritage listing says long practice improves coordination between motor centres of the cortex and the autonomic nervous system [translation]. The listing gives no supporting data, so this is the tradition's claim. No controlled trials of baguazhang circle walking, xingyiquan or yiquan as health interventions are cited here [uncertain: not verified]. The trial literature on Chinese mind-body exercise concerns mainly tai chi and standardised qigong, for example balance in older adults. That evidence should not be carried over to these arts automatically. None of the three is a treatment for any physical or mental disorder. [source: ihchina.cn 22778; Wu & Wu 2004 (tai chi, cross-sectional) as an example of the adjacent literature; synthesis]

Who holds teaching authority.

Lineage. Traditional authority passes from teacher to student, often through formal discipleship (baishi 拜师) [uncertain: not verified as a universal rule]. The heritage system names official representative inheritors (代表性传承人) for listed items: for Taigu xingyiquan, Bu Bingquan, Gao Baodong and Song Guanghua, with the Jinzhong Taigu Xingyiquan Association as protection unit. [source: ihchina.cn listing 798]
Federation grading. The Chinese Wushu Association's duanwei system has three pre-duan levels and nine duan in three bands: primary (1–3), intermediate (4–6) and advanced (7–9). Grading assesses ethics and etiquette, theory, technique and skill. Each level has a set routine practised solo, then with a partner, then analysed for application. The official textbook series includes volumes for xingyiquan and baguazhang. Whether yiquan has its own duanwei textbook is [uncertain: not verified]. Textbooks are reported to be available only in Chinese. [source: Jinli, Introduction to the Chinese Wushu Duanwei System]
Regulation. Outside China, teaching these arts is generally not a regulated health profession, so a teacher's title is not a clinical credential [uncertain: not verified country by country]. Duan grade, lineage and membership of an association show martial standing only. None of them is a mental-health or medical qualification. [synthesis]

Reader and scope. These arts are taught by martial arts teachers. A psychotherapist does not teach them unless separately trained and recognised within a lineage or graded system, and even then should keep the two roles apart (see Section 3). This guide is written for the psychotherapist working alongside the teacher. It covers when to suggest a class, screening and preparation, consent around partner work and touch, integrating the experience into therapy, and spotting and passing on harm. Practices are described so the therapist knows what the client will meet. They are not instructions to follow. [synthesis]

2. Framework

No clinical phases. None of the three arts publishes therapeutic phases, session counts or progression criteria. Classes are open-ended. Progress is judged by the teacher and, where used, by duanwei grading. [source: Jinli duanwei page; synthesis]

How training usually progresses, as sources describe it (the order the client will meet; the teacher sets the pace):

Baguazhang: basic exercises for flexibility and alignment, then circle walking with the upper body held in a fixed posture and changes of direction, then palm changes and longer forms, "internal power" methods, applications (strikes, kicks, joint locks, throws) and traditional weapons. [source: Wikipedia, Baguazhang; Wikipedia, Zhan zhuang]
Xingyiquan: santishi standing as the entry method (入门功法), then the five element fists, then the twelve animal forms. Partner and application work runs alongside. [source: ihchina.cn listing 798]
Yiquan: a sequence of categories, from relaxed standing (zhan zhuang) and testing force (shi li) to footwork, issuing force (fa li), push hands (tui shou), sparring (san shou) and "testing the voice" (shi sheng). Standing is the core throughout. [source: Yao Chengrong, Yiquan Rumen] One general account says Wang himself later dropped fa li and push hands from his teaching. Current yiquan schools teach them, so the two accounts differ [uncertain]. [source: Wikipedia, Yiquan]
Duanwei route (where a school uses it): each grade adds technical elements, then partnered and application work, together with theory and ethics. [source: Jinli duanwei page]

The psychotherapist's parallel framework [synthesis]:

Assessment and decision. Goal: decide whether a martial internal art fits the client's therapy goals and risks. Format: one or two ordinary sessions. Move on when the client wants to try it, screening shows no barrier, and a plan exists for any medical clearance.
Preparation. Goal: choose a teacher, agree consent and stop rules for partner work, and plan for trauma triggers. Move on when the client has a written or spoken plan and knows how to opt out.
Practice with check-ins. The client trains with the teacher. Therapy sessions include brief review of the experience. Move on, or step back, depending on how the client's state and functioning respond.
Integration and review. Goal: link body experience to therapy themes such as agency, anger, boundaries and self-regulation, and review whether to continue, pause or stop. This is ongoing, and specific review points are set together with the client.

3. Guiding principles

Martial art, not therapy. The class is the teacher's domain, and therapy is yours. Practical meaning: do not run "bagua therapy", and do not borrow forms into sessions without training and the teacher's agreement. [synthesis]
Name teaching authority accurately. Lineage, association membership and duan grade are martial credentials only. Practical meaning: check them as such, and do not treat them as evidence of skill with traumatised people. [source: Jinli duanwei page; synthesis]
Attribute the worldview. Qi, dantian, meridians, the five phases, the trigrams and Daoist cosmology are the tradition's terms. Practical meaning: use the client's or teacher's words, framed as "in this tradition…", and never assert them as anatomy. [source: Wikipedia, Yiquan; ihchina.cn; synthesis]
Health claims are claims. No controlled evidence supports these arts as treatments. Practical meaning: frame benefits as possible, personal and unproven, and never present practice as a substitute for medical or psychiatric care. [synthesis]
Describe, do not prescribe. Practical meaning: give no stance depths, standing times, repetitions or breath instructions. Technical decisions belong to the teacher and to medical advice. [synthesis]
Gradual, supervised, unforced practice. The yiquan text warns against brute strength, stiffness, overstressing oneself and treating standing as an endurance test, and advises natural breathing and adjusting posture for comfort. The qigong literature links adverse mental reactions to unsupervised, excessive or prematurely advanced practice. Practical meaning: favour a live teacher over self-teaching from video, and slow, unforced progress. [source: Yao Chengrong, Yiquan Rumen; Shan 2000]
Consent for every touch. Partner drills, push hands, joint locks, throws and hands-on correction need explicit consent before and during, the right to stop at any moment, and never any sexual touch. Practical meaning: rehearse refusal with the client, and the psychotherapist does not touch the client. [source: USABP Code of Ethics VIII; EABP Ethics Guidelines; APA Ethics Code 10.05]
Aggression is material, not a hazard to suppress. Striking arts bring out anger, fear and dominance. Practical meaning: plan for these feelings, explore them in therapy, and watch for practice that rehearses harm to others. [synthesis]
Stay within competence and coordinate. Practical meaning: refer for medical clearance and, with consent, talk to the teacher. Professional codes require practice within competence and appropriate referral. [source: UKCP Code 2019 items 23–24; APA Ethics Code 2.01, 3.09]

4. Intervention inventory

The inventory has two parts. Part A describes, in general terms, the practices the client will meet in class, so the therapist can discuss them knowledgeably. The teacher teaches these. The descriptions are not instructions and leave out stance depths, durations, repetitions and breathing directions on purpose. Part B gives the psychotherapist's own interventions.

Part A: practices as the traditions describe them

A1. Baguazhang circle walking (zhuanzhang 转掌, "turning the circle")

Purpose (as described): the art's defining training. It develops stance, footwork, body alignment and the ability to move around an opponent. In the tradition it is also a meditative and health practice. [source: Wikipedia, Baguazhang]
What it involves: the practitioner walks the edge of a circle facing its centre, in a lowered stance, and changes direction from time to time. The upper body holds a fixed posture, which one account describes as a standing (zhan zhuang) posture carried while the legs move. Beginners use a small circle and learn basic flexibility and alignment work first. The teacher sets the stance height and how long the walking lasts. [source: Wikipedia, Baguazhang; Wikipedia, Zhan zhuang]
Example language (illustrative): "In bagua the walking is the core practice. Let your teacher decide how low and how long. If your knees or your head start complaining, that's information to bring to them and to me, not something to push through."
Watch for: knee, hip or ankle pain from sustained low stances. Dizziness when changing direction, especially with vestibular problems, low blood pressure or medication effects. Absorbed or trance-like states during repetitive walking in clients prone to dissociation. Signs it is working: the client describes steadier balance, a calmer mind after practice, and pleasure in mastery. These are self-report and not evidence of a treatment effect. [synthesis]

A2. Baguazhang palm changes, forms, applications and weapons

Purpose (as described): to build fighting skill through spiralling and coiling movement and changes of direction. The art is described as "neither a purely striking nor a purely grappling" art. [source: Wikipedia, Baguazhang]
What it involves: palm techniques such as piercing and pushing palms, which vary by lineage (Yin style "threading" palms, Cheng style pushing palms with close-in wrestling and joint locks). Longer forms, strikes with palm, fist, elbow and fingers, kicks, joint locks, throws, and traditional weapons, some of them bladed. The tradition describes an "internal power" drawn from the dantian, which is the tradition's concept. [source: Wikipedia, Baguazhang]
Example language (illustrative): "Some schools move fairly soon to partner work with locks and throws. Before you join, ask how and when they introduce that, and what they do if someone wants to sit a drill out."
Watch for: joint injuries from locks and throws. Weapon-handling risk. Clients drawn mainly to the combat side as a way to act out anger. For clients with trauma histories, being grabbed, pinned or spun. [source: Science & Sports 2018 injury study; synthesis]

A3. Xingyiquan santishi standing (三体式)

Purpose (as described): the entry method of xingyiquan (入门功法 [translation]). It is described as a root practice for building body structure. [source: ihchina.cn listing 798; Wikipedia, Zhan zhuang]
What it involves: a held standing posture whose exact shape varies by lineage and is taught and corrected by the teacher, sometimes with hands-on adjustment [uncertain: not verified]. Beginners commonly report strong muscle fatigue and trembling. [source: Wikipedia, Zhan zhuang]
Example language (illustrative): "Shaking in the legs is common early on. Notice whether it feels like ordinary effort or like something emotional coming up. Both are worth talking about."
Watch for: blood-pressure or cardiac symptoms during sustained isometric effort (screen first; see B2). Faintness. Panic in clients who read trembling as danger. Shame if the client cannot hold the posture. Consent to hands-on correction (B5). [synthesis]

A4. Xingyiquan five element fists (五行拳: pi 劈, beng 崩, zuan 钻, pao 炮, heng 横)

Purpose (as described): the core technique set. Each fist is paired with one of the five phases (metal, wood, water, fire, earth), and five-phase theory is used to explain technique, combat and "principles of fitness" (健身之理 [translation]). [source: ihchina.cn listing 798; ihchina.cn 22778]
What it involves: linear stepping strikes repeated back and forth along a line. Each fist has its own movement character, taught by the teacher. The five-phase correspondences are the tradition's theory, not physiology. [source: ihchina.cn listing 798; synthesis for the general description]
Example language (illustrative): "In xingyi each strike is linked to one of the five phases. You don't have to believe that to train. What do you notice in your body and mood when you practise the forceful ones compared with the softer ones?"
Watch for: strong arousal or anger after explosive striking. Shoulder and elbow strain. A client who is uneasy about the five-phase cosmology (respect their choice to train with a teacher who frames it lightly). [synthesis]

A5. Xingyiquan twelve animal forms (十二形)

Purpose (as described): techniques modelled on the hunting and defensive traits of twelve animals: dragon, tiger, monkey, horse, tuo (鼍), cock, swallow, sparrowhawk, tai (鲐; English renderings of these two vary), snake, eagle and bear. [source: ihchina.cn listing 798; ihchina.cn 22778]
What it involves: short forms, each expressing an animal's quality, taught after the five element fists. [source: ihchina.cn listing 798]
Example language (illustrative): "Which animal form felt most like you, and which felt most foreign? We can be curious about that."
Watch for: imagery that touches on predator or prey themes in clients with victimisation histories. Using animal "identities" to avoid feelings, or gaining access to them through the imagery (either can happen). [synthesis]

A6. Xingyiquan principles: the six harmonies and related teachings

Purpose (as described): principles meant to make the body act as one unit. They are the "six harmonies" (六合): heart-mind with intent, intent with qi, qi with force, shoulder with hip, elbow with knee, and hand with foot. Further teachings cover the three sections (三节) of the limbs and the body, and six martial qualities (六方之妙), which include speed, courage and ruthlessness. [source: ihchina.cn 22778, translation]
What it involves: the principles shape how every movement is taught. The xingyi listing says the art favours fast, sudden, pre-emptive action. [source: ihchina.cn 22778]
Example language (illustrative): "That idea of 'harmony' between intent and movement — is there a place in your life where what you mean and what you do come apart?"
Watch for: values like ruthlessness and pre-emptive attack sitting uneasily with work on aggression or violence. Explore them openly. Do not import them as therapeutic goals. [synthesis]

A7. Yiquan zhan zhuang (站桩, standing post), health and combat postures

Purpose (as described): the core of yiquan. Health postures are distinguished from martial ones. Standing is said to develop body awareness and whole-body coordinated force (hunyuan li 浑元力), with minimal muscular effort while the mind holds an intention of movement. [source: Wikipedia, Yiquan; Wikipedia, Zhan zhuang; Yao Chengrong, Yiquan Rumen]
What it involves: a basic posture with the arms held in a rounded frame and the joints kept between relaxed and tense. The practitioner uses imagery: holding a balloon, springs, water pressing from different directions, and the slightly absurd image of keeping ants trapped under the feet without crushing them. Attention moves through feeling opposing tensions, small shifts of weight against imagined resistance, and linking the two. The text warns against total slackness with dulled awareness, against brute force and stiffness, against treating standing as endurance, and against overstressing. It advises natural breathing and adjusting posture whenever needed. Some schools describe standing in qi and meridian terms, which is the tradition's framing. [source: Yao Chengrong, Yiquan Rumen; Wikipedia, Zhan zhuang]
Example language (illustrative): "Your teacher will use images, like holding a balloon. If an image makes you feel trapped or unreal, you're allowed to open your eyes, move, or drop it."
Watch for: dissociation or derealisation during long, still, eyes-closed standing with vivid imagery. Intrusive memories when standing still with a heightened body focus. Unusual body sensations interpreted as "qi running out of control" (see B7). Blood-pressure and dizziness symptoms. Signs it is working: the client reports calm alertness and a better sense of where tension sits in their body. [synthesis]

A8. Yiquan shi li (试力, testing force) and footwork (mocabu 摩擦步, friction step)

Purpose (as described): to carry the felt sense from standing into slow movement and stepping. [source: Wikipedia, Yiquan; Yao Chengrong, Yiquan Rumen]
What it involves: slow movements against imagined resistance, such as pushing or pulling a log in water, and a slow, deliberate stepping method. [source: Wikipedia, Yiquan]
Example language (illustrative): "You described feeling 'pushed back' by the imagined water. Is that a familiar feeling, holding your ground against pressure?"
Watch for: frustration or perfectionism about "getting the feeling right". Over-reliance on imagery in clients with psychotic vulnerability (see B7). [synthesis]

A9. Yiquan fa li (发力, issuing force), tui shou (推手, push hands) and san shou (散手, sparring)

Purpose (as described): to apply whole-body force against a partner and to train spontaneous, fitting reactions. [source: Yao Chengrong, Yiquan Rumen]
What it involves: explosive release of force, sometimes with a partner. Push hands, a continuous contact drill with a partner in which each tries to unbalance the other. Free sparring. Accounts differ on whether Wang himself kept fa li and push hands, and current schools teach them. [source: Wikipedia, Yiquan; Yao Chengrong, Yiquan Rumen]
Example language (illustrative): "Push hands means sustained contact with another person's arms and body. What would you need to feel safe enough to try it, and what would tell you to step out?"
Watch for: joint, wrist and shoulder strain and falls. Being pushed or uprooted by a stronger partner as a trauma reminder. Partners who escalate force. The client's own urge to dominate or to collapse. Combat simulations carry the highest injury share in recreational martial arts. [source: Science & Sports 2018 injury study; synthesis]

A10. Yiquan shi sheng (试声, "testing the voice")

Purpose (as described): listed as one of yiquan's training categories and rendered "breath control" in the English translation. The cited text gives no procedure. [source: Yao Chengrong, Yiquan Rumen, trans. Lau] [uncertain: details not verified]
What it involves: voiced sounds paired with movement or issuing force, as taught by the teacher [uncertain: not verified]. No breath-holding is described in the sources. The same text advises natural breathing during standing. [source: Yao Chengrong, Yiquan Rumen]
Example language (illustrative): "Making a loud sound can feel exposing or powerful. Notice which it is for you."
Watch for: lightheadedness or tingling (possible over-breathing). Distress at using a loud voice in clients who have been silenced. Clients with panic disorder. [synthesis]

A11. Grading, discipleship and the school setting

Purpose (as described): duanwei grading recognises level through set routines (solo, then with a partner, then analysed for application), theory, and ethics and etiquette (武德, martial virtue [translation]). Lineage discipleship conveys transmission within a family of teachers. [source: Jinli duanwei page; ihchina.cn listing 798]
What it involves: examinations, ceremonies of respect, and hierarchical relationships with the teacher. [source: Jinli duanwei page; synthesis]
Example language (illustrative): "How does the hierarchy at the school feel to you? Respect for the teacher is part of it, but you still get to say no."
Watch for: pressure to grade or to enter discipleship. Expectations of loyalty or payment that grow over time. Secrecy. Isolation from outside relationships. Any sexualised behaviour or physical punishment by a teacher (see B8). [synthesis]

Part B: the psychotherapist's interventions

All Part B guidance is [synthesis] unless a source is tagged. It applies general psychotherapy practice and the cited codes to these arts.

B1. Deciding whether to suggest a class

Purpose: to match an internal martial art to therapy goals such as embodied self-regulation, agency after victimisation, channelling anger, social contact, or a structured routine, without overselling health benefits.
Steps: (1) Ask what draws the client, whether health, self-defence, culture or spirituality. (2) Match the art to the aim. Yiquan and xingyi standing, and slow bagua walking, are quieter. Partner work, push hands, sparring and xingyi striking are more confrontational. (3) Say plainly that no controlled evidence shows these arts treat mental or physical illness. (4) Offer gentler alternatives with a larger evidence base (for example standardised tai chi or qigong programmes, or ordinary supervised exercise) where the goal is health. (5) Agree what you will both watch for.
Example language (illustrative): "People take up xingyi or bagua for many reasons. There's no research showing it treats anxiety, but some people find a demanding, focused practice helpful. What are you hoping for?"
Watch for: a wish to fix a medical or psychiatric condition through training alone. Revenge or domination fantasies driving the interest. Signs it is working: the client can name a realistic, personal aim.

B2. Physical-safety screening and medical clearance

Purpose: to catch conditions that make sustained low stances, isometric standing, explosive striking, falls or contact risky.
Steps: (1) Ask about cardiovascular disease and blood pressure, dizziness and fainting, vestibular disorders, recent surgery, pregnancy, osteoporosis, joint problems (especially knees, hips, shoulders and wrists), anticoagulants, epilepsy, and prior martial-arts injuries. (2) If any are present, or the client is older or deconditioned, ask the client to get clearance from their physician or physiotherapist before joining. (3) Encourage the client to tell the teacher about conditions and injuries. (4) Agree stop signals: chest pain, breathlessness out of proportion to effort, faintness, sharp joint pain.
Example language (illustrative): "Before you start, it's worth getting your doctor's view, given your blood pressure and knee. Tell your teacher too, so they can adapt the training."
Watch for: minimising symptoms to keep up with others. Repeated small injuries. In recreational martial arts, more than half of practitioners in one sample reported an injury in the past year, and most injuries occurred in training rather than competition. [source: Science & Sports 2018 injury study]

B3. Choosing a teacher and school

Purpose: to help the client find competent, safe, ethical teaching.
Steps: (1) Suggest the client ask the teacher about lineage and who taught them, and about any duanwei grade or association membership, while understanding these are martial credentials only. (2) Ask how beginners are introduced to partner and contact work, and whether a student can opt out. (3) Ask about hands-on correction and how consent is sought. (4) Ask about first aid, insurance and injury procedures. (5) Suggest a trial class as an observer. (6) Prefer a school that welcomes questions and has visible, respectful student-teacher relationships. Treat self-teaching from video only with caution, given the qigong literature's link between unsupervised practice and adverse reactions. [source: Jinli duanwei page; Shan 2000]
Example language (illustrative): "A good question for any teacher is: 'What happens if I don't want to do a partner drill today?' The answer tells you a lot."
Watch for: claims to cure illness. Secrecy or demands for loyalty or money. Ridicule of beginners. Pressure to spar early. Hands-on correction given without asking.

B4. Preparing clients with trauma, aggression or dissociation

Purpose: to anticipate triggers and build a plan before class.
Steps: (1) Map likely triggers: being grabbed, pinned or thrown, being pushed off balance, loud shouts, enclosed rooms, still eyes-closed standing, a dominating teacher. (2) Agree grounding options that fit a class setting: eyes open, feeling the feet, stepping out to the edge of the room. (3) For anger, explore what striking practice brings up, and set a clear line between practice and acting out. (4) For dissociation, choose open-eye and moving practice first, and review after each class. (5) Decide with the client what, if anything, to tell the teacher.
Example language (illustrative): "If you start to feel far away while standing, you can open your eyes, shift your weight, or step back. None of that is failing."
Watch for: freeze responses mistaken for "good stillness". Post-class irritability or nightmares. Aggression rising outside class. Signs it is working: the client uses the plan and reports feeling more in control.

B5. Touch and partner-practice consent plan

Purpose: to protect the client's right to consent to touch in push hands, joint locks, throws, sparring and hands-on correction.
Steps: (1) Explain that consent is needed before and during contact, and can be withdrawn at any moment. (2) Rehearse simple phrases for the client to say to a teacher or partner. (3) Agree that the client may ask for verbal rather than hands-on correction. (4) State plainly that sexual touch is never acceptable, from teacher or partner. (5) The psychotherapist does not touch the client, demonstrate locks, or practise push hands with them. Mainstream therapy codes contain no explicit touch provision but all forbid sexual contact. Body-psychotherapy codes require informed consent before touch, ongoing review of consent, the right to refuse or end touch at any time, and that genital or sexual touch is always inappropriate. [source: USABP Code of Ethics VIII; EABP Ethics Guidelines 2020 Principle 7; APA Ethics Code 10.05; UKCP Code 2019 item 4]
Example language (illustrative): "Let's practise saying it: 'Could you tell me rather than move me?' and 'I'm stepping out of this drill.' A good teacher will respect that."
Watch for: the client feeling unable to refuse because of hierarchy. Touch that lingers or strays. A partner who escalates force. Signs it is working: the client has refused or adjusted contact at least once and felt respected.

B6. Integrating practice into therapy

Purpose: to make use of body experiences (rootedness, being pushed, intent and action, effort and rest) as therapy material.
Steps: (1) Begin sessions with brief review: what was practised, what stood out physically and emotionally. (2) Track themes such as holding ground, yielding versus collapsing, anger and power, and patience. (3) Link them to the client's goals and relationships. (4) Respect the tradition's language. If the client speaks of qi or the five phases, explore what it means to them without endorsing or debunking it. (5) Review at agreed points whether to continue, change school, or stop.
Example language (illustrative): "You said push hands showed you how fast you give way. Where else do you notice that?"
Watch for: practice replacing therapy work rather than feeding it. Spiritual bypassing. Signs it is working: the client applies body awareness to daily stress and relationships.

B7. Monitoring for adverse mental reactions ("qigong deviation")

Purpose: to recognise unusual reactions to internal practices early. The clinical literature describes these under the culture-bound label qigong deviation (气功偏差) or zou huo ru mo (走火入魔, roughly "fire escaping, entering demons" [translation]). Chinese classification lists it among culture-specific diagnoses. The literature concerns qigong. Applying it to internal martial standing practice is an inference. [source: Wikipedia, Chinese Classification of Mental Disorders; Shan 2000; synthesis]
Steps: (1) Ask clients with psychosis, bipolar disorder, severe dissociation or prior adverse meditation reactions to discuss practice before starting, and favour open-eye, moving and teacher-supervised training. (2) Ask after each phase of new practice about unusual body sensations, sleep, mood and perception. (3) If psychotic, manic or dissociative symptoms appear, advise pausing practice and arrange psychiatric assessment. Shan reports the disorder can persist after practice stops, so stopping alone is not enough. (4) Liaise, with consent, with the teacher about scaling back.
What the literature reports: acute, often short-lived episodes, mostly psychotic reactions resembling schizophreniform disorder, but also affective, dissociative and neurotic pictures. These include a sense of qi moving in the body, headache, dizziness and anxiety. Risk factors are self-teaching without a teacher, excessive practice or inability to stop, attempting advanced methods too early, and prior vulnerability. Shan states that DSM-IV accepted the syndrome as a culture-bound category; the DSM glossary wording is [uncertain: not verified]. An earlier series of 109 patients described the disorders as mostly mild and benign, normalising on short follow-up. [source: Shan 2000; Shan et al. 1989]
Example language (illustrative): "Since you started the standing practice, have you noticed anything unusual: sensations that feel out of your control, trouble sleeping, thoughts racing, or things looking strange?"
Watch for: reduced sleep, elation, grandiose spiritual ideas, voices, feeling controlled by energy, prolonged depersonalisation. Practising compulsively.

B8. Recognising and passing on harms

Purpose: to respond when injury, exploitation or abuse arises in a school or lineage.
Steps: (1) Ask regularly about injuries and about how the teacher and senior students behave. (2) For injury, encourage medical care and honest reporting to the teacher. (3) For sexual misconduct, assault or coercion, support the client's choices about reporting to police, the school's governing association, or the national body. Follow your own safeguarding duties for children or adults at risk. (4) For controlling group dynamics, explore the client's autonomy and outside ties without forcing an exit. (5) Document, and consult your supervisor. Documented abuse cases in these specific lineages are not covered here [uncertain: not verified].
Example language (illustrative): "What you describe — the teacher 'correcting' you in a way you didn't agree to — isn't part of the art. You have options, and I'll support whichever you choose."
Watch for: self-blame ("it's traditional"). Fear of losing community or rank. Escalating financial or time demands. Isolation.

5. Handling problems

The sources do not address psychotherapy use of these arts, so this section is [synthesis] except where a source is tagged.

Stuck or bored client ("nothing is happening when I stand"). Normalise slow progress. The yiquan text warns against treating standing as an endurance test. Explore what "nothing" feels like. Suggest the client discuss variety, such as moving practice, with the teacher. Revisit whether the art suits the client's aims. [source: Yao Chengrong, Yiquan Rumen; synthesis]
Resistance to the worldview. Some clients feel uneasy with qi, the five phases or Daoist framing. Others take it up with great intensity. Say clearly that training does not require belief. Help the client find a teacher whose framing suits them, and avoid arguing metaphysics. [synthesis]
Overwhelm or trauma activation in class. Use the B4 plan: eyes open, feet, step out. Afterwards, review in therapy what triggered it. Consider pausing partner work and returning to solo practice. Do not encourage "pushing through" as a test of courage. [synthesis]
Non-adherence. Explore barriers such as cost, schedule, hierarchy, shame about skill or injury. Accept stopping as a legitimate outcome. The practice is optional, not a treatment task. [synthesis]
Over-adherence or compulsive practice. The qigong literature links excessive practice and inability to stop with adverse reactions. Explore what the practice regulates, and help the client bring back balance with sleep, relationships and work. [source: Shan 2000; synthesis]
Rupture with the therapist. A client may feel the therapist is doubting their teacher or their tradition. Acknowledge the client's loyalty and expertise in the art, and separate concerns about safety from judgements about the tradition. [synthesis]
Rupture with the teacher or school. Help the client name what happened, consider direct conversation, a change of school, or a formal complaint, and grieve the loss of community if they leave. [synthesis]
Rising aggression outside class. Name it directly. Review the place of sparring and explosive striking. Consider pausing contact work. Assess risk to others according to standard practice. [synthesis]
Injury. Encourage medical assessment, honest reporting to the teacher, and a graded return guided by the physician or physiotherapist, not by the school's timetable. Watch for the client hiding pain to keep their rank or place. [source: Science & Sports 2018 injury study; synthesis]
Unusual experiences (energy sensations, visions, feeling controlled). Use B7: pause practice, assess, and refer for psychiatric review where psychotic, manic or severe dissociative features are present. Do not interpret these experiences as spiritual progress or as qi blockage. [source: Shan 2000; Shan et al. 1989; synthesis]
Boundary drift, such as the client inviting the therapist to class or to push hands. Decline training together or physical demonstration, and explore what the invitation means. If the therapist practises the same art locally, consider dual-relationship risks and discuss them in supervision. [source: UKCP Code 2019 item 8; APA Ethics Code; synthesis]
Children and adolescents. Parents or guardians consent, the young person gives assent, and the school's safeguarding policy is checked. Any concern about a teacher's conduct with a minor goes through safeguarding procedures. [synthesis]

Sources

Web sources:

Books cited by the general accounts above [uncertain: not verified]:

Lam Kam Chuen (2003). The Way of Power.
Diepersloot, J. (2000). The Tao of Yiquan.
Yao Zongxun. Yiquan: Chinese Modern Practical Boxing (year not verified).

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