Be honest...
The VERY first chinese style i ever studied was Yee Chuan Xing Yi...
I had always done Japanese or Korean styles in the past and to be fully honest... i hated it
It looked gumpy, the postures felt cramped, it seemed over simplisitic. It simply didnt colide with my idea of what kung fu should be.
The instructor was also an occur, he was a big well built white guy who ran the class like a fitness program. Push ups sit ups streches running and in large does.
He also did pleanty of demonstrations. He could fold any punching bag basicaly in half with a strait punch. The one that REALLY blew my mind at the time and still does for a xing yi guy.
He would lie down on the floor and invite the WHOLE class to come and grab a hold of him and try to pin him to the ground. The when everyone was in hold he would twist and wriggle and litteraly spasm his way out.
I never enjoyed the classes and never got far in the art never understanding why we where doing so much excercise so much standing meditian and such darn simple movements.
6 years later i know a LOT better. Ive seldom seen other sifus with the same power or ablity to demonstrate it and i know a lot better about how effective those 'simple' movements are and how much go's into them.
I think the honest thruth is to a total laymen Xing Yi looks rediculous when compared with western boxing. However to anyone with any knowledge of structure or body dynamics its one of the best things since sliced bread.
One day i would like to find that same 'occur' and politely request that he teach me on from where i left off... The DEAD begining
Up and down, forward and backward, left and right, its all the same. All of this is done with the mind, not externaly.
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Shaped dragon and looking monkey, sitting tiger and turning eagle.
"I wonder how they would do against jon's no-tension fu. I bet they'd do REALLY WELL."
- Huang Kai Vun