Xing Yi stepping basics

[wayne hansen]

The basis of our system of hsing I is the heavenly stem exercises
And that is exactly how they are practiced

[origami_itto]

The basis of our system of hsing I is the heavenly stem exercises
And that is exactly how they are practiced

Like these?
https://youtu.be/rZcGlUoQT00

[wayne hansen]

Those are the exercises
He has yet to master them

[origami_itto]

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CfgUtwNINxZ/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

A new toy to play with in the garden means more content to create for The Tai Chi Notebook! Here's a quick little video on Xing Yi Stepping and how to do it wrong, wrong wrong, then right!

So here's a question. can you punch using Xingyi without stepping? Without picking up your lead foot at all?

[wayne hansen]

Is this a rhetorical question

[origami_itto]

Is this a rhetorical question

No, sincere question, can somebody punch without moving their feet and be doing xingyi?

[nicklinjm]

Just to offer a Shanxi xyq perspective on this - yes of course, perfectly possible to generate powerful fajin without movement of the feet at all, because power generation in Shanxi relies more on the coiling / uncoiling (shu zhan) of the torso and waist than stepping. YMMV.

[GrahamB]

Hi Origarmi,

Yes, you can in (our) Hebei style using a more "bright jin" (our terminology) method which is seen in animals like Snake - like the way a snake bites - fast and sudden. That doesn't need you to step through the other person and is often delivered with the fingers not the fist - that's a specialist animal doing a specialist thing (there's always an exception to every rule in Xing Yi) - Monkey uses a similar type of power as well.

I think that Shanxi style uses "what we call" 'bright jin' more - as Nick mentions above - than Hebei. They probably don't use these differentiators like bright jin and dark jin - never seen another Xing Yi style uses them, but I think they help explain different types of power. (perhaps similar to "long" and "short" in Tai Chi).

The point being that in (our) Hebei you're preferred method is to try to hit them with that kind of penetrating power "dark jin" (our terminology again), that means you step through where they were standing - so in that sense there's never a situation where you can't step. So it's all a bit of a theoretical argument. Going back to spear usage - your main goal is to get that spear through their body, which will require footwork.

Can't speak for other styles of Xing Yi.

(Should also add that the reality of a sport hand sparring type of situation is that if you commit to these heavy penetrating strikes all the time, you're probably going to get your ass handed to you - for sport matches you have to mix them up with lighter strikes otherwise it would be like a boxer always throwing the big power shots - a cross or overhand right and nothing else.)

[edededed]

If xingyi comes from spear - spear practice is generally stationary, does that mean that xingyi practice can be generally stationary, too?

(For example, Yang Hai has some videos up about his Hebei xingyi system's basics - many of which are stationary. You can find more examples in various forms as well if you look.)

[GrahamB]

Our spear practice is not stationary - it's all the same between different weapons and no weapons. i.e. We don't suddenly start doing something else because we're holding a sword, or a spear or punching.

Can't speak for other systems.

[origami_itto]

Hi Origarmi,

Yes, you can in (our) Hebei style using a more "bright jin" (our terminology) method which is seen in animals like Snake - like the way a snake bites - fast and sudden. That doesn't need you to step through the other person and is often delivered with the fingers not the fist - that's a specialist animal doing a specialist thing (there's always an exception to every rule in Xing Yi) - Monkey uses a similar type of power as well.

I think that Shanxi style uses "what we call" 'bright jin' more - as Nick mentions above - than Hebei. They probably don't use these differentiators like bright jin and dark jin - never seen another Xing Yi style uses them, but I think they help explain different types of power. (perhaps similar to "long" and "short" in Tai Chi).

The point being that in (our) Hebei you're preferred method is to try to hit them with that kind of penetrating power "dark jin" (our terminology again), that means you step through where they were standing - so in that sense there's never a situation where you can't step. So it's all a bit of a theoretical argument. Going back to spear usage - your main goal is to get that spear through their body, which will require footwork.

Can't speak for other styles of Xing Yi.

(Should also add that the reality of a sport hand sparring type of situation is that if you commit to these heavy penetrating strikes all the time, you're probably going to get your ass handed to you - for sport matches you have to mix them up with lighter strikes otherwise it would be like a boxer always throwing the big power shots - a cross or overhand right and nothing else.)

Thanks for the reply.

So regarding power generation in your system, where is it coming from? Is it the weight as it falls or the legs when they push?

Sometimes I think of the way pool balls behave. In a nice clean straight shot with no English on it the cue will stop dead and the target ball will fly off with all of the energy transferred. I try to hit the bag like that.

[origami_itto]

Our spear practice is not stationary - it's all the same between different weapons and no weapons. i.e. We don't suddenly start doing something else because we're holding a sword, or a spear or punching.

Can't speak for other systems.

The spear is the king of weapons.

Most versatile and useful IMHO

In formation your foot work is mostly advancing. The spear is just one component and has supporting pikemen and shields covering.

One on one, yeah, you need to be moving.

[GrahamB]

"So regarding power generation in your system, where is it coming from? Is it the weight as it falls or the legs when they push?"

One element is that momentum and mass traveling forward. This would fall under the category of 'stepping' and 'Thunder Sound'. (Again, I think this is more of a thing in Hebei style). But the other side is the body power generation, in our system it's a counter rotational release we call 'Dragon body' - together with the inherent postural strengths created by San Ti Shi. (head up, round the shoulders, tiger embrace, etc). I've encountered other systems of XY that use the term Dragon Body and mean something different, but to us it's the slight counter rotation twist you hold on the spine which should always be there, so there's always the potential to release energy. (I don't mean 'spinal wave' or undulating the spine like a whip, which some people talk about - I'm talking about rotations in the horizontal plane).

I made a video on Thunder Sound a while ago:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVIbYpRNUEE&

[edededed]

Our spear practice is not stationary - it's all the same between different weapons and no weapons. i.e. We don't suddenly start doing something else because we're holding a sword, or a spear or punching.

Can't speak for other systems.

I didn't mean that spear is only stationary, just that people start training it stationary first.

You don't practice the lan, na, zha basic parry, take, thrust stationary first?

[GrahamB]

No we don't - not as stationary movements. However, those movements are obviously contained in the movements we do practice in our linking sequences,etc. We practice pi, zuan, beng, pao and heng as our basics no matter the weapon.

We are sadly lacking in what are generally described as "spear basics" However, I think there is something to be said for consistency of method - lol.

My hands-up confession is that due to lack of space/practicality of flinging a spear around a small garden, I don't do spear at all myself any longer. I prefer straight sword as if fits in my garden, and mainly practice barehanded 90% of the time. In fact, I mainly practice BJJ most of the time. I know - what a disappointment.