However, the distinction between internal boxing and external boxing is very vague.
At first, "outside the home" refers to the martial arts practiced by Shaolin and other monks. Relatively speaking, "Neijia" refers to the martial arts learned by ordinary people. In addition, there was a school of "Neijia Boxing" in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, whose moves and styles were different from Tai Chi and form and meaning, but this school of "Neijia Boxing" has been lost.
It seems that Tai Chi, Xingyiquan and Bagua Palm are all called family-run boxing, which only started in the Republic of China, and there is no particularly solid foundation. Generally speaking, Neijia boxing pays more attention to the cultivation of internal force and internal interest, and its movements are relatively loose and soft; But in fact, there are great differences among the three schools called Neijia Boxing. Xingyiquan's attack is extremely fierce. The so-called "getting up like the wind, falling like an arrow, knocking down too slowly", Xingyiquan is almost always a fist and a line, paying attention to one move to defeat the enemy, which is very different from the circular movement of Taiji and Bagua.
In fact, I personally think that it is of little significance to distinguish between inside and outside. Any boxing is to practice one breath inside and one muscle and one skin outside. Shaolin boxing also has internal strength and qigong practice. Tai Chi and Eight Diagrams also need to exercise physical qualities such as strength and speed. At most, it's just a different focus. At the same time, it is hard to say whether many boxing methods are domestic or foreign. For example, Xingyiquan belongs to the family, so why does the predecessor of Xingyiquan-Mind Liuhe Boxing belong to the family? For example, many boxing techniques of the Southern School, such as the White Crane, the Longitudinal Crane and the Wing Chun, do not have long bridges and hard horses, but attach importance to the integration of strength and overall strength, and it is not very reasonable to classify all the Southern Schools as outsiders.
In addition, Neijia Boxing may not be specialized in practicing Qigong, but in fact, the routine of Neijia Boxing itself belongs to a kind of Qigong and internal qi exercise, and long-term practice has a good fitness and health preservation effect. At present, a lot of "Taiji Instructional Skill" and "Taiji Internal Skill" all come from Tai Ji Chuan. It can be seen that Neijia Boxing itself cannot be separated from Qigong.