A lone Xingyi practitioner

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Re: A lone Xingyi practitioner

Postby SzJoska » Fri Jan 10, 2014 10:07 am

Hello everyone, first of all i wish a happy new year for everybody!
I have a silly, new thery which i have to aks.
what's your opinion what will progress better for self defense :
-if anyone practices for example Shotokan karate 2 days a week in dojo + 1 day practicing some pushups, squats, sit ups and another day some kata outdoors, and the dojo prefers sport like training, not self defense
- or if someone (not complete beginner - 5 month shotokan karate background) practices the five elements of Xingyiquan (slowly built on each other first just San ti - for couple of months, than Pi quan ...) completely from books and videos without a master.
The example shows my progress :)
The theory could be that someone who practicing in a dojo for money and get a sport like feeling or someone with his little mistakes, alone but if has patience and perserverance for doing Xingyi's 5 fist for years at home will progress better (also doing sit ups, push ups)?
If anyone hasn't got a master but practices something diligently, noone corrects his mistakes, could even achieve a faster technique and even his own built-on style? why beeing so perfect in techniques if own body strngth and speed and first of all reaction time counts?
But how could a lone Xingyi practitioner speed up his reaction?
Which one is better from the twoo? What will you vote? This progresses that what will i choose too :)
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Re: A lone Xingyi practitioner

Postby John the Monkey mind » Mon Jan 13, 2014 11:43 am

If you are set on Xing Yi you should travel to a seminar for a first lesson even if you have to travels some way just so you have a place to start from when practicing alone. I know its could be a large expense but it would help a lot. Also if you could find a training partner you could make much more solid progress than on your own. I train Shaolin with a few other people but we only have tuition at seminars. What helps is practicing as a group as you pick up on different things and get different things from videos. Also other group members may go to seminars you were unable to attend and can bring the material back for the group to practice.

Before you practice the trinity stance (San Ti Shi) you may want to practice holding the ball stance (zhan zhuang) every day for a few weeks. Its easier to get correct and will give you the foundation structure.

This is a very old video by a controversial figure but it gives you a good place to start in internal martial arts with this posture. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urANXCA8 ... 52A92735BB

Image

You must remember that tension is your enemy. If you can use progressive visualizations to relax wile you hold zhan Zhuang you might make faster progress. I should do it more.

You could also try following this 10 day course before you start the San Ti Shi training.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=y07FauHYlmg
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Re: A lone Xingyi practitioner

Postby SCMT » Tue Jan 14, 2014 12:59 pm

I can only second what has already been said, you need to have a teacher.

I had a teacher who closed his school so I did go to seminars, one at YMAA with Ken Craggs, which was excellent and I would still be going if he was still doing seminars at YMAA.

I now have no teacher in Xingyiquan but I have learned Wuxingquan so I cold continue training on my own but I have to tell you, it is not easy, motivation becomes an issue and you get to a point where you simply cannot improve without the imput of a sifu or other interested students. I can’t even get a study group started in my area so advancing in Xingyi, no matter how much I love the style, is very difficult.

So with that said I have stopped doing Xingyiquan altogether and I am focusing on my Taiji (also not from YMAA [Tung family lineage] but my shifu is close so that makes it easier) and liely returning to Wing Chun since my Shifu is close.

It is not easy to train on your own and if you are not careful it is REAL easy to pick up bad habits that are very hard to correct.

But with that said there are books that could help you, if for no other reason than to show you that it is real hard to do on your own and you need a teacher

1. Xingyiquan (Hsing I Chuan) Kung Fu by Liang , Shou-Yu (Which Dr Yang is also in)

Another very good book is:

1. The Xingyi Quan of the Chinese Army: Huang Bo Nien's Xingyi Fist and Weapon Instruction By Dennis Rovere

Two very good books with lots of detail written (or at least translated for a westerner)

1. Di Guoyong on Xingyiquan: Volume One Five Element Foundations
2. Di Guoyong on Xingyiquan Volume Two

Sadly I believe both of Di Guoyong are out of print and hard to find, you may be ablr to download them form Andrea Falk, but to be honest I am not sure you can even do that anymore

And then there are a few other translations that are very good but hard to understand do to the Chinese metaphors and Xingyi songs that make up much of the translation. They are important to know but they take a while to figure out.

Xingyiquan on the surface looks real easy but underneath and in application it is difficult to comprehend and I honestly do not feel that you can do it without at least some contact with a teacher at least a few times a year and every week is better
Last edited by SCMT on Tue Jan 14, 2014 3:33 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: A lone Xingyi practitioner

Postby SzJoska » Tue Jan 14, 2014 2:45 pm

Hi, thanks for the advices, and the videos too (i've already done few from these Wuji stance, there are well written in Lam Kam Chuen book: the way of power) first of all i hope i will get a new job soon in my small city, if not i must move on to elsewhere. I heared that here is another karate dojo and i think i will visit it maybe there will be more self defense teaching and not mainly for sport. Until then i will do some horse stance training with abdominal and reversed breathing, this is usable in karate too, and sit ups, squats, push ups, something like that :)
And of course some basic stances punching and kicking what i've learned from my master, and i have a book for re-reading these twoo.
Sadly but i must understand that nowadays i don't have a chance for Xingyiquan to meet a master, because of distance and money, so i practice what is here, and hopely will be able to practice karate again in a dojo soon. I think if you practice something diligently health, strenght flexibility and efficiency will come to you. Hope i will have the perseverance for this, too. (I give it another try, i donát have anything too lose because of it :) ) Good practice for you too, try your best every day!
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Re: A lone Xingyi practitioner

Postby SzJoska » Wed Jan 21, 2015 1:58 pm

Hello, happy new year to everyone!
I would like to question that is Xingyiquan good for absolutely first style?
Or it would be better learning some external kung fu like Shaolin kung fu firstly for leg strength because of the lot of stances in it and for becoming stronger? Even the majority of kung fu masters practiced some kind of external kung fu in early years and only after maybe 30 years old they began learning some kind of internal kung fu. Or what if somebody starts with internal, just doing some external dumbbell and else body conditioning and bodybuilding exercises? Or is it enough some pushups and one legged squats and situps (plus San Ti Shi of course :) )for xingyiquan and you will have enough strenght? So is it worth spending time with external style if you like more to learn Xingyiquan? Good practise to you!!!
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