Hsing-I

[Daelomin]

I am very interested in learning Hsing-I, but there aren't any teachers here. So i was thinking that i would start to at least study the five elements fists from books, videos or any other sources i can find. I know that you can't learn from books.. bla bla. I might someday venture out to find instruction but for now i want to satisfy my thirst with something that is available.

So is there any chance that i can learn the 5 elements from books? Does someone have any pointers on them, something that isn't mentioned in books and is important, or just some general information? I am thankful for anything.

[Daelomin]

oh jeah on more thing. What are the basics that Hsing-I people practice at the bottom level? I have understood that it is the san ti posture and the five element fists.

Sorry if i sound ignorant.

[Felipe Bido]

Go to

this webpage (http://www.emptyflower.com/xingyiquan) for info on xingyi. Or you can email me with the questions. I am not able to answer right now, because I'm at work, but I'll see if I can help you with them. And wait for a while, the xingyi guys of the board are on their way! ;)

fbido@hotmail.com

-------------------------
-When it comes my turn...will you want me to go?
-For Democracy any man'd give his only begotten son.

[This message was edited by Felipe Bido on 10-10-01 at 06:46 AM.]

[shaolinboxer]

Wow, great site!

"She ain't got no muscles in her teeth."
- Cat

[devere]

Thanks.

[Daniel Madar]

what are you guys doing hanging out in my slums?

This is where I come to relax and be a jerk. :)

Merciless is Mercy.

[boy_analog]

I was interested in Hsing-I long before I was able to find a teacher, so I did exactly what you're trying to do: learnt the five elements from a book.

The book I used was Liang Shouyu's.

Now that I have a real instructor, I understand that the difference between being self-taught and having personal instruction is like night and day. But it is most definitely not a waste of time to start now.

I don't think that I developed much power this way, but I noticed the effects on my health. For instance, the eyes are governed by the liver, which relates to the wood element. I found that practising beng chuan cleared out eyestrain double quick.

Having put in the groundwork, I have been able to progress more quickly under personal instruction than I might have otherwise.

As for training materials, I can't comment on any Hsing-I videos: I never bought any. As for the books, I like Liang Shouyu's the best.
I didn't particularly like James McNeil's, and I actively despise Robert Smith's.

A lot of people swear by the Cartmell and Miller Nei Gong book. I like it, but I didn't stick with the exercises for long enough to have a constructive opinion.

A number of people have said very nice things about this book:

http://www.thewushucentre.com/litianji.htm

I haven't read it, so I can't confirm this.

By the way, if you don't know about the books I've referred to, you can find full references at emptyflower.

One more thing: you are very lucky to have Felipe offer to help you.

Happy training!

h

[Daelomin]

thank you all for your responses!
And felipe count on me to mail you when i have problems. BTW great site, one of the best martial arts sites i have seen.

[razakdigital]

Hello Daelomin,

If we have some video tapes on Hsing-I at www.blacktaoist.com (http://www.blacktaoist.com). We are working on a Hsing-I section on our site.

[Felipe Bido]

Thanks for the words, guys :)

-------------------------
-When it comes my turn...will you want me to go?
-For Democracy any man'd give his only begotten son.

[Daelomin]

Great. I have seen your site and it seems like you know your stuff, just what im looking for. I might buy some tapes, but do you send to a far corner of the world as Finland?

[razakdigital]

Thanks for the compliment, we try our best to be realistic as possible with our information. I myself have a lot to learn with this art so when I write on KFO and our webpage it's to give me an oppurtunity to test myself on the knowledge I receive from my teacher - TBT. A lot of other websites present excellent information so we just try to bring another level in our presentation to everyone.

Here are my recommendations of good books that I have in my library

The Power of Internal Martial Arts : Combat Secrets of Ba Gua, Tai Chi, and Hsing-I Bruce Kumar Frantzis
(good general information and good stories)

Xing Yi Quan Xue : The Study of Form-Mind Boxing
by Sun Lu Tang
(good book on the classics)

Chinese Boxing : Masters and Methods
by Robert W. Smith

Xing Yi Nei Gung : Xing Yi Health Maintenance and Internal Strength Development
by Dan Miller (Compiler), Tim Cartmell (Editor), Vincent Black
List
(Excellent information on Nei Gung and Theory. The writing is excellent)

Hsing Yi Chuan : Theory and Applications (Chinese Internal Martial Art)
by Shou-Yu Liang, Jwing-Ming Yang, Alan Dougall)
(Got to have this one!!!)

Website
www.emptyflower.com (http://www.emptyflower.com) - my favorite site because of all the useful information there and the pictures of the Chinese masters are awesome.

Also for finding a good teacher...don't be fool by forms and fa-jing - look at their ability to show you how to use your five fist realistically!!! Trust me that is very hard...don't limit yourself to one person as a teacher...one person doesn't have the answer for everything. With our crew, TBT doesn't restrict us to learn just from him. He encourages us to go see other people, read other books, go to other seminars. This way we have a global prespective on the art. Also what TBT has us to do (which I must admit is mandatory) is to buy tapes on Chinese martial artist doing their forms whether Pa Kua or Hsing-I. Why? Well to get an idea how to flow and move.

As for the video tapes you can email blacktaoist@hotmail.com for the tape that you are interested in. Finland is just next door to us we have sent tapes out to further places.

I you think started in the right direction with this forum because there are a lot of good people up here that are willing to help you.

"The method of enterprising is to plan with audacity and execute with vigor; to sketch out a map of possibilities and then to treat them as probabilities."

Bovie

[Daredevil]

Daelomin,

If you're interested in Neijia, I strongly recommend checking out a guy called Lu Baochen who just recently came to Finland. I had the pleasure of witnessing him demonstrate Baji and Taijiquan (and internal force). He has practised Xinyi and Bagua in addition to the aforementioned, but I don't think he is planning on teaching those. Baji, though, might be of interest to you.

E-mail me at majordomo@angelfire.com if you're interested. Finnish will work great as the language. :)