INSTRUCTOR: Tux Akindoyeni under Mr. Cornelius Coelho Liu He Ba Fa Sydney Academy

Liu He Ba Fa, otherwise known as Chinese Water Boxing is one of the highest forms of internal martial arts, that has been thought from generation to generation, emphasizing the importance of essence (jing), vital energy (qi), spirit (shen), awareness and the fluidity and circularity of movements and postures.
Since this time, Liu He Ba Fa has been refined through practice and experience to become an effective martial and health art to strengthen the body, and to get rid of the sickness and attain longevity.

Mr. Cornelius Coelho began teaching Liu He Ba Fa, in Sydney in 1985, after emigrating from Hong Kong. He learned Liu He Ba Fa in Hong Kong from Master Lo Chi Wan. Mr. Coelho has taught martial arts over 30 years. He has trained many champion fighters, and was Hong Kong’s national boxing coach for 8 years.
He has now retired from teaching and allows his students to continue teaching and practicing the art of Liu He Ba Fa.

In 1988, Tux Akindoyeni began studying Liu He Ba Fa under Mr. Coelho in Sydney. During this time,
Mr. Akindoyeni held for 8 years, undefeated, the title of Chinese Martial Arts Heavyweight Champion.
Over the last years, after Mr. Coelhos retirement, Mr. Akindoyeni has taken on the teaching of the Tradition of Liu He Ba Fa in Sydney. Mr. Akindoyeni`s classes are characterized in their emphasis on strength and aerobic training based in the traditional Liu He Ba Fa Style.

The classes operate on a rotational 3 weeks basis, beginning with the circuit training, followed by station training and finally a combination of the two.

History

Chen Hsi I, a native of Po-Chou in Anhui and a famous Taoist lived on Mount Hua, one of the five sacred mountains of China in Shensi Province. This was during the Later Choi and Sung Dynasty ) A.D. He is credited with the creation of the kung fu system called Liu He Ba Fa, translated as six harmonies and eight methods. This was and sometimes is still referred to as Water Boxing.

Chen Hsi I, in Taoist succession to the (Yin Hsien Pai) (sect of the hidden immortals) passed Lao Tzu Taoism down through time and also taught on Mount Wu Tang. He is said to have been the teacher of Huo Lung, who was the teacher of the legendary founder of Tai Chi, Chang San Feng.

In his early teens, he was conversant with the Confucian classics, history, and the theories of various schools of thought. He was also fond of Buddhist philosophy, medical principles, astronomy and geography, and fanous for his poems.

He traveled to famous mountains in search of Immortals and Daoists. For over twenty years, Chen Tuan led a secluded life in Nine Room Cave on Mt Wudang, Ingesting Vital Breath, Abstaining from Grain, and Cultivating Dao. He later moved to Yuntai Temple on Mt. Hua and then to the stone room on Mt. Shaohua, and was in close contact with Lu Dongbin, Li Qi and so on. Emperor Shizong of the Later Zhou called him into the court and later appointed him councilor of the emperor for his rare talent and farsightedness.

Water Boxing is often termed as the fourth internal style and is grouped with Taiji, Hsing-I and Bagua. It has been called the last of the closed-door styles and has recently begun to receive greater public attention as more internal stylists become interested in its unique flavour and beauty.

Chen Tuan's ideology of Daoist Alchemy advocated the Integrated Cultivation of Spiritual Essence and Bodily Life, Nourishing Life, Inner Refinement, the purification and calmimg of the mind, Regulating Breathing and Entering Tranquility, and conforming to the great Dao. Chen Tuan took the traditional theories of philosophical Daoism as the core of his ideology, laying a foundation for the formation of the Daoist Inner Alchemy tradition of the Song and Yuan dynasties.