Peter Ralston Since 1990, Peter's yearly visits to Holland 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.

Cheng Hsin Art of Effortless Power CampWorking 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 T’ai 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.
In the first weekend there is more attention for Body Being principles.

Functional T’ai Chi Chuan
In this workshop of three days duration Peter will focus on the many techniques within Cheng Hsin that are based on t’ai chi chuan. The main teachers of Peter Ralston in t’ai chi chuan were Wong Jack Man and William CC Chen. Wong Jack Man told Peter always to train with the best and the best person in t’ai chi was Cheng Man Ching in New York. However Cheng Man Ching died (1975) before Peter was able to see him. This workshop concentrate on the function of t’ai chi movements as done in the t’ai chi set. Also called pushing hands or tui shou. This will be mainly moving step pushing hands. Peter accentuates being relaxed, yielding and staying in structure. This is only possible if you can also move your feet when an external force is applied on your body. Also in order to bring an relaxed intrinsic power across you need to move your centre and that mostly is done by moving your feet. There is no falling involved in this workshop.

The Art of Effortless Power (Art of EP)
Cheng Hsin is an internal martial art pur sang.
There are differences between the external and internal martial arts.In short: the external martial arts use strong muscle contractions to develop power and speed, and the attitude is to aggressively overpower the opponent.
The internal martial arts, however, use a relaxed structure and heightened sensitivity within a calm mind to overcome the opponent by neutralizing and joining his force, and using his aggressive intentions against him.
First of all in Cheng Hsin there is a strong emphasis on relaxation and good body alignment in every movement. The fundamental internal principles - such as grounding, unifying the body, listening, joining, and interacting without using strength - are studied in their pure form and taught in such a way as to be applicable to any art.
Exercises will be done to learn how to more powerfully connect with the ground, more deeply relax, move from the center, and unify the whole body.
In most internal arts footwork is neglected. Here you will study skillfully moving and intelligently positioning your feet. Good footwork is important for yielding and for staying in contact (sticking) with the opponent.
Yielding in Cheng Hsin is the most extensive that I have ever seen. In Cheng Hsin there are many different ways of yielding. In order to be in harmony with the opponent you will do exercises to increase sensitivity, like "outreaching" where you learn to feel an opponent's entire body all at once; and exercises to improve skill, such as "following," learning to blend with an opponent's every movement, and "leading," where you learn to take control of the intent and motion of the opponent.
T’ai Chi ChuanMini set and the short set of 64 moves.The accent lies on how the Cheng Hsin Principles (relaxation, grounding, centering, 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 T’ai Chi Chuan.
Boxing
Techniques and tactics within the art of internal boxing. Peter is an excellent boxer (he also trained in a professional boxing gym in the US) and he will explain his totally relaxed way of delivering a punch connected with the ground. Footwork, using the whole body and getting out of the way of an incoming punch are important issue’s. The punches are kept light but nevertheless you need boxing gloves (which can be rented for one Euro a time).