Adam Hsu – Xingyi Five Elements Boxing

The prospect of sitting down to three DVDs is intimidating at best. You are immediately taken into a story of practice and history. absolute command. His topic. Through the subtitles, his enthusiasm and dedication become contagious. His coy draw always says you can do this as well. It is easy, just try.

I was first taught XingYi Quan, one of the three “internal” styles sitting with Tai Chi Quan and Ba Gau Zhang, at a seminar given by my two Shifus. It was early on in the school’s history (maybe 20 years ago) and this might have been their first seminar given for the school. The only other student attending would, much later, become my wife. The two of us spent four hours learning the San-Ti stance, the Caterpillar Step and the Five Elements. For me it was love at first sight. I have kept XingYi Quan with me over the years and my Shifu has returned to it again and again, even though it is not my primary style. I find there is something at once simplistic and complex in its movements and its stillness.

These DVDs are not for beginners or people looking to learn from a video. The series is meant for the serious practitioners of Chinese Martial Art. The real gems here are in the principals given, principals that span not only Xing Yi Quan but also any traditional Chinese Martial Art.

The structure of the series moves through an overview, to posture training, to the Caterpillar step, into each of the Five Element movements and ends with the Linking Fist set. The joy in all of this is the details and insights of the smallest attributes of a move. A must for furthering our practice is that each motion is broken down into excruciating detail when discussing a physical movement. It benefits those who already know the movements. I have forgotten what my Shifu taught me, so I am going back to them and refining them. It motivates us to evaluate our own movements and work on needed changes.

It is like being let into the past when he speaks of history. The ancients are given personality and lineages. Suddenly, you realize how important it is that you practice, take that time out of each day to further the preservation of the art. The art as well as yourself. Past and future masters and practitioners are linked. Shifu Hsu says that they respect the ancient masters and can’t let them down. All of the lessons have history and context in them. Why is the first move called split? In Chinese it means start which in turn means How are you doing today?

A good example of his teaching is the lesson on San Ti, XingYi Quan’s posture or stance training. Common to all the “internal” arts and incorporated in many other arts (Pigua Zhang, I-Chuan especially), stance training has to be the most difficult, and possibly avoided, type of training in any canon. It is far easier to perform a movement, with all its potential vague losses, than to stand and focus on one’s self in all its infinite detail.

The stance has 70/30 weight distribution on the legs, hands palm down, and one outstretched further than the other. We are taken to breath. The Dantian takes us back to how we breathed as a child. He brings martial arts into it. There is a daily life. We need to always breathe from the Dantian, and soon we will do it unconsciously.

We are brought deeper into the stance from the breath. We are taught how it relates to Chinese medicine. There is a discussion of the Chi flow and how it travels through the various Meridians. The legs are deep beneath us by our intent. Our intent is controlled. It is important to be aware of our intent while holding the posture. Rather than simply standing, we are busy and engaged in our training. The stance reflects the Chinese architecture staple of the Pagoda, a strong base with a light top.

It is quite a series of DVDs. A gem. There is an increasingly crowded field of videos. I am going to practice.

Proof Content