Any one praticing Hsing Yi??

[Zhang]

Any one praticing Hsing Yi???????

iv just started BaGuaZhang but i feel that Hsing Yi is a little to agressive for me right now. so iv dicited to comeplete my BaGuaZhang at first

how is your view on Hsing Yi??? i mean do you find it agressive or releaxing or what

[MusicalGirevik]

I just started Bagua also. Our system includes the Xingyi Five Elements. I've heard that our system has a "Xingyi flavor" to it. Our Bagua system seems pretty aggressive to me by itself, though I understand that Xingyi is more aggressive still as far as going after the opponent's centerline and such. Just about every single teacher in our lineage also studied Xingyi...

Will let you know (if I remember to do so :)) how I feel after I've learned the 5 Elements.

In my limited experience with sparring (one session against TKD people as a Hapkido student, about 4 months total worth in Judo and BJJ), I found an offensive-minded mentality works best. I learned this the hard way as I am passive by nature - I got submitted countless times until I discovered the aggressiveness within.

Good training to you,
MG

[Tak]

Heh, how do you "complete" a martial arts system? Does it seem to go on and on forever, until you get to the end where there's a monkey throwing barrels at you?

I'm learning some ba gua and some xing yi. I, too, tend to prefer the ba gua, but I'm not quite sure why. Xing yi can be aggressive, but it is a martial art. On the other hand, what's more relaxing than 15 minutes of san ti?
(Answer: 30 minutes of changing palms)

[Ford Prefect]

Check out Buddy Tripp in the Internal Arts forum. I guess he's a decent Xing Yi guy.

[CD Lee]

I am a Xingyi student for over two years. Actually, we in our school have a Bagua flavor to our Xingyi. Cool.

It can be as aggressive as you need it. To me, my mindset is very clear for any fight. Take the centerline instantly, while at the same exact momentt, uprooting the opponent and taking their center at the first touch. I am taking the centerline and using my body to work as the weapon, regardless of the fists I use.

This one thought, reality, or feel, if you will, has given me peace, and no second thoughts as to what I should be doing.

I will come in and take your center, even if you are far superior to me. It is my Yi(intention), and my heart. That is all I am focused on for that instant. Win or lose, you have to get your mind and body focused on the bottom line. In a sense, I would compare it to a cornered animal. Although weak in nature, it is a fearsome thing to behold once unleashed full of raw intention upon destroying you.

Nobody wants to corner even a weak animal. That is because at the root level, we all understand what the true will to destroy and survive really means. And it first and foremost demands full mental commitment and accent. Very powerful indeed.

[CD Lee]

Anyways, all that aggresive talk seems so abrasive. Let me give the other side in answer to your question.

Xingyi is relaxing and not tense. Your intention can be aimed at what I would call aggresive actions on the surface, but are performed with as little tension as you can. There are root principles in all movements. One of those in relaxation. Not dead noodle relaxed, but relaxed with strong intention.

Also, I only compared intention to a cornered animal. Xingyi is not like a cornered animal or should not be. It should be aggressive in intent, but relaxed in execution.

As far as Bagua and Xingyi at the same time, I would advise taking only one until you are well into the art. While a lot of concepts are the same, the application and expression of differenty energies are not identical and could cause confusion.

[Judge Pen]

My understanding is that several of the old Hsing Yi and BaGua masters taught in close proximity and had great respect for the others art. As such, they often required their students to study the other as well. That's why several Hsing-I schools have a Ba Gua flavor to them and vice versa.

If you think about it, the two can be complimentary.

[MusicalGirevik]

I think you're right, Judge Pen.

Every instructor in our system's lineage, from the founder, Gao Yi Sheng, himself all they way down to my teacher, all studied Xingyi as well as Bagua. Gao claimed to have learned the linear forms in the system from Dong Hai Chuan's teacher (Dong, the creator of Bagua, was so mysterious that nobody even knows who his MA teachers were), but nowadays it is believed he created them himself from his Xingyi experiences.

Gao's Xingyi teacher was Li Cun Yi, who was the first famous Xingyi master to study Bagua, officially as a student of Dong Hai Chuan (creator of Bagua) but in actuality a student of Cheng Ting Hua. I guess back in those days if teacher and student were really close in age, the teacher tried to get his student officially recorded as his teacher's student so that they'd officially be gong fu brothers.