Since I learn my stick work from YouTube videos I'm trying to find the most direct means to do so.
These images are of my current focus. It's biangun but biangun explored in the martial arts style of Tongbei Quan.
I don't know much about Tongbei Quan except to note that it helps you to put more WHIP into 'whip stick' (biangun) . My hope is to proceed with biangun without also needing to train in Tongbei Quan.
Inasmuch as I can decipher, biangun helps your Tongbei Quan a lot -- and vice versa -- because it helps you invest more force in the strike. Since I wanted to stay clear of Taoism I think I'll settle for Biangun alone without all the hand waving and kicking.
The stick tradition in northern China is so rich and convoluted, I think I can happily sail in many directions at once without being formally sentenced to a particular martial style or narrow neighbourhood locality. When you get into family lineage of styles, you can drown in shibboleths.
Biangun is so impressive because that length of stick is so creatively -- and so effectively -- handled. Compared to say, the Japanaese Jojitsu tradition, the staff strike has more force more often and is less reliant on stabs/pokes.
Indeed, after spending my time learning Aikido stick katas I am disappointed with how shallow & weak the moves are.
