Samurai Jack's Hsing-i videos

[Samurai Jack]

Hey, these are just a few for brucereiter, and anyone else who's interested. Feel free to comment or post your own.

Horse (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_MieMHFUQ8)

Beng (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M50aY5LTIQg)

Tsuan (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QskvKsjiq0)

[Samurai Jack]

One of my teachers put a great emphasis on being light and agile, and that's probably where that comes from. I may not look like it, but I weigh over 200 lbs., and it always felt very hard to be quick and springy enough for him. I can still hear him shouting, "Bodhi! Stop moving like a robot! Be alive!"

I feel like I've gotten better at being more "alive", but internally I still feel extremly heavy and slow. I suppose that mix is what's supposed to happen.

Thanks very much for the input. :)

[brucereiter]

One of my teachers put a great emphasis on being light and agile, and that's probably where that comes from. I may not look like it, but I weigh over 200 lbs., and it always felt very hard to be quick and springy enough for him. I can still hear him shouting, "Bodhi! Stop moving like a robot! Be alive!"

I feel like I've gotten better at being more "alive", but internally I still feel extremly heavy and slow. I suppose that mix is what's supposed to happen.

Thanks very much for the input. :)

thanks for adding clips of a bit of your practice.

i am 6'2" and 280lbs so dont let your size get in the way ...

[brucereiter]

very nice; now I have even less of an excuse not to put something up...:mad:

well? :-) what are ya waiting for.

[brucereiter]

airborne swine and Satan on ice skates...

i can get ya that :-) :D





it will take a few days though.

[Rapason]

Hello,

First off, bear in mind that i really dont know the first thing about hsing-I, I've only been studying TaiJi Chuan since about October.

When I was first viewing the "Horse" video it looked to me like you were alittle too disconected from the eath/ground, sort of alittle too high up.

But then reading ahead in the posts I realized this "lightness" is in effect what you were going for!

So I would say very good job!
~personal opinion~

Dont forget about your connection with the earth though. Use the solid stability of the ground to offset the lightness of you movments!

Great Job!

Dao-an,

Rapason

[msg]

i wanted to know were your xing.yi comes from what style .proveince because i only see the shock step in the wood form and its only a full step and no half step in there . and the other forms your back foot comes of the ground slightly .please dont get me wrong iam not knocking you at all .i know that there a few variations in style

[brucereiter]

i know that there a few variations in style

:-) i think that is the understatement of the year. there are 100's of variations.

[Samurai Jack]

i wanted to know were your xing.yi comes from

I keep getting the lineage question, and now that I've posted some vids, it'll probably come up more often. This last week I've answered that question half a dozen times alone! So I'll answer it this once more, then just direct folks to this thread:

:)

First off, I'm no one's disciple, so technically I don't have a lineage. However, my Hsing-i is 99% from Hsu Hong Chi, who learned from Hung I-Hsiang. You can trace the lineage further by googling them if you like, but they were both highly regarded, and they go all the way back to the beginning.

My main teachers, in chronological order have been Rich Robson (internal boxing), Jeff Thornbloom, and Don Hildenbrant. I've also met with and trained with my teacher's teachers, George Xu (muslim style), Vince Black, and James McNeil. Don, Vince and Jim were all disciples of Hsu Hong Chi.

That said, I am still learning and refining what I do. I'm not a master, just a practitioner with a love for Hsing-i.


i only see the shock step in the wood form and its only a full step and no half step in there . and the other forms your back foot comes of the ground slightly

Thanks msg, for the detailed eye. You helped me discover an error, although it wasn't the one you mentioned.

I've been training in this style of Hsing-i for almost twelve years, and I can tell you that our standard Beng is done the way I show it. We half-step in several forms, but our basic practice is done like that. The Tsuan and Horse that I demonstrated are not supposed to have the "shock step" that our Beng does. Instead these have a small "shuffle" step, one of my teachers called it an "inch worm step".

Still, I double checked my horse and Tsuan against vids I have of Jim and Vince, and discoverd an error in my Horse:

In the basic practice my punching hand should be angled up slightly, and the elbow should be bent a few degrees more. It's as if the punch is shooting into the opponent's armpit, and/or parrying a high Pi. Of course there are lots of applications, and thus angles, but I like to keep things as the "main guys" show them. I'll correct the vid when I get the chance.

Thanks again!

[msg]

my teacher also had george xu as a teacher and henrey look and also .ken cowen ..thanks for shareing the info i was just cureious keep up the good work

[Rockwood]

HI Samurai Jack,

Forms look good.

Are you the guy I remember who took up Aikido at one point having gotten tired of Xing Yi?

I learned these forms from Luo De Xiu, and they look quite similar.

I think Luo may be visiting Seattle at the end of the summer, maybe you could make a road trip up there and check him out. I think you would really, really, really enjoy it and it would add some new dimensions to your practice. His trainings always leave me eager to practice.

Keep up the good work! The lineage of Hong Yixiang has much to offer.

-Jess O'Brien
Oakland, CA

[Samurai Jack]

Thanks for the heads up.

I wasn't tired of Hsing-i, in fact I'd always heard that Aikido was really soft and unworkable, so my intrest in that was nil. Then I met my Aikido teacher, and my ideas were pretty well blown out of the water. He was a real harda$$, and the masochist in me couldn't resist.

I've since moved to another city in the last six months or so. I'd always kept up the Hsing-i, and basically now I've just got a lot more time for it.

I personally feel the two arts are very compatible. In fact this vid of Mike Patterson doing Hsing-i Chin Na also happens to be text book Aikido right down to the stepping patterns and body mechanics. Any Aikidoka would recognize every one of these. Check 'em out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhAgQvdrIXg&feature=related

[Rockwood]

Absolutely agreed! I think Ba Gua and Xing Yi are perfect compliments to Aikido. I theorize that an Aikidoist who spends some time doing Ba Gua and Xing Yi would significantly up their game. And vice versa, the cooperative continual throwing in Aikido would help the CMA person get more comfort in their two person work.

I could go on and on. But in my mind Xing Yi's Pi Quan and Beng Quan are identical to Aikidos Shomen Uchi and Tsuki. The only difference being that most Aikidoists don't have a clue as how to use them.

Again, I HIGHLY recommend a session with Luo De Xiu if you can make it. His lineage is nearly the same as yours and he is one of the best to ever come out of the Tang Shou Tao that I've seen. I think you'd find what he does to be VERY interesting.

-Jess O

[Samurai Jack]

Really funny of you to say: Just a few years ago I wrote a very similar opinion here and was lambasted like Judas just back from the Centurions!

Anyhow, I will definately see if I can make it. There are a few teachers in Seattle I'd like to visit.

:)

[Blacktiger]

it's interesting, you have a lot more "hing" (lightness") in your movements than one typically sees w/hsing-i (usually it's all very downward bearing in flavor); is that stylistic, or your own personal expression of your understanding (which appears to be not insignificant, BTW)? or am I just way off base?

very nice; now I have even less of an excuse not to put something up...:mad:

I agree - looks empty - don't take this wrong way - just an observation.

[Samurai Jack]

Ehh, everyone's got an opinion, so no worries.

;)

[brucereiter]

I agree - looks empty - don't take this wrong way - just an observation.

what does "looks empty" mean? i think his hsing i looks pretty good and everyone has a different expression.