Best Xing Yi I've seen

[everything]

Insane, casual, talking on phone, piquan power.

Ok ok her arm weighs half of the loud mouth she punched but still

[everything]

In Han Shi Yi Quan we lead with the fingertips, only closing the fist before making contact. The hand is not closed in typical fashion but rather the fingers are rolled, bringing the knuckles forward. There is no distance lost. The hand continues on its forward path as the fingers roll into a fist. But it is a soft fist, as if I were to hold a pencil lead in my fist without breaking it.

Do you find the fingers make a snapping sound as the fist closes?

No snapping sound. It's more like catching a fly. I don't want to hurt the fly. More like catch him and then let him go. In yiquan we focus on ourselves as if the opponent is not there. Where my punches land is irrelevant.

Love this concept

[Taste of Death]

Where could you direct me to learn more about yiquan?

Where do you live?

Central Florida

The only yiquan people I know personally are in California, Hawaii, and China. Tokyo, Hong Kong, and England have reputable yiquan teachers but it's a mixed bag. I have a few books but I can't recommend them for any great insights. Yiquan is the simplest art but no one under 40 is interested in simple. To want to know everything is to know nothing.

Fingertip feeling and extension. Holding bao (embrace). Like squeezing a squishy ball. The parts of the ball that aren't covered by the fingers expand. The more one goes inside oneself the more expansion there is. Absolutely no rooting and no retreat. It only makes sense in person. And even then...We treat it as a phenomenon so to try to comprehend it is missing the point.

Someone grabs you, they become part of you. You move, they move. But you are not trying to move them. The car doesn't try to move the passenger. The passenger goes wherever the car goes.

[origami_itto]

Fingertip feeling and extension. Holding bao (embrace). Like squeezing a squishy ball. The parts of the ball that aren't covered by the fingers expand. The more one goes inside oneself the more expansion there is. Absolutely no rooting and no retreat. It only makes sense in person. And even then...We treat it as a phenomenon so to try to comprehend it is missing the point.

Someone grabs you, they become part of you. You move, they move. But you are not trying to move them. The car doesn't try to move the passenger. The passenger goes wherever the car goes.

Is there a book you think would be worth reading to get more insight?

[everything]

did you ever read the Wang Xiangzhai ones?
http://www.yiquan.academy/downloads/essence001.pdf

https://brennantranslation.wordpress.co ... of-yiquan/

I'm sure @dacheng or @Taste of Death have other recs

[Taste of Death]

Fingertip feeling and extension. Holding bao (embrace). Like squeezing a squishy ball. The parts of the ball that aren't covered by the fingers expand. The more one goes inside oneself the more expansion there is. Absolutely no rooting and no retreat. It only makes sense in person. And even then...We treat it as a phenomenon so to try to comprehend it is missing the point.

Someone grabs you, they become part of you. You move, they move. But you are not trying to move them. The car doesn't try to move the passenger. The passenger goes wherever the car goes.

Is there a book you think would be worth reading to get more insight?

did you ever read the Wang Xiangzhai ones?
http://www.yiquan.academy/downloads/essence001.pdf

https://brennantranslation.wordpress.co ... of-yiquan/

I'm sure @dacheng or @Taste of Death have other recs

There is a Han Shi Yi Quan book only available in Chinese which I think is mostly philosophical rather than martial.

The Tao of Yiquan: The Method of Awareness in the Martial Arts by Jan Diepersloot. The word-for-word contributions by teachers are valuable, particularly Sam Tam's observations (including the taste of death ) but Jan's interpretations should be taken with a grain of salt.

Yiquan 360: Internal Factors and Training Concepts for All Internal Enthusiasts by Ling Seto is not bad.

But neither of these books discuss Han Shi Yi Quan, which is Han Jing Chen's version of the art.

They are books and these arts are passed hand to hand so a book can only give an overview. Saying that, I do read them but I only halfheartedly recommend them. I would rather read about martial artists than a how-to book which will inevitably teach you how not to do said martial art, especially if you don't have a qualified teacher.

The most important part of Han Shi Yi Quan is zhan zhuang. This is me:


This is Glenn Pasion:


You can move through all the positions with or without a partner or focus on one position, bao being the most important. A partner should lightly hold your wrists, placing them where they can most adequately provide measurable resistance. In the second to last position, they should push against the elbows, and for the last position, one hand placed in the range of the solar plexus while you lean forward, your intent trying to push them into the ground as if you had a pole wedged between you and said ground.

Han Jing Chen:

[Taste of Death]

I know this is a xingyiquan thread but we are basically doing xingyi movements (five fists slightly differently) with a focus on zhan zhuang.

[wayne hansen]

When I learnt this system it was called
Zhong He Ba Zhou Guan
The teacher translated it as
Internal Essence of the 8 Style Fist

[Taste of Death]

When I learnt this system it was called
Zhong He Ba Zhou Guan
The teacher translated it as
Internal Essence of the 8 Style Fist

Everything is clouded in mystery. When I try to ask about the origins of Han Shi Yi Quan with my senior teacher or Master Han...Liuhebafa, Zhong He Ba Zhou Guan...they change the subject.

[Taste of Death]

The problem with the title of this thread is the problem with most discussions of CIMA. Seeing is not believing, touching is. Anyone can look good doing something. A singer may look good holding the microphone but I need to hear them sing.

From Graham's silk reeling thread, there is a Mike Sigman video of him showing how to practice the elastic connections of the body. Good stuff but not showing how to incorporate it into partner work and its martial efficacy.

My videos above of Glenn and I demonstrating our zhan zhuang are also lacking this much-needed aspect, how to make it work with whatever martial art we practice and use it in sparring or fighting.

When someone asks me to show them something useful I ask them to grab or push me somewhere on my body, anywhere (except my peaches, you little monkeys). I first show how to respond externally using force then force plus speed. Then I show the internal version and do my best to explain it. But my explanations may not make sense to everyone.

We use analogies quite a bit in CIMA, sometimes relaying something the way it was explained to me, sometimes using my own analogy, and sometimes coming up with something new on the spot. The analogies can put what we're doing into perspective, giving our training partner something to consider. But these words are lacking in that the real proof is in how we interpret what we feel when the arts are demonstrated on us.

RobP shows a practical approach with his Systema videos even though Systema, like all arts, is difficult to grasp without training in-person. The recent TuiShouStereo post shows their version of tui shou and how it's practiced but push hands is sensitivity training not a sparring practice. These arts are in danger of dying out if we just pussyfoot around instead of showing how to use them when someone calls you out or you need to intevene in a situation where someone vulnerable is threatened.

"Best Xing Yi I've seen" is meaningless. No offense to the original poster and the commentators. If anyone ever comes to Phoenix, AZ where I'm currently located, please contact me. I train with Grey to White on Saturdays and Ashe Higgs lives and teaches in Tempe, AZ. Is there anyone else out there?

[wayne hansen]

Zhong He
I was told the system was put together by one of Wangs students who learnt I chuan
He then Went and took challenges all over China
If someone beat him in combat he incorporated what they did into i chuan
You can see the different systems in the eight basic forms
Yang/Wu/Chen tai chi
Hsing I
Ba kua
Snake boxing
6 harmony 8 ways
And yang tai chi a second time
Each form also contains an internal principle,open close etc.
There is also standing postures 6 and a section of moving exercises like silk reeling
I teach it after my students learn
Ba Bu Da
Ba Lien Shou
Ba shou and
Ba Tang and before I teach 5 elements

[everything]

super cool stuff. If I could do it all over again, it'd be amazing to learn yi quan from the get go. but it is what it is.

[Quigga]

Interesting what people reveal about themselves and their practice when they talk

[Quigga]

Of course we practice for many thousands of hours for our movement to look like the average person... /Irony

[Quigga]

Tbh Wayne your comment re the speeding up allegation and you not seeing his skill really disappointed me

I'm disappointed in many people here, I thought the level of skill was higher on this site